''Fandango!'' is the fourth album by the American
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
ZZ Top
ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. For 51 years, they comprised vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and vocalist-bassist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021. ZZ Top developed a signature sound ...
, released in 1975. The album's first side consists of selections from live shows, with the second side being new studio recordings. A remastered and expanded edition of this album was released on February 28, 2006.
Album title
Fandango
Fandango is a lively partner dance originating from Portugal and Spain, usually in triple meter, traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets, or hand-clapping. Fandango can both be sung and danced. Sung fandango is usually bipartite: it has ...
, from which the album gets its name, is a type of dance similar to
flamenco
Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...
.
Background
Frontman
Billy Gibbons
William Frederick Gibbons (born December 16, 1949) is an American musician who is the guitarist and lead singer of the rock band ZZ Top. He began his career in the band the Moving Sidewalks, which recorded a full-length album entitled, ''Flas ...
said of the album:
The live capture wound up being in the can first. We had enough live material to make up one side of the disc, so we decided to go with the unusual move of making the album half live, half studio. It turned out to be a winning combination for us.
The album's opening song "Thunderbird", despite having ZZ Top writing credit, was originally written and performed by
The Nightcaps, a band formed in the 1950s when the members were teenagers.
[Dabou/sb v. Gibbons, 42 F.3d 285, 287 (5th Cir. 1995).] The Nightcaps performed the song and distributed it on their album ''Wine, Wine, Wine'' but never applied for copyright.
ZZ Top began performing the song as early as 1974, and has conceded that their version is lyrically and musically identical to the Nightcaps' song. The Nightcaps sued ZZ Top for copyright infringement but their claims were dismissed as ZZ Top had registered a copyright on the song in 1975.
The song "Heard It on the X" was written about the influence of Mexican
border blaster
A border blaster is a broadcast station that, though not licensed as an external service, is, in practice, used to target another country. The term "border blaster" is of North American origin, and usually associated with Mexican AM station ...
radio stations (so-called "X Stations") on Texas and other parts of the United States, namechecking "Dr. B," an alias of
Dr. John R. Brinkley.
Promotion and release
The only single released from the album was "
Tush". The single peaked at #20 on the US
''Billboard'' Hot 100, making it the band's first top 40 single in the US. The song "Heard It on the X" also received heavy rotation on classic rock radio.
In the late 1980s the album was released on CD with the studio recordings being
digitally remixed and the original 1975 mix version was discontinued. The remix version created controversy among fans because it significantly changed the sound of the instruments, especially the drums. The remix version was used on all early CD copies and was the only version available for over 20 years.
A remastered and expanded edition of the album was released on February 28, 2006, containing three bonus live tracks. The 2006 edition is the first CD version to use
Terry Manning
Terry Manning is an American photographer, composer, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, audio engineer, and visual artist. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he has worked with Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Bryan Adams, ...
's original 1975 mix.
The album was re-released in 2009 on 180 gram vinyl using the original master tapes. It appears exactly the same except that it had a 180 gram vinyl LP sticker, by Back to Vinyl records.
Track listing
All songs by
Billy Gibbons
William Frederick Gibbons (born December 16, 1949) is an American musician who is the guitarist and lead singer of the rock band ZZ Top. He began his career in the band the Moving Sidewalks, which recorded a full-length album entitled, ''Flas ...
,
Dusty Hill
Joe Michael "Dusty" Hill (May 19, 1949 – July 28, 2021) was an American musician who was the bassist of the rock band ZZ Top for more than 50 years. He also sang lead and backing vocals and played keyboards.
Hill was born in Dallas, Texas, an ...
and
Frank Beard except where noted.
*Tracks 1-3 (side A of the original LP) were recorded live at The Warehouse in New Orleans on April 12, 1974, "captured as it came down - hot, spontaneous and presented to you honestly, without the assistance of studio gimmicks".
*Tracks 4-9 (side B) were new studio recordings.
*Tracks 10-12 (of the expanded 2006 version) were recorded live at the Capitol Theatre in
Passaic, New Jersey
Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 70,537, ranking as the 16th largest municipality in New Jersey and an increase of 656 from the 69,78 ...
, on August 30, 1980.
Personnel
*
Billy Gibbons
William Frederick Gibbons (born December 16, 1949) is an American musician who is the guitarist and lead singer of the rock band ZZ Top. He began his career in the band the Moving Sidewalks, which recorded a full-length album entitled, ''Flas ...
– guitar, vocals
*
Dusty Hill
Joe Michael "Dusty" Hill (May 19, 1949 – July 28, 2021) was an American musician who was the bassist of the rock band ZZ Top for more than 50 years. He also sang lead and backing vocals and played keyboards.
Hill was born in Dallas, Texas, an ...
– bass guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Jailhouse Rock", "Balinese", and "Tush", co-lead vocals on "Backdoor Medley" and "Heard It on the X"
*
Frank Beard – drums, percussion
Production
*Producer – Bill Ham
*Engineers – Jim Reeves, John L. Venable, and, Norman Mershon for Record Plant Truck. Robin Brians, Terry Kane,
Bob Ludwig
Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Qu ...
(mastering),
Terry Manning
Terry Manning is an American photographer, composer, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, audio engineer, and visual artist. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he has worked with Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Bryan Adams, ...
*Album concept – Bill Ham
*Design –
Bill Narum
*Photography – John Dekalb
Charts
Certifications
References
External links
Commercial for the album Fandango!from the
Texas Archive of the Moving Image
The Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) is an independent 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2002 by film archivist and University of Texas at Austin professor Caroline Frick, PhD. TAMI's mission is to preserve, study, and exhibit Texas film h ...
{{Authority control
ZZ Top albums
1975 albums
Terry Manning albums
Albums produced by Bill Ham
London Records albums