Monday, October 1, 2012

SOD: ZZ Top "Hot, Blue, and Righteous"

This is ZZ Top? That was the question I asked when I first heard this song. It seems so different to the stuff I'm used to. And granted, most of that "stuff" is the hits like "La Grange" (also off the album Tres Hombres) and "Sharp Dressed Man," but this tasty treat came across my radar about three years ago. A piano player I met in a bar, had an affinity for blues rock. Naturally, ZZ Top was one of his all-time favorite groups, and when he punched this number into the jukebox, I was sold.

This is a moving song, with a slow and powerful droll to it. The vocal harmonies are great, and its a much more melodic song than I'm used to from them. In it's entirety, from the guitar solo to the lyrics themselves, is very simple, but perfectly crafted. It's one of those songs that proves you don't have to do anythings excessive to write a beautiful song. Often times, I find the best songs are the simple ones that say the right amount at the right time. They don't try and do to much, or become something they're not. They rely on a solid structure, emotionality, and honesty. There's nothing like an honest song. We don't get much of those in the pop world today. And that goes for all genre's of "popular music." Be it Country, which is full of bullshit pretenders, Rock (if you can even call it that anymore), or anything else that's mainstream. It's all fake. The performer has no connection to the music, and in a lot of instances, no connection to their own performance once they get done with the production of it (think about how much is auto-tuned, and fixed up post-performance these days). That's why songs like this will always have a place far above the rest in my mind.

No comments:

Post a Comment