XXX

ZZ Top: Billy Gibbons (vocals, guitar); Dusty Hill (vocals, bass); Frank Beard (drums, percussion).
Having avoided the fate of many '70s boogie bands, which became confounded by the new wave direction popular music took in the '80s, ZZ Top continued incorporating synths and mechanized beats into its sturdy blues-rock sound well into the '90s. On its 14th studio album, the "Lil Ole Band From Texas" continues dabbling with the sounds of technology. Merging Billy Gibbons' dirty-sounding fuzz guitar with chugging beats, ZZ Top creates songs such as "Crucifixx A Flatt" and "Dreadmonboogaloo" that wouldn't sound out of place at a rave. Elsewhere, the Texas trio pays homage to its blues roots, particularly on the grinding "Fearless Boogie" and the slow burn of "Made Into a Movie."
The last quarter of XXX brings together live cuts that evidence ZZ Top's split personality as blues mavens and samplers of the Silicon Age. The more traditional segment finds Elvis Presley's normally finger-snapping "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear" transformed into drawn-out 12-bar blues while Gibbons tears up the sublimely lascivious shuffle "Belt Buckle" with some impressive work on slide guitar. The remaining two numbers are a chugging version of "Pincushion" renamed "Sinpusher" and the faster-moving "Hey Mr. Millionaire," featuring a barely discernible Jeff Beck on vocals.