Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. You Make Me Shake - The Moving Sidewalks
2. Joe Blues - The Moving Sidewalks
3. Crimson Witch - The Moving Sidewalks
4. Miller's Farm
5. Salt Lick
6. Brown Sugar
7. Goin' Down to Mexico
8. Just Got Back from Baby's
9. Francine
10. Just Got Paid
11. Ko Ko Blue
12. Chevrolet
13. Bar-B-Q
14. Sure Got Cold After the Rain Fell
15. Whiskey'n Mama
16. La Grange
17. Waitin' for the Bus
18. Jesus Just Left Chicago
19. Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers
20. Master of Sparks

Disc 2:

1. Precious and Grace
2. Shiek
3. Thunderbird [Live]
4. Jailhouse Rock [Live]
5. Nasty Dogs and Funky Kings
6. Heard It on the X
7. Blue Jean Blues
8. Mexican Blackbird
9. Tush
10. It's Only Love
11. Arrested for Driving While Blind
12. Diablo
13. Enjoy and Get It On
14. She's a Heartbreaker
15. Asleep in the Desert
16. I Thank You
17. Cheap Sunglasses
18. I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide
19. Fool for Your Stockings
20. Degüello Album Radio Spot
21. Manic Mechanic
22. She Loves My Automobile
23. Leila
24. Tube Snake Boogie

Disc 3:

1. I Wanna Drive You Home
2. It's So Hard
3. Pearl Necklace
4. Heaven, Hell or Houston
5. Gimme All Your Lovin
6. Got Me Under Pressure
7. TV Dinners
8. Sharp Dressed Man
9. Legs
10. I Got the Six
11. Dirty Dog
12. If I Could Only Flag Her Down
13. Sleeping Bag
14. Stages
15. Woke Up With Wood
16. Rough Boy
17. Can't Stop Rockin'
18. Planet of Women
19. Velcro Fly
20. Delirious

Disc 4:

1. Concrete and Steel
2. Lovething
3. Penthouse Eyes
4. My Head's in Mississippi
5. Give It Up
6. Doubleback
7. 2000 Blues
8. Reverberation (Doubt)
9. Viva Las Vegas
10. Gun Love
11. Francine [Spanish]
12. Cheap Sunglasses [Live]
13. Legs [Dance Mix]
14. Viva Las Vegas [12" Remix]
15. Give It Up [2,800 Mile Remix]
16. Velcro Fly [12" Remix]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10327 in Music
• Released on: 2003-10-14
• Number of discs: 4
• Formats: Box set, Original recording remastered

Customer Reviews

A Little Ole Band From Texas!
I would actually rate this new 4 cd box set 41/2 stars. This is arguably the best place for the uninitiated to began experiencing the joys of ZZ Top. The newly remastered 4 cd set is full of enough Texas blues/rock and boogie to get everyone's toes tapping. One of the best aspects of the set is that original mixes were used for the remastering of the earlier period material. Whether you remember ZZ Top from their seveties era hits (pre long beards)like the catchy John Lee Hooker rewrite "La Grange" or "Tush" or you are a fan of their MTV era hits like "Gimme All Your Lovin'", "Legs" or "Sharp Dressed Man" you will find much to enjoy with this comprehensive retrospective. Early tracks like my own favorite "Jesus Just Left Chicago", "Sure Got Cold After The Rain Fell" and "Blue Jean Blues" show that Billy Gibbons and his guitar Pearly never lost track of his blues influences. While uptempo rockers like "Bar-B-Q", "Thunderbird" and "Heard It On The X" never fail to excite. Gibbon's playing is always tasteful and his Texas influences permeate his songs. Diverse covers like "Viva Las Vegas", "I Thank You" and "Reverberation (Doubt)" prove that Billy and the boys were at home in covering number of genres. The mushmouth grungy vocals of Gibbons and Hill fit the songs like jalapeno peppers on nachos. Mid period tracks like "Cheap Sunglasses", "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide" and "Tube Snake Boogie" hint at the massive success the band would experience with their Eliminator and Afterburner albums.

The rarities are a mixed bag, on the plus side are few cuts from Billy Gibbons pre-ZZ Top psychedelic band the Moving Sidewalks, the band's first non-lp single and a live version of "Cheap Sunglasses". The remixes and dance mixes are a waste of space in my opinion. Great tracks like "Back Door Love Affair", "Certified Blues", "Apologies To Pearly", "Low Down In The Street" or a cover of Elmore James "Dust My Broom" could have been added instead of the remixes. Even better would have been a disk of live outtakes from the "Fandango" album and more cuts from the concert from which "Cheap Sunglasses" was taken. It is also interesting that while a few tracks from the Moving Sidewalks Billy Gibbons pre-ZZ Top band were included no tracks were included from the band American Blues which contained both bassist/vocalist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard along with Hill's brother Rocky before they joined ZZ Top. These quibbles aside anyone with more than just a passing interest in the Texas boogie of ZZ Top should snap this up pronto!

Top Notch Box Set
This box hits the sweet spot for fans like myself; I wasn't interested in buying every album from their peak years, yet every album had something on it that I wanted. The "greatest hits" compilations out there only had their radio songs on it, and I certainly didn't need to hear those again, so I bought this box. I can say with no uncertainty that it was a good decision. There's alot of good stuff here, and the booklet is first class, as is the sound quality. It certainly wasn't cheap, but I don't feel short changed.

The Greatest American Band
Thank goodness for this box set. It's not just that the song
selection (for the most part) is excellent, not just that the
"Moving Sidewalk" selections are (all three of them) great,
the main reason this box set is a must-have is.........
sound quality! Especially evident in the Tejas selections,
there is a night-and-day difference between the box set and
the Tejas CD...and for that matter ALL those "Six Pack" CDs...
this box set sound quallity is approximately 6 zillion times

better. Plus you get this cool "flip book" as an interesting
gimmick. This box set is worth every single penny. What
ZZ Top possesses is a deeply profound understanding of the true
essence of rock'n roll/boogie/Tex-Mex in an often staggeringly
beautiful manner. Can there be any doubt that Mr. Gibbons
"picked up" something cosmic from Mr. Hendrix when they toured
together?