More interesting, really, than the way ZZ Top attacks its best-known songs on the upcoming Live at Montreux 2013 is how utterly reinvigorated they sound on new stuff like “Chartreuse.”
A stand-out cut from 2012’s return-to-form La Futura, “Chartreuse” reanimates the lip-smacking salaciousness of “Pearl Necklace” and “Tube Snake Boogie” — even as it reclaims the band’s uncluttered, sleazy groove after a too-long period of synthesized tomfoolery.
Ultimately, moments like this seem to inform all of Live at Montreux 2013, due on July 22, 2013 from Eagle Rock, making it a dangerous delight. After all, “Chartreuse” has all of the attitude of those early hits, and a lot more tread. Better still, it amplifies what made their oft-heard classics such a hoot in the first place.
Clearly, ZZ Top — with a smart assist from Rick Rubin — began making a determined effort a few years ago to get past the missteps of the Eliminator period, and to reclaim the band’s deliriously unrefined ’70s feel. Live at Montreux 2013 is the sound of a band that’s done just that.
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