American Blues (1968), with Dusty Hill and Frank Beard from ZZ Top
Frank Beard, the drummer of ZZ Top, has died at age 77. Ironically, Beard was the one member of the "Texas boogie-blues-rock" trio who was usually beardless. ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill died in 2021, and now guitarist/vocalist Billy Gibbons is the only surviving member of the classic lineup.
Before the 1969 formation of ZZ Top, Beard and Hill were members of a Texas-based quartet called American Blues, which also included Dusty's older brother Rocky Hill on lead guitar, and organist Doug Davis. Dusty was the vocalist for this band, and his vocals had a smoother and clearer tone than the raspier vocals which Gibbons would later bring to ZZ Top.
American Blues began under the name The Warlocks (like the Grateful Dead also did), and released two garage rock singles under that name in 1966: "If You Really Want Me To Stay" (a high-fuzz Texas variation on British Invasion rock) and "Splash Day" (a Texan-sounding Beach Boys variation about partying on Florida beaches). After changing their name to the generic-sounding American Blues, they recorded two full-length albums which were both released in 1968: Is Here and Do Their Thing. (Seriously, couldn't someone think of better titles than those?). Neither album sounds much like ZZ Top, but fans of that band may still take an interest in hearing what Hill and Beard brought to their previous band.
On Is Here, released on a Texas indie label, American Blues sound as though they could have more accurately been called American Psychedelia. The album consists of psychedelic fuzz-rock that is sometimes based on the blues, but is equally likely to draw from folk-rock (the album opens with a trippy rendition of Tim Hardin's "If I Were A Carpenter") or British Invasion rock ("Melted Snow", "Mellow"). Lovers of Rhino's Nuggets compilations might enjoy this album; then again, such listeners have already heard better examples of this sort of thing. "Keep My Heart In A Page" is an ahead-of-its-time slice of psych-country that Gram Parsons might have called "cosmic American music". Are there any predictors here of the "Texas boogie-blues-rock" of ZZ Top? Three tracks -- "She'll Be Mine", "It's Gone", and especially "Mercury Blues" -- do have a certain wild-eyed southern personality that does sound slightly proto-Top.
On the major-label album Do Their Thing, American Blues were given more sophisticated production, and the material bore more resemblance to the music of the West Coast folk-rock scene of the time period, which was populated by the likes of the Dead and the Jefferson Airplane. The best of the tracks on that order is "Just Plain Jane", a Byrds-like guitar-jangler on which Dusty's vocals resemble those of David Crosby. Some tracks sound a bit more bluesy -- and a bit more edgy -- when they take on shades of Hendrix ("Shady", "Dreams") and layers of Cream ("Captain Fire", "Chocolate Ego"). But the best track -- and the one most firmly rooted in the blues -- is "Comin' Back Home", a five-and-a-half-minute jam that actually allowed a drum solo by Beard and a bass solo by Dusty that briefly spotlighted the future ZZ Toppers. (However, a longer and more intense guitar solo by the elder Hill brother steals the song). Do Their Thing is not a great album in its own right; these Texas boys seemed out of place imitating California hippies. Still, it is worth a listen for the curious. (Notes: The cover art for Do Their Thing makes it look like the band had three -- or is it five? -- members, though there actually were four credited. And the liner notes on the back cover of the original LP are truly the product of a more psychedelic time).
In the 21st century, there have been at least two compilation albums collecting songs from American Blues and other early recordings by ZZ Top members. The 2006 European double-CD titled The Beginning of ZZ Top (Laserlight Digital 32 733) contains every American Dream track except "If I Were A Carpenter", the Warlocks B-side "Life's A Misery", and five tracks from Billy Gibbons' early bands Moving Sidewalks and The Blue Union. The 2010 American CD titled The Roots Of ZZ Top (Fuel 2000 Records 302 061 820 2) contained seven American Blues tracks, all four songs from the two Warlocks singles, and seven from Gibbons' Moving Sidewalks.
The Warlocks "If You Really Want Me To Stay" (b/w "Good Time Trippin'") (ARA single ARA-1917) 1966
Track Listing:
a. If You Really Want Me To Stay
b. Good Time Trippin'
The Warlocks "Splash Day" (b/w "Life's A Misery") (Paradise single 1021) 1966
Track Listing:
a. Splash Day
b. Life's A Misery
American Blues "Is Here" (Karma KLP-1001) 1968
Track Listing:
SIDE XI:
1. If I Were A Carpenter
2. All I Saw Was You
3. She'll Be Mine
4. Fugue For Lady Cheriff
SIDE XIII:
5. It's Gone
6. Keep My Heart In A Page
7. Mercury Blues
8. Melted Like Snow
9. Mellow
American Blues "Do Their Thing" (Uni 73044) 1968
Track Listing:
1. You Were So Close To Me
2. Wonder Man
3. Just Plain Jane
4. Shady
5. Comin' Back Home
6. Captain Fire
7. Chocolate Ego
8. Nightmare of a Wise Man
9. Dreams
10. Softly To The Sun
Before the 1969 formation of ZZ Top, Beard and Hill were members of a Texas-based quartet called American Blues, which also included Dusty's older brother Rocky Hill on lead guitar, and organist Doug Davis. Dusty was the vocalist for this band, and his vocals had a smoother and clearer tone than the raspier vocals which Gibbons would later bring to ZZ Top.
American Blues began under the name The Warlocks (like the Grateful Dead also did), and released two garage rock singles under that name in 1966: "If You Really Want Me To Stay" (a high-fuzz Texas variation on British Invasion rock) and "Splash Day" (a Texan-sounding Beach Boys variation about partying on Florida beaches). After changing their name to the generic-sounding American Blues, they recorded two full-length albums which were both released in 1968: Is Here and Do Their Thing. (Seriously, couldn't someone think of better titles than those?). Neither album sounds much like ZZ Top, but fans of that band may still take an interest in hearing what Hill and Beard brought to their previous band.
On Is Here, released on a Texas indie label, American Blues sound as though they could have more accurately been called American Psychedelia. The album consists of psychedelic fuzz-rock that is sometimes based on the blues, but is equally likely to draw from folk-rock (the album opens with a trippy rendition of Tim Hardin's "If I Were A Carpenter") or British Invasion rock ("Melted Snow", "Mellow"). Lovers of Rhino's Nuggets compilations might enjoy this album; then again, such listeners have already heard better examples of this sort of thing. "Keep My Heart In A Page" is an ahead-of-its-time slice of psych-country that Gram Parsons might have called "cosmic American music". Are there any predictors here of the "Texas boogie-blues-rock" of ZZ Top? Three tracks -- "She'll Be Mine", "It's Gone", and especially "Mercury Blues" -- do have a certain wild-eyed southern personality that does sound slightly proto-Top.
On the major-label album Do Their Thing, American Blues were given more sophisticated production, and the material bore more resemblance to the music of the West Coast folk-rock scene of the time period, which was populated by the likes of the Dead and the Jefferson Airplane. The best of the tracks on that order is "Just Plain Jane", a Byrds-like guitar-jangler on which Dusty's vocals resemble those of David Crosby. Some tracks sound a bit more bluesy -- and a bit more edgy -- when they take on shades of Hendrix ("Shady", "Dreams") and layers of Cream ("Captain Fire", "Chocolate Ego"). But the best track -- and the one most firmly rooted in the blues -- is "Comin' Back Home", a five-and-a-half-minute jam that actually allowed a drum solo by Beard and a bass solo by Dusty that briefly spotlighted the future ZZ Toppers. (However, a longer and more intense guitar solo by the elder Hill brother steals the song). Do Their Thing is not a great album in its own right; these Texas boys seemed out of place imitating California hippies. Still, it is worth a listen for the curious. (Notes: The cover art for Do Their Thing makes it look like the band had three -- or is it five? -- members, though there actually were four credited. And the liner notes on the back cover of the original LP are truly the product of a more psychedelic time).
In the 21st century, there have been at least two compilation albums collecting songs from American Blues and other early recordings by ZZ Top members. The 2006 European double-CD titled The Beginning of ZZ Top (Laserlight Digital 32 733) contains every American Dream track except "If I Were A Carpenter", the Warlocks B-side "Life's A Misery", and five tracks from Billy Gibbons' early bands Moving Sidewalks and The Blue Union. The 2010 American CD titled The Roots Of ZZ Top (Fuel 2000 Records 302 061 820 2) contained seven American Blues tracks, all four songs from the two Warlocks singles, and seven from Gibbons' Moving Sidewalks.
The Warlocks "If You Really Want Me To Stay" (b/w "Good Time Trippin'") (ARA single ARA-1917) 1966
Track Listing:
a. If You Really Want Me To Stay
b. Good Time Trippin'
The Warlocks "Splash Day" (b/w "Life's A Misery") (Paradise single 1021) 1966
Track Listing:
a. Splash Day
b. Life's A Misery
American Blues "Is Here" (Karma KLP-1001) 1968
Track Listing:
SIDE XI:
1. If I Were A Carpenter
2. All I Saw Was You
3. She'll Be Mine
4. Fugue For Lady Cheriff
SIDE XIII:
5. It's Gone
6. Keep My Heart In A Page
7. Mercury Blues
8. Melted Like Snow
9. Mellow
American Blues "Do Their Thing" (Uni 73044) 1968
Track Listing:
1. You Were So Close To Me
2. Wonder Man
3. Just Plain Jane
4. Shady
5. Comin' Back Home
6. Captain Fire
7. Chocolate Ego
8. Nightmare of a Wise Man
9. Dreams
10. Softly To The Sun
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