ZZ Top: Rancho Texicano: The Very Best Of ZZ Top

Reviewed by GRAHAM REID

(Herald rating * * * *)

Texas blues-boogie supremos had a "brand" long before advertising guys even thought it was possible.

They started as a bar band but were built for stadiums, and when they got fired up had a guitar sound that welded distortion, a chainsaw and Hendrix to the momentum of a front-end loader with a head of steam up.

They were also unapologetically from Texas where hell-raisin' isn't something you undertake lightly, it's a lifestyle. Hence songs with titles like Just Got Paid, Tush, Thunderbird, Arrested for Driving While Blind, A Fool For Your Stockings, Pearl Necklace, Velcro Fly and of course, Legs.

This chronological double-set traces them from pure blues (Just Got Back From Baby's) through the nascent, Stones-style boogie rock (Francene) and back (La Grange), all of which came within a few albums and provided the building blocks for a career which aimed to push buttons but not the envelope.

It doesn't include anything from recent albums such as XXX and Rhythmeen (thank heavens) so the story is told from bar room to arenas and back to the dancefloor on the somewhat obvious mid-80s dance mix of Legs and 12-inch synth-heavy remix of Velcro Fly. The last stuff is rubbish but the rest is guy-rock that goes best with a double shot.

Label: Warners