Billy Gibbons Looks Back on ZZ Top’s First 10 Albums
"We were three guys, we had three chords and the future was wide open."
Being presented with a deluxe box set that gathers 20 years of work is enough to put any musician in a reflective mood, and that's exactly what seems to have happened with Billy Gibbons recently. The ZZ Top guitarist sat down with Music Radar to discuss the band's new 10-disc archival release, 'ZZ Top: The Complete Studio Albums (1970-1990),' and ended up offering a guided tour through each LP, from 'ZZ Top's First Album' through 'Recycler.'
Calling the box "as close as I’ve gotten to instant time travel," Gibbons marveled, "Taking two decades of expression and compressing them into one ready, at-your-fingertips experience is pretty remarkable." And it isn't just hearing the old songs in their proper order that takes him back. After years of settling for controversial remixed versions of the band's early records, fans now have the chance to hear them the way they were originally released. "Getting the unchanged experience of each release with the original mixes is such a cool deal," Gibbons mused. "This is the way the albums were intended to be heard."
With 10 records to talk about, the article is pretty long, but don't let that stop you from checking out the whole thing. And mark your calendars for next Tuesday (June 11), when 'ZZ Top: The Complete Studio Albums' is scheduled to arrive in stores.