ZZ Top
Bass, Vocals – Dusty Hill
Drums – Frank Beard
Guitar, Vocals – Billy Gibbons
Written by Gibbons, Hill, Beard
1LP, Heavyweight Gatefold Jacket with Obi Strip
Limited Edition
Original analog Master tape : YES
Heavy Press : 180g
Record color : Black
Speed : 33 RPM
Size : 12'’
Stereo
Studio
Record Press : Optimal Media GmbH
Label : Rhino High Fidelity
Original Label : Warner
Recorded in 1982 at Frank Beard's home studio, Quail Valley ; Ardent Studios, Memphis ; Terry Manning's home studio, Memphis
Engineered by Bob Ludwig, Terry Manning
Produced by Bill Ham
Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio
Photography & Design by Bob Alford
Originally released in 1983
Reissued in 2026
Tracks:
Side A:
- Gimme All Your Lovin
- Got Me Under Pressure
- Sharp Dressed Man
- I Need You Tonight
- I Got the Six
Side B:
- Legs
- Thug
- TV Dinners
- Dirty Dog
- If I Could Only Flag Her Down
- Bad Girl
Awards:
Voted number 355 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums
Listed in Rock Hard book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time
Reviews:
« ZZ Top had reached the top of the charts before, but that didn't make their sudden popularity in 1983 any more predictable. It wasn't that they were just popular -- they were hip, for God's sake, since they were one of the only AOR favorites to figure out to harness the stylish, synthesized grooves of new wave, and then figure out how to sell it on MTV. Of course, it helped that they had songs that deserved to be hits. With "Gimme All Your Lovin'," "Sharp Dressed Man," and "Legs," they had their greatest set of singles since the heady days of Tres Hombres, and the songs that surrounded them weren't bad either -- they would have been singles on El Loco, as a matter of fact. The songs alone would have made Eliminator one of ZZ Top's three greatest albums, but their embrace of synths and sequencers made it a blockbuster hit, since it was the sound of the times. Years later, the sound of the times winds up sounding a bit stiff. It's still an excellent ZZ Top album, one of their best, yet it sounds like a mechanized ZZ Top thanks to the unflaggingly accurate grooves. Then again, that's part of the album's charm -- this is new wave blues-rock, glossed up for the video, looking as good as the omnipresent convertible on the cover and sounding as irresistible as Reaganomics. Not the sort the old-school fans or blues-rock purists will love, but ZZ Top never sounded as much like a band of its time as they did here. » AllMusic review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Ratings :
AllMusic : 4.5 / 5 ; Discogs : 4.89 / 5