Zz Top - Tres Hombres (10 tracks) +Album Reviews

This release is a crime...!!!

Jazz | North Bay, Ontario | 11/10/2001

(1 out of 5 stars)

"...charges should be laid against those responsible for talking a fantastic album of this calibre and "neutering" it to the point of making it into a "new and improved"??? better sounding album for the musically deprived!I owned this on 8-track tape 25 years ago, and trust me, this is not the same album! I just purchased this cd and the first thing I noticed was the hollow, "tecno-pop" type sound of the drums on the entire album. I have proof that new tracks were laid down for the song "La Grange" because on ZZ Top's 2nd Greatest Hits compilation, it includes the new "remastered" version, and its different than the version from the 1st Greatest Hits album.Well it appears to me that someone in their infinite wisdom said "hey, lets clean up the whole album"? Also, throughout the entire cd, you can hear blatant changes to the songs right down to the vocals which again were re-done in most instances. A perfect example of this comes from the opening of "Jesus Just Left Chicago". In the original version, Gibbons does not over-emphasize "Chicaaaaagggooo" in the 1st verse as he does here.Add to this the softening of many of the original guitar licks and chords. In the "Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers" tune, it's bad enough that we have to contend with "tin pan- electro synth" type drum sounds, but the edge has been taken off of Gibbons
wailing guitar. Proof of this exists if you own the 1st Greatest Hits album and listen to the version included here compared with the new cd version. I dare you to put the two of them on and play each song that is included here with the new and improved "La Grange"cd. It doesn't take a genious to hear the difference, and the drastic changes made to this once classic and superb sounding album is a crying shame. Ohhhh if only I had kept my 8-track tapes.
As a previous reviewer states, find this one on vinyl if you can."

Utter Travesty: Horrible remaster of a classic album

Stephanie Sandlin | Spokane, Wa | 01/29/2001

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Let me start of saying I think this one of ZZ's real breakthrough albums. Its a great listen from stem to stern. Billy Gibbon's guitar seems to hit the right note at always the right time. The band just has this swagger. You can tell they are at thier zenith enjoying what they are doing. I have the original vinyl LP's of the 1st 3 albums. The sound on these releases is great. Its what made them recognizible worldwide before Eliminator. I don't know why in the 1990's it was decided by the band to try to "update" the sound of these early albums. They really made a bad call on this. Tampering with the sound electronically, has made them sound like they are playing in some cheap bar with a bad sound system. Its a shame for newer fans to hear what was once a beautifully raw, 3 piece blues/rock recording now to a overly echoy electroniclly altered sound. This just simply isn't what ZZ top was in the 1970's. If you love ZZ's early stuff as I do. Let the band know at ZZtop.com that you want at the original masters made avaible again in some form to us. At the moment the only place I know of to get the original mixes on CD of some of the songs is the first greatist hits package that was all their 1970's material. Until they reissue the original mastering, I'll just have to listen to my Vinyl LP's I had professional converted to CD so I can listen to ZZ before they unwisely altered these recordings."

The remix kills it

Guitar face | Atlanta, GA | 06/24/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I LOATHE the remixed sound of this album. Here in Dallas, we have two stations that play this song. One plays the original version and when this new station came on, I heard what sounded like a studio modeled piece of crap from the 80's. Not until tonight when I read these reviews did I realize they did exactly that. Remixed it in the 80's... for heaven knows what reason.

Get the original version in a secondhand store, for this one truly sucks.... It stinks that you can't get their arguably best album in it's original form. I'm really bummed out now.

DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY UNTIL ZZ TOP REALIZE WHAT A MISTAKE THEY MADE BY DOING THIS AND FIX THE PROBLEM!!!"

ZZ Top's best album deserves better

Icecrusher | 08/10/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The remixing of this great album is atrocious. I bought Tres Hombres on cassette hoping that the remix was limited to the CD only. Much to my dismay, I was wrong. The same fake drums are to be found on the cassette tape as well. Please Warner, remaster this and the rest of ZZ Top's 70's albums and restore the original sound mixes!!! The echo and synthesized drums may have been cute in 1987 but are all but irrelevant and detract from the quality of the music today. So many classic albums are getting the treatment they deserve with remastering for better sound quality and extras such as bonus tracks, liner notes and photos. Warner should really get with the program and reissue these great albums with proper remastering and restoration of the ORIGINAL sound mix. As for the album itself, it's great. ZZ Top truly perfects their mix of rock and Texas blues. As good as Rio Grande Mud was, Tres Hombres is even better. It's a truly classic blues- rock album. Unfortunately other than the vinyl record, you won't be able to find the original mix. Soon, hopefully, Warner will FINALLY remaster Tres Hombres and all of Top's early albums."

Classic meat 'n potatoes blues rock, but lost in bad remix!

Icecrusher | King of Prussia, PA | 06/25/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"There ain't nothin quite like sitting down after a long workday, pouring myself a long, tall cold one and sitting down to my Tex-Mex audio feast of ZZ Top's classic Tres Hombres album. From the beautifully dark wah-drenched solo in Waiting For the Bus to the trippy, bongo-backed rhythm that is Shiek, the result is truly one of the finest crafted rock albums of all time. Sadly enough, PLEASE choose carefully when making your purchase, for when this album was remastered for compact disc, the rhythmic tightness was all but lost in a sea of electronics, with the drums sounding more like a track from a Bananarama ballad than an actual 1970s Texas blues-based-playing-to-packed-beer-soaked-taverns-7-nights-a-week band. Chalk it up under "It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time" on behalf of the label, but times have changed, and I know I speak for the majority of ZZ fans who agree that the 1970s era albums (or is it 1980s? I'm still not sure!) deserve to be preserved in their original integrity and re-released with the original, bare-bones, untarnished tracks. I'm hoping it's only a matter of time before Bill, Dusty and Frank come to their senses and make this possible, for their 1970s masterpieces deserve to be heard as they intended, as unpretentious as the music itself."

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