Forget the spinning
fuzzy sheepskin Explorer and the ashtray Telecaster with gold frets. After Les Paul, the man most closely associated with the guitar model that bears his name is Billy Gibbons.
Since 1969 the cornerstone of Billy Gibbons and Z.Z. Top has been
a burly Les Paul tone. Back in 1969 when the group kick-started, Gibbons formed a union with a ’59 Sunburst beauty named Miss Pearly Gates. Although Miss Pearly’s been celebrated and duplicated, and her pick-ups analyzed and cloned, she’s retired now. But something magic still happens every time Gibbons hefts a Les Paul.
That moment comes about halfway through the new Z.Z. Top
Live from Texas concert DVD, when Gibbons grips a Custom painted deco striped Les Paul and begins to play the blues like God’s in his fingertips. And not Clapton, either. Billy F. Gibbons’ style of playing blues has the spare spirit of the Texas prairie in its prickly phrasing ― a big voice with slow squeezed melodies gentle and bracing as a warm wind.
It’s an approach that makes “Heard It on the X,” “Just Got Paid,” “Rough Boy” and “Blue Jean Blues” ooze with grit that’s edgy enough to slice through the layers of bling Gibbons decks himself in ― glittering stage suits, gold chains, rings heavy with jewels and platinum ― and take the band back to its roadhouse roots.
That four-song centerpiece is just one of the things that’s great about
Live from Texas, a big brassy homecoming for Gibbons, his bass player compadre Dusty Hill, and their rhythmic wheelman Frank Beard. Another: this concert is a big fat thank you note to their fans. They deliver all the hits and best bets from throughout the band’s career.
Early on they play a grinding “Jesus Just Left Chicago,” with rippling solos by Gibbons. The set list includes the high-intensity smackdown of “Got Me Under Pressure,” “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” and “Sharp Dressed Man.” Their John Lee Hooker tributes “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide” and “La Grange” boom off the stage. And with a bottleneck slide Gibbons makes the final tune, the band’s 1975 breakthrough hit “Tush,” scream out its boogie heritage.
The biggest flashbacks, though, are saved for the bonus menu. Gibbons led psychedelic architects the Moving Sidewalks before forming Z.Z. Top. And in 1968 that band opened for Jimi Hendrix on the Texas leg of the Experience’s first U.S. tour. Gibbons recounts his meeting with Jimi during a post-concert sequence called “Poker Game,” where he, Beard and Hill reminisce over a deck of cards. Then he and his cohorts close the disc’s extras with a terse and torrid version of “Foxy Lady” ― part Jimi, part Billy and all sex and psychedelics and rock and roll. The only thing missing is Miss Pearly.