On paper, there's no way Eliminator should have been worth anything. Why? The idea, apparently, was to take a rocking bar band that played hard blues and update their sound by infusing synths and sequencers into their music. Such a move almost looks like a desperate attempt for an aging band to update its sound for the 1980s. In fact, 1983's Eliminator appears to be something that should have failed miserably -- the very idea of introducing electronic elements into ZZ Top's Texas grit is almost laughable.

But, oddly enough, Eliminator was very successful and is one of those rare albums that both sells like crazy and is very good, too. In fact, Eliminator is one of the ZZ Top's finer albums and is right up there with 1973's Tres Hombres in terms of offering up a solid, consistent set of songs.

Here's what made Eliminator such a success -- the band's sound was updated for the early 1980s, but the group still sounds like, well, ZZ Top. The band managed to achieve something incredible in retrospect in that a lot of groups managed to sound like a pale imitation of someone else when going through major overhauls. Eliminator is, unmistakably, a ZZ Top album and a very good one at that.

Fortunately, the band didn't go nuts with electronics (that mistake would have to wait until 1985's Afterburner) and chose to use them to augment the filthy, nasty blues rock which ZZ Top mastered. Yes, the electronics are there and they are noticeable, but ZZ Top still sounds like a hard blues band that didn't sound like a bunch of white guys heavily involved in cultural piracy in order to make a quick buck.

At any rate, you've got the usual gritty guitar licks from Billy Gibbons, thumping bass lines from Dusty Rhodes and that typical precision drumming from Frank Beard. There's an interesting thing about Beard, by the way -- he always drummed like he had a metronome in his head, so the extremely precise beats throughout Eliminator just sound natural. And, why is Frank Beard the only guy in the band without a huge beard on his face? Odd...

You had three huge singles and a minor hit on this album. The singles are all great, blues-based party music that have deservedly become legendary. Sharp Dressed Man and Gimme all Your Lovin' are both mid-tempo rockers that sound like, well, great ZZ Top songs. Both of them feature enough hooks to hang meat with and plenty of blistering, blues-based leads from Gibbons. Legs is, perhaps, the most "artificial" sounding thing here in that you've got a buzzing, chugging synth lick that lurks just under the surface of this tune enough to make the song sound very "updated" and "classic" at the same time. TV Dinners was the minor hit and is about the weakest thing on the disc. Yes, it's entertaining, but that bridge that keeps showing up slows down the whole affair and is like hitting a sonic speed bump. It's not a bad track, but the lyrics are just corny (that may have to do with the subject matter) and the whole thing comes across as an experiment that didn't quite work.

But, all ZZ Top albums have some great singles on them, right? While it's true that the aforementioned big singles are among the strongest tracks in the band's catalog, the "minor" songs are often a joy to behold. Under Pressure, for instance, is a sleazy rocker supported by a filthy blues groove and off-the-wall lyrics about a seriously disturbed and downright frightening woman. I Need you Tonight is one of those "blue ballads" that ZZ Top does very well -- it's a little faster and a little less bluesy than other great ballads from the band, but it's still a great track.

Yes, the songs are great and this album would have been a hit even it wasn't dressed up with electronics. But, those electronic touches made it a monster hit in that it represented a tasteful update that just sounded contemporary back in 1983. The slick production made it appealing to pop audiences, but there is a problem with that production -- the bass just isn't as heavy and deep on Eliminator as it was on past releases. The rhythm section was always great at backing tunes with bass and drums that could rattle your teeth out of your head, but that was backed off quite a bit in the mix. The result is an album that sounds radio ready, but it just doesn't sound right to have the bass a little farther down in the mix than on other ZZ Top albums.

But, all the complaints of this album are decidedly minor. This album is great for parties and features ZZ Tops trademarked "hit you like a truck" sound. Bands tend to fail when updating their sound, but ZZ Top came across in a big way both commercially and artistically with Eliminator.

And, here's a bit of trivia. Eliminator was the first ZZ Top album to not sport something referencing Hispanic culture in the title. Yes, the album signaled a lot of changes from the band.


Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Driving