ZZ Top - The Best of ZZ Top [Clear Blue]

The Best of ZZ Top gathers the Texas trio's hard-boogie early years onto one LP, pressed here on clear blue vinyl.

Released in 1977, the compilation pulls from the band's first four albums, a stretch when Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard were building a reputation as one of the hardest-working live acts in America. These were the years before the synthesizers and the music videos, when the sound came down to greasy riffs, tight grooves and Gibbons' wiry, blues-soaked guitar.

Few songs strut like "La Grange," the boogie anthem built on a John Lee Hooker-style groove, and "Tush" packs a whole night out into a little over two minutes. "Waitin' For The Bus" and "Jesus Just Left Chicago" sit side by side just as they do on Tres Hombres, swampy and slow-burning, steeped in the blues.

Ten tracks and a lean running time leave you reaching to flip it back to side one almost as soon as it ends. It is the sound of a bar band becoming legends, with no fat on the bone.

For anyone starting a ZZ Top collection, it is the perfect primer before diving into the studio albums, and on clear blue vinyl it looks every bit as good as it sounds.