ZZ Top, Eliminator

Release Date: 1983
Previously Owned: Yes
First Time Listen: Yes

Impressions: Pretty straight forward 4 on the floor mid-tempo thing for “Gimme All Your Lovin.” Ehhh. So far, ehh. Kinda lukewarm on this one so far. Nice guitar sound, but slightly sterile ’80s production. Same tempo for 2nd song, they seem slicker but slightly tired than the ’70s albums. Got Me Under Pressure unremarkable. The hits are pretty good songs but end up being kinda rigid and over-produced. I’d rather hear these songs live or recorded like their ’70s songs, but then they wouldn’t have been big hits in the ’80s, I guess. Hasn’t really aged too well… weird that these guys got so huge. Kinda reminds me of the stifling production on The Replacements “Pleased To Meet Me.” The percussion is a boring metronome. Sometimes the beard-singing of these guys is a bit too gravelly and one-dimensional. The whole album is like a disproportionate cartoon bull dog with the large guitar upper body and weak bass/drum lower body and with the life drained from most songs. Boring in a way only ’80s pop albums can be. The keyboards in “Legs” sound like a skipping CD, but still a solid tune. Would love to hear Prince cover it. Holy cow, “Thug” has terrible bonka-bunka bass…woah, not aged well! Weird how this album is at it’s core only a few degrees different than Tres Hombres, but it sucks so much more compared to that ’70s classic. “TV Dinners” is ugh. “If I Could Only Flag Her Down” and “Bad Girl” swing a little more than most of the album, but still this is a frustrating listen. LET ZZ TOP BE WHO THEY ARE!

Starred Songs: “Sharp Dressed Man,” “Legs” I guess
Sneaky Track: “If I Could Only Flag Her Down”
Should this album be on the list? No.
Replace with: I’m going to take this opportunity to add XTC’s ’80s masterpiece “Skylarking” here instead. That album should be on this list.

Verdict: Great ’80s rockers ran into the big ’80s production food processor and the result is Top 50 mush.
Rating: ★