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Tejas (album)

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Tejas
Studio album by
ZZ Top
ReleasedNovember 29, 1976[1]
Recorded1976
Genre
Length34:38
LabelLondon
ProducerBill Ham
ZZ Top chronology
Fandango!
(1975) 		Tejas
(1976) 		The Best of ZZ Top
(1977)
Singles from Tejas
  1. "It's Only Love"
    Released: 1976
  2. "Arrested for Driving While Blind"
    Released: 1977
  3. "Enjoy and Get It On"
    Released: 1977

Tejas is the fifth studio album by the American rock band ZZ Top. It was released in late November 1976, on the London label. The title is a Caddo language word meaning "friends", which is the origin of the name of the band's home state, Texas.

Background and release

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Arrested for Driving While Blind
audio clip (original vinyl 1976 mix)
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Frontman Billy Gibbons said about the album:

It's fair to say that this is a transitional record, although I'm not really sure what we were transitioning from and what we were becoming. (laughs) It may be representative of how rapidly things were changing in the studio.

The equipment was becoming more modernized, and the way that music was being recorded was different – things were moving faster. It was still pre-digital, but there was better gear that was more readily available. We made use of it all.

This period was the wrinkle that kind of suggested what was to come, and change would become a necessary part of the ZZ Top fabric.[2]

Tejas was produced by Bill Ham and recorded and mixed by Terry Manning. In 1987, a digitally remixed version of the recording was released on CD and the original 1976 mix version was discontinued. The remix version (which was not remixed by original engineer Terry Manning) created controversy among fans because it significantly changed the instrument balance and the sound of the instruments, especially the drums.

Tejas was released as a digital download on Amazon.com's MP3 store and iTunes in 2012, with the original mixes of the tracks that are included on Chrome, Smoke & BBQ, and the 1987 remixes of the tracks that are not from that boxset. The original mix of the album was released on CD in June 2013 as part of the box set The Complete Studio Albums (1970–1990).[3]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Christgau's Record GuideC+[5]
Rolling Stone(not rated)[6]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[7]

In a contemporaneous review of the album Richard Riegel of Creem called Tejas an album that "sings of those Southwestern lyrical staples... but with greater immediacy than the I'm-all-dressed-up-in-my-Roy-Rogers-cowboy-suit Eagles".[8] He compared the album to that of Peter Frampton's Frampton Comes Alive!, but observes that Tejas might outsell Frampton.

Barry Cain of Record Mirror wrote in a review that Tejas was highlighted by the songs "Arrested For Driving While Blind" and "El Diablo". He states that "El Diablo" had "struck him as being about the most haunting song he ever come across".[9] Cain also praised the vocals and guitar playing of Billy Gibbons on the album.

Writing for the Something Else! webzine in 2016, M. C. Mosquito said, "There are actually a lot of very good songs on Tejas, but many critics and much of the public dismissed it as ZZ Top gone "countrified," in part because of the twangy opener "It's Only Love." ... The rest of the record, however, is only a little more country than the rest of the band's initial albums. Had that song been shuffled down elsewhere in the sequence and replaced with something like "Ten Dollar Man" as the lead off track, maybe the twang tone factor wouldn't have been so noticeable, making it more marketable to the rock 'n' roll crowd. Then again, there's some pretty countrified fiddle in there too, so maybe the country label is kind of legit."[10]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, and Frank Beard, except where noted

Side one
No.TitleLead vocalsLength
1."It's Only Love"Gibbons, Hill4:24
2."Arrested for Driving While Blind"Gibbons3:05
3."El Diablo"Gibbons4:20
4."Snappy Kakkie"Gibbons2:56
5."Enjoy and Get It On"Gibbons3:23
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocalsLength
1."Ten Dollar Man" Hill3:42
2."Pan Am Highway Blues" Gibbons, Hill3:15
3."Avalon Hideaway" Hill3:07
4."She's a Heartbreaker" Gibbons3:02
5."Asleep in the Desert"Gibbonsinstrumental3:24

Personnel

[edit]
ZZ Top
Additional personnel

Production

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  • Producer – Bill Ham
  • Engineer – Terry Manning
  • Mastering – Larry Nix
  • Photography – Lee and Lesser
  • Album concept – Bill Ham
  • Album design – Bill Narum

Charts

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Weekly chart performance for Tejas
Chart (1976–1977) Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[11] 72
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[12] 3
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[13] 42
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[14] 21
US Billboard 200[15] 17

Certifications

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Certifications for Tejas
Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[16] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ Billboard, November 20, 1976, page 66, "London Promo for ZZ Top 'Tejas'", [...LP ships Nov. 29th]
  2. ^ Joe Bosso (June 2013). "Billy Gibbons talks ZZ Top: The Complete Studio Albums (1970-1990)". Musicradar.com. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  3. ^ Gallucci, Michael (30 April 2013). "New ZZ Top Box Will Include Original Mixes of First 10 Albums". Ultimateclassicrock.com. Retrieved May 2, 2013.
  4. ^ Tejas at AllMusic
  5. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: Z". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
  6. ^ Oppenheimer, Dan. "Tejas". rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on 2006-11-27. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  7. ^ Cross, Charles R. (2004). "ZZ Top". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 907-8. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  8. ^ Riegal, Richard (April 1977). "ZZ Top: Tejas (London)". Creem. London.
  9. ^ Cain, Barry (19 February 1977). "ZZ Top: Tejas (London LDU 1)". Record Mirror.
  10. ^ Mosquito, J. C. (February 18, 2016). "ZZ Top – 'Tejas' (1976): Shadows in Stereo". Retrieved October 8, 2023.
  11. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 348. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  12. ^ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 5269a". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved July, 8 2023.
  13. ^ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  14. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – ZZ Top – Tejas". Hung Medien. Retrieved July, 8 2023.
  15. ^ "ZZ Top Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved July, 8 2023.
  16. ^ "American album certifications – ZZ Top – Tejas". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
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