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Afterburner

ZZ Top - Afterburner Audio CD

A fair review of the ZZ Top "Afterburner" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all ZZ Top reviews here, or go back to the ZZ Top tabs.

Band: ZZ Top
Title: Afterburner
Rating:

Release Date: 1990-10-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Sleeping Bag 2: Stages 3: Woke Up with Wood 4: Rough Boy 5: Can't Stop Rockin' 6: Planet of Women 7: I Got the Message 8: Velcro Fly 9: Dipping Low (In the Lap of Luxury) 10: Delirious

A Great Example Of Top's Experimentation
This isn't the true ZZ Top as the hardcore fans identify with. First of all, let's get one thing straight. Anyone that's a substantial fan of ZZ Top knows that the heart and soul of what makes ZZ Top such an amazing band is found in their blues and boogie rock of their early period (Tres Hombres, Rio Grande Mud, Fandango. . . etc. ). This album is not of that period, and to compare it to that material is a waste of time, because this album was not trying to be what ZZ Top was in their early career.

The truth about Afterburner is that it was made as ZZ Top's true take on the synth-infested, digitized world of 80's mainstream rock, and that's exactly the period that it should be compared to. Whether or not Top was trying to "sellout" in order to garner more mainstream success or just wanted to fiddle around with the sounds of the period is something I sure don't know the answer to. However, I can say one thing for certain; their end result was quite an impressive production.

Many reviewers slam this album for its massive use of synthesizers and other digital equipment and mixing. However, I on the other hand have to praise it for what it's done. Afterburner really seeks to go after its synth-sound headfirst and it puts the synth material at the heart of all of the songs on the album.

I truly view this almost as somewhat of a concept album in that it takes the popular synthesizer sounds of the 80's and tries to take them from the backing track area of most mainstream rock of the time period, and it moves them into the forefront of every track. These are songs led along by their synthesized compositions. The synthesizers own the rhythms of each track, and that's somewhat of a major difference between most music of the 80's which used synthesizers to help back up the rhythms. In this album, Synths are not part of the songs, they are the songs.

So, what we have is an album embracing the technology and style of the time while still adding in some of the blues rock style that ZZ Top has always had in the past. The guitar playing is still often quite heavy and bluesy, like Gibbons style shown on older albums. These aren't the Van Halen-esque solos popular during the time period, but instead it truly is Gibbons being himself and playing his own style.

And, to be frank, this album really rocks harder than most of the music it was trying to emulate and stem from during the 1980's. Just listen to the ending solo to "Rough Boy", for example. This solo is far more "soulful" than most guitar parts coming from other mainstream rock of the same time. Arena power ballads and hair metal of this time period couldn't touch the raw emotion of Gibbons guitar playing throughout this album.

And that, to me, is what makes this album so well done. It retains much of the synthesized sound of the time period, but the music itself is far less "cheesy" at its heart than most contemporary releases. There's soul to this stuff, and there's rock there too.

AFTERBURNER: ZZ's Topp
If you have a taste for rock music that's energetic, fun, and hard-driving this is an collection you want to hear. Just one long time rock 'n' roll listener's opinion, but Afterburner is the absolute best thing this band has done. "Rough Boy", number four on the play list, slows down the pace and gives a chance to catch one's breath in anticipation of the delights to follow. With respect for the band's right to follow it's own creative muse, I see Afterburner as an apex: everything before builds up to it, and everything after gradually becomes albums I listen to less and less. Actually, the ZZ Top albums I most listen to are Deguello, El Loco, Eliminator, Afterburner, Recycler, and the Warner Brothers issued Greatest Hits, but Afterburner is always the one I'm most tempted to pull out for another listen.

Great Tunes!
The CD itself was in great shape as was the packaging. Of course the music is great. I would order from this supplier again.

Afterburner
. . And with this, one of my favorite groups, left me behind, abandoned, without a hope of ever hearing good ol' blues-rock ever again. Certainly, I'm exaggerating, well, sort of. The Top's ninth studio album peaked at #4, the highest chart position for any & all their albums to this date. It charted higher than Tres Hombres, Deguello & Eliminator. Is Afterburner a better album than those three? Simply, no. Afterburner doesn't compare to those three albums. Top was going commercial (gasp! not that l'il ol' band from Texas!), they incorporated synthesizers, dance rhythms & straight ahead drum beats soaked in reverb. Basically, what happened here was the 'follow-up effect', Afterburner was released after Eliminator, one of their best albums if not THE best, & was able to capitalize on the previous album's success. Nothing wrong with that but they were veering, somewhat, into club & dance music & this just doesn't fit into the Top's brand of music (okay, my concept of Z Z Top).

After saying all that, Afterburner isn't a bad album but it isn't a good album either. The most amazing thing about the album is that it had seven songs (it had a total of 10) that managed to get on some form of a chart. That's amazing! Simple math reveals that to be 70%! If a baseball player could bat that you know he would end up going to Cooperstown. "Can't Stop Rockin'" (#8 Mainstream Rock), "Sleeping Bag" (#1 Mainstream Rock, #8 Hot 100, #41 Club Play), "Stages" (#1 Mainstream Rock, #21 Hot 100), "Delirious" (#16 Mainstream Rock), "Rough Boy" (#5 Mainstream Rock, #22 Hot 100), "Velcro Fly" (#43 Club Play, #15 Mainstream Rock, #35 Hot 100) & "Woke Up With Wood" (#18 Mainstream Rock). This certainly makes Afterburner a popular album but doesn't make it a good album. The only catch to all this has to do with all the charts that these songs charted on, they were 'specialty charts', not the Pop Singles chart which is more indicative of the overall performance of the songs.

That leaves three songs, "Planet of Women", "I Got the Message" & "Dipping Low (in the Lap of Luxury)". These are all substandard songs for the Top as are "Delirious" & Woke Up With Wood". The rest of the songs are good but nothing is outstanding. Lyrically, the album is typical, they are many double entendres & boogie humor. Don't get me wrong, I've been a big fan of the Top for years & there's nothing wrong with making a buck but, honestly, they sold out with this album. They lost me as a fan & a buying customer, no big deal, for every fan they lost, they probably got two new ones in return. But then, when we look back on Eliminator, we can see the sellout began then, the signs were there hinting at what direction they were going. The big difference was Eliminator still rocked & it didn't seem, at least to this reviewer, that they were compromising their music so much.
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Awesome Album
Its very rare when I like more than 4-5 songs on an album. This is the only album I own that I actually listen to all 10 tracks. Eliminator had one dud (Thug). The energy is strong throughout. I like the synthesizer sound that bands were using in this era. Afterburner was also one of my favorite album cover designs. Recycler was also a great album cover design too.

November 1985 Chicago airwaves were flooded with stations playing cuts off of Afterburner. It was really popular and got tons of airplay. On February 26, 1986 I saw ZZ TOP live for the first time. The show was great but the wait in the parking lot to leave was longer than the concert. And it was like 12 below zero out that night.

I bought the original LP on Nov 1, 1985, made a tape of it and have been rocking ever since. I finally bought the Eliminator/Afterburner CD's in 2005 when I bought a new car that was equipped with a CD player. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and tonight, I Woke Up With Wood.

You can see a complete list of all ZZ Top discography, or go back to the ZZ Top tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.