ZZ Top
had reached the top of the charts before, but that didn't make their sudden popularity in 1983 any more predictable. It wasn't that they were just popular -- they were hip, for God's sake, since they were one of the only
AOR
favorites to figure out to harness the stylish, synthesized grooves of
new wave
, and then figure out how to sell it on
MTV
. Of course, it helped that they had songs that deserved to be hits. With
"Gimme All Your Lovin',"
"Sharp Dressed Man,"
and
"Legs,"
they had their greatest set of singles since the heady days of
Tres Hombres
, and the songs that surrounded them weren't bad either -- they would have been singles on
El Loco
, as a matter of fact. The songs alone would have made
Eliminator
one of
's three greatest albums, but their embrace of synths and sequencers made it a blockbuster hit, since it was the sound of the times. Years later, the sound of the times winds up sounding a bit stiff. It's still an excellent
album, one of their best, yet it sounds like a mechanized
thanks to the unflaggingly accurate grooves. Then again, that's part of the album's charm -- this is
blues-rock
, glossed up for the video, looking as good as the omnipresent convertible on the cover and sounding as irresistible as Reaganomics. Not the sort the old-school fans or
purists will love, but
never sounded as much like a band of its time as they did here. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine