Photographers: Bob Alford; Dennis Hunt; Lesser; Galen Scott; Frank Jaubert.
Warner's 2013 box set The Complete Studio Albums 1970-1990 rounds up the ten albums ZZ Top recorded for Warner Bros over the course of 20 years: 1971's ZZ Top's First Album, 1972's Rio Grande Mud, 1973's Tres Hombres, 1975's Fandango!, 1976's Tejas, 1979's Deguello, 1981's El Loco, 1983's Eliminator, 1985's Afterburner, and 1990's Recycler. Each album is packaged as a mini LP containing the original artwork, but the real news is that the original LP mixes for ZZ Top's First Album, Rio Grande Mud, and Tejas are presented on CD for the first time, a move that will please all hardcore fans. That said, the whole package is quite attractive, and not just from a packaging perspective: this is the prime of ZZ Top, available in one place at a very attractive price (a retail of $59.98, which may be discounted to around $40 by some retailers). ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
