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Tres Hombres
ZZ Top
1973
Wikipedia
Reviews
Like a review? Give it a thumb up to help us display relevant reviews!This is a great record, honestly. It only gets docked a star because it's not ALL great. Just MOSTLY great. But the songs that are great are REALLY great. "Waitin' For The Bus," "Jesus Just Left Chicago," and, of course, "La Grange" are just ... man. So good.
Few albums kick this much ass. Almost a precursor to metal in some ways, this is HARD hard rock that deserves to be played on a windows down kinda day. If I could give half ratings, I would. Only four and half because of a few duds that drag on first listen, but probably hold up on more. STANDOUTS: -Waitin’ for the Bus -Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers -Move Me On Down the Line -Precious and Grace -La Grange -Sheik
Solid American bluesy rock and roll here. It flags a bit with Move it down the line which includes cliched riffs and lyrics like “big wheels keep on turning” 🙄 but its saved by the excellent single La Grange with the signature ZZ Top geetar sound. I like how they mixed up the tempo and mood with Sheik also.
Soon as this album gets going you're thrown into the soundscape of some musty hard rock pool hall complete with a few biker guys, cigarette smoke, and a well used jukebox providing the cohesive glue of American blues rhythm of ZZ Top that pulls it all together. By the time you're three tracks in, you're already riding a motorcycle, and your beard is long enough to get caught on the zipper of your leather jacket. A pillar hard rock crafted from blues and the precursor to a sound that would be further explored by bands AC/DC, Motorhead, and Mötley Crüe; ZZ Top's first top ten album delivers on the American Harley dream. Tracks like Waitin' for the Bus,Jesus Just Left Chicago, and of course La Grange utilize the guitar fueled yet ever steady rhythm that is synonymous with throwing on your shades and riding out into the horizon. While these a bit homogenous in the delivery of this type of sound over the course of the album, frequent and sporadic guitar flourishes keep things interesting as you ride along the introspective vibe of wandering the country or getting access to that whorehouse in Texas or simply waiting around for the bus for too damned long. This tale of wanderlust expands beyond waiting for busses and covers other locations in Jesus just Left Chicago and even some out of country locations in Shiek. The track Master Of Sparks stood out to me with interesting time changes throughout the song compared to what I had heard up until it, which was a nice surprise. Sheik also ends with with a bit of a psychedelic outro which also spoke to me thorugh my favorite genre. Very cool. In the end though, La Grange is where it's at, and to be honest, if you've heard just that, then you've heard a decent amount of the album. Favorite Track: La Grange Honorable Mention: Master of Sparks
As a teen in the 80s it was impossible to avoid Zed Zed Top in their highly successful if not overly commercial era (MTV videos in heavy rotation). Wasn't bad, wasn't my taste. Just there. I was aware of a handful of their older tunes through radio but never thought about them. At the time I remember working a restaurant job late one night on cleanup and one of the older guys blasted this album while we worked and I was pretty surprised "Jesus Just Left Chicago" was the same band that did "Legs" - almost a 180degree turn in production as this album is super dry, simple guitars/bass/drums and barely a hint of reverb anywhere. While southern-tinged bluesy rock isn't something I really reach for, this is a fun album and definitely has a sound and place.
This is at least a 4, maybe my first 5!? Several songs I really like. I'll listen closely to the rest.
What a classic!! Growely vocals, jamming blues guitar, slick drum riffs. I listened to "Master of Sparks" at least 5 times in a row - I couldn't get enough of it. I've heard a lot of songs off of this album, but not all of them, and not all together.
I actually own this album on vinyl. Every track is exactly what you want from ZZ Top. Great guitar work and the opening three tracks are just a perfect album lead in.
Love this album, and ZZ Top is always a fun listen. Billy Gibbons is fantastic as always, Dusty Hill is so solid, and Frank Beard lays it down nicely. Just three guys playing some groovin' bluesy rock. Still sounds great fifty-ish years later.
Awesome album. Watertight rhythm section and expertly executed guitar lines that cut like laser. Stunning.
Probably represents ZZ Top's sound better than any other album they released. Solid rock & blues. Bought it when it was released, listened to it periodically since. A great album. Didn't need to add it - owned it for decades.
I know several ZZ Top songs, but only one of them is on this album, so I'm excited to listen to their other material. What a crisp version of blues-rock music. Great guitar soloing, solid grooves, the drumwork adds so much. Track uniqueness surprised me, not every song follows the typical blues chord pattern. Best track: had to be 'La Grange'
Despite being from Texas AND liking the rock/blues style, ZZ Top has never been my favorite. This album is good, objectively, with La Grange being the best track. For me, it doesn't reach 5 stars, but it's better than 3 stars as well. I guess that leaves it at: 4 stars.
Would give it a 5/5 but don’t think it musically deserves it. Too many songs I don’t fully fuck with but the ones I do I love.
Classic guitar licks. It’s everything you expect from a blues guitar, bass and drums. Small group with big sound. Love the variation from a blues rock, ballad and rocking’ classic in La Grange.
First time listening to a whole zz top album. They had me with bus stop in the name of the first song.
Classic Americana Rock with heavy blues influences, but neither too pop-y or too bluesy
One of the best 1-2 openers ever. If you were raised on the MTV version of the band, this album was a revelation. It's a shame "La Grange" is so overplayed, because when you revisit it after 5 or 10 years, it's really good.
Bon album, du bon blues rock qui s’ecoute bien. La grange est une hit qui est intemporel et l’album se meriterai un 5 juste pour cette toune. Le reste amene cela a un 4
Was für coole Typen; geiles, geradliniges und doch auch verspielt vielschichtiges Rock Album, a an dem sich die manche Nuller-Band (Kings of Leon, Black Keys, ...) orientiert haben dürften. per los tres hombres: 3.8
A storm of blues rock from Texas, in the year when southern rock was at its peak. All a statement!
Like this one way more than I thought I would. Typical bluesy dad rock, but still fun. I could put this on in the background while I do something else and I think it would help me stay focused.
The songs you think of when you hear "ZZ Top" and consider riding a motorcycle. All around pretty good energy.
Eliminator will forever be my ZZ album of choice but this is more traditionally blues rock. Great album
Some of the best biker bar music there is. Love the sound of this album, it's hard, fast, and yet still has a comfortable blues/southern rock sound that is endlessly listenable
This album rocks. LA Grange is just such a classic road trip song, and the rest of the album provides a wonderful soundtrack for it too. Nothing to skip here.
It's childhood to me honestly. It's classic rock, the guitar slaps, add the drums and the solid as vocals? it's so good to me man.
I love the vibe of it, and as much as I’ll be saying those six words—I truly dig the way it makes me feel like I’m cool doing something that most likely isn’t.
Great stuff. One of their best. Have mercy! Standouts: Waitin' For the Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago La Grange
Was expecting a few short embers of enjoyment, but that was really good. Knew of them, but hadn’t hear much - if any- of their music. Toight
Heard this one before so it gave me time to listen to the deep cuts. Apart from 2, all the songs were enjoyable and a thrill to listen to
My Dad is a ZZ Top Fan but I never managed to hear an album in full. Glad that changed
Tres Hombres by ZZ Top (1973) Unapologetically grungy, grimy, greasy, and grotesque, Tres Hombres is philosophically shallow, poetically stunted, theologically unsophisticated, and entertainingly nasty. Posing as a group of hard living country-proletarian party boys with a complete lack of self awareness, ZZ Top speeds us down a Texas two-lane in pursuit of the baser passions, all the while keeping a nervous eye in the rear view mirror for any sign of the transcendent. There’s a lot of heaven, hell, and mercy in the midst of death defying recklessness (“Master of Sparks”—Hold my beer) and rollicking indulgence in the low range of even lower pleasures. This album is celebratory of the bright moments in the otherwise dull lives of barely employed lower middle class American males (i.e., “Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers”). There’s virtually no reference to love or romance (none at all if one thinks that “Precious and Grace” refers to something other than a couple of chicks—and one might well be right). Furthermore, one could ask how appropriate it is to appeal to Divine Mercy for a speedier trip home on public transport “with my brown paper bag and my take home pay” (“Have Mercy”). Perhaps a better mercy would be for an increase in the virtue of patience, but at least the listener can relate. However: Drummer Frank Beard (the only member of the trio who’s generally pictured without one) is wildly dynamic, yet precise. Bassist Dusty Hill (d. 7/28/21, R.I.P.) clearly mastered the art of doubling the groove of the electric rhythm guitar, while deftly negotiating the volatile relationship between drums and melody. And guitarist Billy Gibbons excels in both rhythm and lead passages. It’s hard to imagine how only three musicians can produce so much quality sound. So what we have here is an exquisite and highly relatable musical and lyrical expression of the dissipated life—well worth the listen, and rising to level of art (kind of like, in its day, Bizet’s Carmen or Puccini’s La Bohème, without the plot or tragic resolution). In “Jesus Just Left Chicago”, we hear a prayerful enough petition to join our Savior in his incarnate embrace of everything he created, all the way to (of all places) New Orleans. “You may not see Him in person, but He’ll see you just the same. You don’t have to worry, ‘Cause takin’ care of business is His name.” (Did I say this album was theologically unsophisticated? Maybe I’ll rethink that.) But the highlight of the album, of course, is the seductive, understated, and growly advertisement for the famous cathouse outside of “La Grange”. (It’s only a “rumor”, but “you what I’m talkin’ about”.) Now, intros come and intros go, but the first 37 seconds of this track are historic. We’re gonna need a bigger set of speakers. The sly reluctance in the lyric to be more explicit might be designed to enable the quasi-pimp to avoid the law, but it’s also designed for ZZ Top to avoid the opprobrium of the American Family Association (or, more likely, disc jockeys and the FCC). But now, I might be mistaken (A-haw haw haw-haw). 4/5
Classic era Z Z Top, with the glorious fat guitar sound, deep rooted in the blues. Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers - some of their trademark sly wit in there. La Grange is one of the all-time great grooves. Lovely gospel vibe on Have You Heard.
Great blues/rock sound, really good album with a range of tempos and melodies to suit the genre. Extremely enjoyable and a classic album.
One of the best things to ever come out of Texas. Also, my first concert ever (Eliminator tour). Gonna give this one a thumbs up.
4.5 First time listening to this. Man, they are a tight trio. Never really listened to them until Dusty passed this year. Great collection.
I quite liked this, and would have liked it even more if it had ended after La Grange. 8/10
I had no idea that ZZ too had been making music for so long….it came as a real surprise. I hadn’t heard any of the early ZZ top music but I found it very enjoyable, very listenable.
I have vivid memories of hanging out in my basement in HS playing La Grange on Guitar Hero. This is a truly fun album with great guitar riffs, I’m more of a Revolver fan when it comes to ZZ, but still love this album.
Classic rock/blues feel to it. Hearing the live versions on the remastered alongside the studio really helps you understand how good they were live.
Great listen! I didn't love all the songs (sometimes I felt their voices didn't match the level of rock that they needed for certain songs) but the ones that were more funky/bluesy were amazing!
Driving, polished rock blues boogie. Includes Move me on down the line and La Grange. Thoroughly enjoyable. Four out of five.
70s rock rhythm guitar-y bass-y vibes. Recognizable song; Master of Sparks. Vocalist voice reminiscent of Vanilla Fudge. Album quite short.
One of Texas' greats. Not for everyone and save for La Grange, the front half is the best. Still a solid 4.5/5, but rounding down to 4 stars.
American blues rock classic. Not every song on the album is a winner but overall quite fun. Favorite track is of course la grange.
ZZ Top rocks pretty hard. This is just kinda solid cool rockin music. La Grange is a classic. 3/5.
Bluesy. Had me in the first half, but aside from "La Grange", it just kind of tappers off for me. Solid licks as always. Favorite tracks: "Waitin' For the Bus", "Jesus Just Left Chicago"
Actually my second time listening to this album. Think I enjoyed it more on the first listen, but it came and go, not overstaying it’s welcome but not giving a whole lot either.
la grange is a banger but the rest is not that memorable, probably has a better effect when played live
So nearly a 4! I had boxed ZZ Top into the style they played in the mid-80s onwards. Really liking this album! Rate 3.8/5.
Helt ålreit. Fikk ikke med at jeg hørte på de mens jeg jobbet, bortsett fra la grange som er en av verdens kuleste sanger
I avoided these guys when I was a yoot, but in retrospect, they're not so bad. They're more blues based than I remember, and I was less of a blues fan then. These days, with a dearth of guitar solos, it's nice to hear an album that has 20 guitar solos in 10 songs.
Really good fun without being outstanding. Would be happy to listen again but won’t be rushing to.
La Grange + friends. straightforward driving rock. all the songs kind of blur together for me.
Later ZZTop albums were in the era where I started to get picky about guitar denominated tunes. This stemmed from getting sick of most heavy metal and other heavy guitar dominated music. ZZ Top wasn't that heavy but they were in the neighbourhood so I kept my distance. This album was before I switched off but I didn't listen to this until now.The first three tracks show that these lads know how to play and it's fun enough to keep my review and rating polite. In track 4 they start to cross the line to the stuff I hate but they got back to the bluesy boogie stuff. The opening to The Grange sounds like the old Slim Harpo tune "Shake Your Hips". I guess blues is blues is blues. I enjoyed this album. It's a decade away literally (and a century away figuratively) from their hits and accompanying videos with spinning guitars and enough hotties that it could be mistaken for a beer commercial.
I had no idea ZZ Top were so religious. How did they go from Jesus band to party band so fast? The music here is almost perfect rock, it's like the template for rocking. I'm not so keen on the voices though. This is my failing rather than theirs, I'm fussy aout voices. Regardless, this is a fun listen.
Fantasizing about walking into a bar and watching this trio rip (or should I say, spark) as I sip a cool beer.
The hits are obviously gold here, but the deep cuts honestly don't do a lot for me. Still a pretty nice record though.
Very much enjoyed this. Loved the bluesy riffs and guitar work in general. I'll certainly revisit and glad to learn that the Top aren't a joke band.
c'est moins bourrin que ce que je pensais c'est pas si mal mais je réécouterai pas ça avant 1000 ans. 6.
That transition from Bus into Jesus When they go hard, very country Motorhead Hot Blue I really disliked Beer Drinkers, Mr Sparks, La Grange Sheik was cool but went on too long
Guy sounds like he's gargling marbles and some of the tracks are a bit iffy (Sheik), but still a fun album and worth a listen
Most songs on here are good but average, but the good songs are really great. Favorites are Master of Sparks and La Grange
Good album. The ZZ top this album presents is different than what I am used to. Great blues sound. A Strong 3.4
Every song is simple and too the point. I can hear echos of this album's influence on countless other artists that I listen to.
Master Of Sparks was a brilliant tune. If only the second half were as good as the first.
I always thought ZZ Top were jokey redneck rockers so this was a nice surprise, a bit of earthy hard blues rock. Not my scene but I appreciated the effort.
First time that I've heard this album. Interesting mix, with glimpses of where they'd end up (...Eliminator). Definitely more of a bluesy power trio here. Will give this another go, soon
A previously dismissed band by myself due to tge crap tgey produced in the 90’s, pleasantly surprised by this.
In what is becoming a refrain, I don't think a list of 1001 "Essential" albums including the offerings of rock, hip hop, jazz, funk, soul, folk and more of better than a half century requires multiple offerings from ZZ Top. I think I refer this more blues forward era of the band overall though.
The aural equivalent of being rolled around in barbecue sauce and left out in a bowl of chicken wings in a faux-Mexican chain restaurant. It's ZZ Top, getting their hands dirty (but mostly following the recipe) with a smoky, sleazy helping of southern bluesy rock. "Tres Hombres" seems at ease with itself, content to evoke blues rock without being completely authentic. I never got the impression they were giving it all they had, that every note mattered. But I did get the impression that they were happy in their lane, which gave the album a slack, devil-may-care appeal. I found the album a lot more enjoyable when approaching it with this frame of mind. The hit, "La Grange", is an intoxicating shuffle that works in its simplicity, but there's also fun energy in "Move Me on Down the Line", and the segue from "Waitin' for the Bus" into "Jesus Just Left Chicago" is very satisfying, making the clean guitar strums of the latter all the sweeter. It's not all just bearded men farting around copying the blues, mind you. There is some strong musicianship at play in many of the songs. Take the deceptively complex guitar playing: at first glance shrugging, non-committal; on further listens deft, melodic, serving and even lifting the songs. The slide solo at the end of "Previous and Grateful" elevates the song above a standard throwaway, and "Sheik" has some solid wah-jamming. This is a cheap-night-out of an album, a comfort-over-style deal from a one-trick band who will never change my life. Did I enjoy it for its conformity, the way I enjoy barbecue chicken wings at that chain restaurant? Sure. Would I be sad if I never heard it again? Let's wait and see...
This album has some really great moments especially where Billy Gibbons’ slide guitar playing takes over. It’s a solid rock album.
A good exploration of genres while sticking to a certain sound, all kinda rooted in southern rock. Some slow songs, jazz funk, blues, and heavy rockers. “Move me on down the line” seems very kinks inspired which I appreciated. A very solid album, just not particularly my taste and I doubt I’d come back to it very often.
BLUES. Its a nice nice sound. I wish there were a little more soul in the tracks, and even more guitar solos as well, instead of the steady rock sound. Top Tracks: Jesus Just Left Chicago, Hot Blue and Righteous, La Grange, Have You Heard?
Decent dadrock! First time really listening to ZZ Top. When the opening track started I was pleasantly surprised, it felt groovy and had a cool riff. Then some decent tracks and then dipped in the middle and felt a bit generic. La Grange was good, then went back to average for the final couple of songs. Still, some cool stuff on this one.
3.6 - It's good as far as boomer butt-rock goes - I actually write that as a compliment recognizing butt-rock as a distinct sub-genre. It's ZZ Top way back before any synths were introduced. Theirs is an elegant but beefy guitar sound with razor sharp riffs and blues guitar solos that scream and moan. I love the stripped down feel, mostly showcasing only 3 instruments. The minimalism helps the instrumentation sound modern, unlike other 1970s rock that can suffer from too many overlays and loops that muddy rather than augment. As for my criticims: a) the song themes sound very dated, they reference "honky-tonks" and the New Orleans/Chicago blues channel, b) "Sheik" makes them sound ignorant of other cultures, in an average-white-man-of-the-1970s kind of way. Like, it's awkward that the first verse references "Mozambique", "Congo", "Mexico" and "burrito." Conclusion: I'd be syched to see it in the jukebox and might even pick a song off it, but I don't foresee listening to it in full that often.
I can see what this album is trying to do, and I even liked it for a few songs, but it gets old very quickly.
I have to say, that this is not an album I will listen to again, because it wasn't to my taste and that is why I've decided to give it two stars
This album is good. I am not a head-butting rock lover but I can recognise good melodic rhythms, tight guitar playing and generally well put together distinctive and individual songs.
I like Le Grange and that is about. I get bluesy jam bands are a lot of people's thing but just not mine
Liked this album, although I found that the songs sound rly similar IMO, still liked it tho.
Not as country of an album, very bluesy combined with that country feel. I can tell it's a great album, but this is still not really for me.
ZZ Top sitter ju aldrig helt fel för mig, men på en lista över de 1001 bästa albumen var det här väl ändå rätt svagt? La Grange lyfter dock. Hörde också på liveversionen av Waiting for the Bus som hade ett helt annat tryck än studioversionen - det här ska nog upplevas live. RIP in peace Dusty Hill.
ZZ Top, before the beards and sunglasses, were strong players in the blues rock genre. It's very blues. Blues to a T. So much so that ZZ Top rarely does anything subversive or innovative to do much interesting with their sound. The obvious exception to this is La Grange, a more southern-geared rock piece that showcases ZZ Tops strengths: tighter playing styles and bringing the drums to the forefront. Instead of playing metronome for the 12-bear blues, La Grange has drummer Rube Beard as an active participant in the band for once. Ultimately, La Grange serves to show that the band has potential to be great, but decidedly muddles around in mediocrity throughout the album's runtime.
Only having listened to La Grange off this album before getting into it, the rest of it was disappointingly boring.
uhmm... ok ? waiting for the bus - no <3 0/10 ok no im gonna stop here, this sounds like utter shit
ytterligare ett grönt album! Tyvärr olyssningsbart :( det här är tydligaste exemplet på att högt ansedd musik från förr oftast är det av sentimentala skäl -> eftersom recensenterna lyssnade på det medan de växte upp.
my favorite zztop
mmm