ZZ Top - Afterburner

AFTERBURNER: ZZ's Topp

Just one long time rock 'n' roll listener's opinion, but Afterburner is the absolute best thing this band has done. If you have a taste for rock music that's energetic, fun, and hard-driving this is an collection you want to hear. "Rough Boy", number four on the play list, slows down the pace and gives a chance to catch one's breath in anticipation of the delights to follow. With respect for the band's right to follow it's own creative muse, I see Afterburner as an apex: everything before builds up to it, and everything after gradually becomes albums I listen to less and less. Actually, the ZZ Top albums I most listen to are Deguello, El Loco, Eliminator, Afterburner, Recycler, and the Warner Brothers issued Greatest Hits, but Afterburner is always the one I'm most tempted to pull out for another listen. November 1, 2008

Great Tunes!

Of course the music is great. The CD itself was in great shape as was the packaging. I would order from this supplier again. June 8, 2008

Afterburner

...And with this, one of my favorite groups, left me behind, abandoned, without a hope of ever hearing good ol' blues-rock ever again. Certainly, I'm exaggerating, well, sort of. The Top's ninth studio album peaked at #4, the highest chart position for any & all their albums to this date. It charted higher than Tres Hombres, Deguello & Eliminator. Is Afterburner a better album than those three? Simply, no. Afterburner doesn't compare to those three albums. Top was going commercial (gasp! not that l'il ol' band from Texas!), they incorporated synthesizers, dance rhythms & straight ahead drum beats soaked in reverb. Basically, what happened here was the 'follow-up effect', Afterburner was released after Eliminator, one of their best albums if not THE best, & was able to capitalize on the previous album's success. Nothing wrong with that but they were veering, somewhat, into club & dance music & this just doesn't fit into the Top's brand of music (okay, my concept of Z Z Top).

After saying all that, Afterburner isn't a bad album but it isn't a good album either. The most amazing thing about the album is that it had seven songs (it had a total of 10) that managed to get on some form of a chart. That's amazing! Simple math reveals that to be 70%! If a baseball player could bat that you know he would end up going to Cooperstown. "Can't Stop Rockin'" (#8 Mainstream Rock), "Sleeping Bag" (#1 Mainstream Rock, #8 Hot 100, #41 Club Play), "Stages" (#1 Mainstream Rock, #21 Hot 100), "Delirious" (#16 Mainstream Rock), "Rough Boy" (#5 Mainstream Rock, #22 Hot 100), "Velcro Fly" (#43 Club Play, #15 Mainstream Rock, #35 Hot 100) & "Woke Up With Wood" (#18 Mainstream Rock). This certainly makes Afterburner a popular album but doesn't make it a good album. The only catch to all this has to do with all the charts that these songs charted on, they were 'specialty charts', not the Pop Singles chart which is more indicative of the overall performance of the songs.

That leaves three songs, "Planet of Women", "I Got the Message" & "Dipping Low (in the Lap of Luxury)". These are all substandard songs for the Top as are "Delirious" & Woke Up With Wood". The rest of the songs are good but nothing is outstanding. Lyrically, the album is typical, they are many double entendres & boogie humor. Don't get me wrong, I've been a big fan of the Top for years & there's nothing wrong with making a buck but, honestly, they sold out with this album. They lost me as a fan & a buying customer, no big deal, for every fan they lost, they probably got two new ones in return. But then, when we look back on Eliminator, we can see the sellout began then, the signs were there hinting at what direction they were going. The big difference was Eliminator still rocked & it didn't seem, at least to this reviewer, that they were compromising their music so much.
May 26, 2008

Awesome Album

This is the only album I own that I actually listen to all 10 tracks. Its very rare when I like more than 4-5 songs on an album. Eliminator had one dud (Thug). The energy is strong throughout. I like the synthesizer sound that bands were using in this era. Afterburner was also one of my favorite album cover designs. Recycler was also a great album cover design too.

November 1985 Chicago airwaves were flooded with stations playing cuts off of Afterburner. It was really popular and got tons of airplay. On February 26, 1986 I saw ZZ TOP live for the first time. The show was great but the wait in the parking lot to leave was longer than the concert. And it was like 12 below zero out that night.

I bought the original LP on Nov 1, 1985, made a tape of it and have been rocking ever since. I finally bought the Eliminator/Afterburner CD's in 2005 when I bought a new car that was equipped with a CD player...............and tonight, I Woke Up With Wood April 22, 2008

Enjoyable CD

I rated this a 4 because the CD,to me, is above average compared to **all** rock CDs made. However,I agree with the low raters that it is below average when compared to ZZ Top's other material. (If you hate synthesizers avoid it. :) )
April 15, 2008

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