Hardware is the third solo album in the past seven years from the man known as The Reverend Billy F. Gibbons. For someone who never released solo albums before that period this is remarkably prolific, and has coincided with a drought in ZZ Top studio albums (the last one still being 2012’s frankly excellent La Futura).
Hardware was released on 4 June 2021. The death of ZZ Top colleague Dusty Hill the following month (on 28 July) obviously casts a shadow over proceedings. Gibbons and Hill were stalwart partners in music for 51 years, and even though Hill has not been involved in Gibbons solo career, their shared musical heritage (and unique look!) means that it’s almost inevitable that they were both seen as one half of that frontman duo rather than as completely separate individuals, even as solo artists.
Maybe it’s an emotional fan thing more than anything, but Hill’s spirit does loom in the background on this record. Not just by his close musical association to Gibbons for well over 50 years, but especially the fact that musically this is very close to being a ZZ Top album. At times it sounds so similar to the mothership that you’ve got to wonder if the material was ever slated for that band. At the same time, these are the sounds Gibbons is most known for, so an album in this style shouldn’t surprise anyone.
Hill’s death makes Gibbons the lone source of ZZ Top music going forward (drummer Frank Beard being more of a performer than a songwriter), but we can take comfort in the fact that there will be one more album from the dynamic trio. Hill had already recorded bass and vocals for a new ZZ Top album ahead of his death, the band having worked on new music earlier in the year. As the remaining members are now pushing into their mid-70s, perhaps we have reached the point where we shouldn’t ask for even more beyond that anyway.
Hardware is dedicated to another fallen soldier: Joe ‘Party’ Hardy, a producer, engineer, and musician who was Gibbons’ friend as well as a collaborator on numerous ZZ Top projects from 1983 onwards, all the way up to Gibbons’ second solo album which he produced and played bass on.
Each of Gibbons’ solo albums have had a key musical theme. Perfectamundo (2015) mixed Latin influences into his usual style, while The Big Bad Blues (2018) moved closer to the genre named in its title. As mentioned, Hardware finds itself in more familiar desert rock territory, with dirty Texas licks laying the foundation for a very groovy and, well, ZZ Top-y record.
The same people are involved as on the last recording, with drummer Matt Sorum and second guitarist/bassist Austin Hanks providing backing for Gibbons’ trademarked gravelly vocals. I was happily surprised to see that the Lowell sisters that make up Larkin Poe – Rebecca and Megan – are guesting on the album as well.
Hardware is less about being surprised musically, and more about getting the sounds you expect and enjoy from Gibbons. Whereas the previous two solo outings had stylistic detours, this is perhaps closer to what people expected in the first place – ZZ Top music played by just one of the ZZ’s (and friends). If this sounds good to you, then this is a safe purchase – and you will know what to expect.
The subject matter is familiar, too. As the album title Hardware alludes to, most of the songs on the album are predominantly about cars. And driving them. Possibly a bit about girls, too. Often all of the above: driving in a car with a girl.
The passion for automobiles is very genuine. Gibbons is well known within the hot rod community as a connoisseur, collector, and even creator of custom cars. His cars have been featured in ZZ Top music videos and album art, and have been displayed at automotive museums and concourse events. Gibbons has served as a curator and advisor for automotive exhibitions.
The first single West Coast Junkie (released 26 March 2021) put this passion and the usual topic matters front and centre: This Texas boy is in love with a west coast girl, and the song if filled with the positive vibes that comes from enjoying a drive westward to see her. All the while, the song also signals that the classic Gibbons guitar sound is dominating proceedings as well.
The song isn’t without humour, opening with Gibbons embracing his “Reverend Billy F Gibbons” persona, adding a preacher opening to proceedings. “People say to me: have mercy, have mercy” he proclaims, living up to the nickname he earned at around 18 years of age when he appeared on TV selling holy slippers to people. (It’s true! It’s also a story for another day.)
Rollin’ my Camino down Route 66
Thinkin’ bout my girl, got get me a fix
Ain’t no one like her, yeah she got some tricks
Baby so fine, built like a ton of bricks
I’m a west coast junkie from a Texas town
And when I get to Cali it’s going down
The album opener does an even better job of signalling that Gibbons is musically back in mothership mode. My Lucky Card is a bluesy boogie-rocker with a mean guitar sound, as well as one of the most ZZ Top soundalike tracks on the album. Not just that, but it would have been a tremendous track for them.
The album contains a lot of cool tracks and individual parts that stand out. More, More, More has a tremendous riff and a mighty groove. Shuffle, Step & Slide offers a slice of bluesy shuffle, with Gibbons emulating B.B. King in several guitar licks throughout the song. I Was A Highway is a very fun track, and I still can’t help but smile whenever Gibbons sing “You’d think I was a highway the way she hit the road.”
She’s On Fire is the fourth single from the album and a very typical Gibbons rocker. A driving riff and solid backing pumps the song along. “She’s alright, blazin’ through the night like a satellite / She’s alright, burnin’ like a match, she’s about to strike” Gibbons growls, keeping it unclear whether he is singing about a woman or a car. Probably both.
There is a music video which does not help answer that question, but it does underline the similarities this song shares with the mothership in every way – the band even doing the “ZZ Top wave” at the car in the video’s outro.
At the end of the day, this isn’t a song that invites deep thoughts. This is a fun song and a very fun video, and it is perfectly fine to leave it at that.
One of the detours and surprises found on the album is Spanish Fly – a unique song that crawls along with a slithering rhythm. The title refers to a hot rod (a 1946 Ford two-door sedan) owned by one of Gibbons’ friends. It is however also the name of an old herbal love potion. In Texas, it was a rite of passage to make the pilgrimage to the Mexican border and return with the aphrodisiac remedy. The song is moody with a very slow rhythmic and bluesy build.
The album closer is Desert High, and it is a huge song on the album. The end-of-album song is especially well positioned to deliver a poignant or climactic end to proceedings if the artist so desires. Gibbons goes for the former, building a mood of uneasy anticipation and quiet urgency. The track is atmospheric and expansive, conjuring up images of a westward drive through those Texan desert landscapes as the day is drawing to its end.
This song is unlike anything I have heard Gibbons produce before, taking a very cinematic approach to how the builds the song and write the lyrics, not too dissimilar to how people like Stan Ridgway often do. It is a remarkable song in every aspect, and a tremendous album closer.
The desert dust fills your eyes
The rattlesnake shake takes you by surprise
The coyotes sing in the calm of night
The cactus water goes down like fire
The City of Angels ain’t too far from here
And when I need some sin, it’s always near
The Caliente warms my bones
And the Valley of Death is a skeleton’s home
As I started out saying, Hardware is less about being surprised musically, and more about getting the sounds you expect. Hardware does have its surprises, but none of them are groundbreaking and they steer less off course than on previous solo efforts. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable record, primarily thanks to the invested performances by all involved. This is the sound of musicians having a lot of fun and inspiring each other to come up with new and interesting angles on music that they are well used to playing.
While I have enjoyed every solo album so far, this is really the one I have hoped Gibbons would come up with all along.
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