"Eliminator" introduced the world to one of rock's most unique sounds from one of rock's most unique bands, ZZ Top. Past albums like "Tres Hombres" or "Deguello" had firmly established the band as a major draw, but it was with this 1983 album that the band first used an appealing blend of technology that was perfectly topped onto their trademark R&B/Delta blues roots.
The vocals and bass of Dusty Hill are as rough as the Texas sand, matched only by that of Billy Gibbons (who was a favorite guitarist of Jimi Hendrix), backboned by Frank Beard's disciplined drumming. All of this makes for a tightly wound musicianship that never suffers from "Eliminator"'s synthesized element. The album spawned several hits, notably 'Legs,' 'Sharp Dressed Man,' and 'Gimme All Your Lovin'. 'Got Me Under Pressure' is just as legendary, being an enduring ZZ Top favorite. The one-of-a-kind 'Thug' meanwhile is a darker tale, and features an incredinbly funky bass texture, while the likes of 'TV Dinners' and the incredibly eye-roll inducing 'I Got the Six' are somewhat less serious, but just as memorable. 'I Need You Tonight' however is surprisingly sympathetic and features some of Gibbons' best guitar work.
Although "Eliminator" became one the 80s most recognizable efforts, it finally gave ZZ Top the worldwide success they'd deserved since the early 70s. It is very much a male-ego album, containing the brilliant arrogance and flashiness that made ZZ Top so great in the first place.

Eliminator(1983). ZZ Top's Ninth Album.

In 1983, ZZ Top was beginning to slide back into mainstream popularity, as their previous albums, 'Deguello' and 'Tejas', had both gone platinum. When 'Eliminator' arrived, the album instantly rocketed to the top of the charts, thanks to the massively popular music videos "Legs" and "Sharp Dressed Man". Thanks to MTV, 'Eliminator' became ZZ Top's best-selling album, and it remains a rock classic to this day. To this day, "Gimme All Your Lovin", "Got Me Under Pressure", "Sharp Dressed Man", "I Need You Tonight", and "Legs" are all rotated constantly on the radio. So, do I think this album lives up to the hype? Read on to find out!

After 'Eliminator', ZZ Top became less and less of a rock band and more of a pop band, but here they managed to create the perfect balance. ZZ Top made an album that still retained the bluesy, gritty rock sound that they're known for, but managed to appeal to almost everybody. ZZ Top is a very percussive band, and Frank Beard's drumming is truly amazing here. On almost every song, I found myself tapping my feet to the beat... truly, he did an amazing job here. Billy Gibbons guitar work here is spectacular! He can make catchy power chords one second, and rip out a bluesy solo the next. He truly is a great rock n' roll guitarist.

From the dirty, boozy rock of "Gimme All Your Lovin" and "Legs" to the blues of "I Got The Six" and "TV Dinners", ZZ Top kept me interested. While all the hits are instant classics, "Sharp Dressed Man" is the absolute best ZZ Top song, basically defining and rewriting the definition of "cool". "I Need You Tonight" is ZZ Top's strongest ballad, a percussive, guitar-laden classic that never gets boring, unlike some of their later material. "Legs" is the most identifiable song on 'Eliminator', a song that would be the beginning of ZZ Top blending synthesizers more and more into their music, but still stands out as one of their best. "Got Me Under Pressure" is sort of a dark view of peer pressure that contains some of Billy Gibbons' best guitar work. While the later half of the album is not nearly as good as the first half, it still can hold it's own. "Thug" is a very smooth, cool song that has some funky slap bass and great drumming. "TV Dinners" is a rather repetitive blues song, but Gibbons' guitar work is very inspired here. "Dirty Dog", "If I Could Only Flag Her Down", and "Bad Girl" are all bluesy rockers that any ZZ Top fan can identify with.

What's to say? 'Eliminator' is one of those albums that never gets old. The first half of this album is flawless, a perfect example of what blues-rock should sound like. ZZ Top would never be this good again, and 'Eliminator' remains a very powerful album to this day. Although maybe not my favorite ZZ Top album, it's hard to say it's not. A very well-produced and cohesive record, the band sounds fantastic and the songwriting is clever and imaginative. Please, don't claim you have a complete classic rock album unless you have this classic.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO FANS OF ZZ TOP, BLUES, ROCK, AND 80'S MUSIC! ZZ TOPS' LAST GREAT ALBUM... DON'T MISS IT!

Also Recommended-

Deguello- ZZ Top
Led Zeppelin II- Led Zeppelin
Aerosmith- Aerosmith

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ZZ Top's sudden MTV omnipresence and massive popularity that followed the 1983 release of "Eliminator" may have jarred long time fans of the little ol' band from Texas, but the truth is that the album is also one of their best. The hits may have been inescapble on video and the radio at the time, but "Gimmie All Your Lovin'," "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Legs" are perfect pop rock gems that still hold up two decades later. Other standout cuts are the harder rocking "Got Me Under Pressure," another MTV goof "TV Dinners," and one of their better slower songs in "I Need You Tonight." The rest is certainly filler material, but holds up well enough.

Overall, a huge commercial and artistic success that marked the high point of the Top's long career.

ZZ Top was a band that had been around for while when they released their most successful commercially successful album - 1983's "Eliminator". "Eliminator" marked the band's ninth studio album. This album came across at the right time for the trio of lead singer and guitarist Billy Gibbons, bassist Dusty Hill, and drummer Frank Beard. This was the time the pop music landscape was being dominated by a Synthesizer-laden sound and MTV. While ZZ Top had came from Blues origins, the music video played a key role in making them music superstars in the 1980s. While "Eliminator" does have its moments, the conclusion I reach is that this album is overrated from an overall musical standpoint.

As mentioned, ZZ Top had established themselves as a Blues Based band. When the early 1980s came - ZZ Top was still playing Blues music. Their 1981 album, "El Loco" was an underrated album that had remained true to these roots. It was around this time when many traditional Rock bands were now beginning to take advantage of the technology being offered by the Synthesizer. Songs like "Leila" on "El Loco" hinted that they might be moving away from the Blues sound. However it was on their next album, "Eliminator" that saw the use of the Synthesizer integrated into ZZ Top's sound. But the synthesizer wouldn't dominate things - ZZ Top would use their powerful instrumentation - Gibbons' guitar, Hill's bass, and Beard's drums to help to define their sound. In fact, they would take advantage of this thunderous instrumentation - and move toward a harder rock sound (with the help of some synthesizers). At the same time, they wouldn't abandon their Blues roots completely.

Credit should be given to ZZ Top for integrating some new concepts into their sound. However, I wouldn't say that this new sound is the greatest thing since sliced bread. MTV and marketing had a lot to do with the band. The band would capitalize on the music video revolution that was taking place during the 1980s. Gibbons' and Hill's long beards, trench coats and sunglasses made them a very attractive commodity to the upstart cable network. Add some sexy women to the videos and a sleek looking retro coupe car called "The Eliminator" and it would almost seem like they were tailor-made for MTV. I think this has a lot to do with why ZZ Top became such a commercially successful draw with "Eliminator" and then later with their follow-up album, "Afterburner". It is also worth noting that while ZZ Top has always maintained a core group of fans, their days as mainstream stars would soon fade as interest in Music Videos would fade going into the 1990s.

Three songs from "Eliminator" would become popular songs - along with their associated music videos. The three songs are "Gimme All Your Lovin", "Sharp Dressed Man", and "Legs". "Legs" was probably the most popular song - and probably had something to do with the comeback of the miniskirt in 1983. Eliminating all of the innuendo associated with "Legs", I look at this song musically: This is a very guitar-driven sound - no doubt by Gibbons' hard playing guitar - but you will also hear the synthesizer integrated into the sound. However, when you listen to "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Gimme All Your Lovin", you will notice that these songs have a very similar-type of sound from a guitar standpoint - especially in the chords. However, I think these songs are stronger from a guitar standpoint. I'd put "Gimme All Your Lovin" as the strongest of the three. (I especially like Beard's great drum intro) The problem is - I grow real tired of these songs quickly because they do have such a similar sound.

There are some hard rock songs that do sound different than the "Big 3". "Got Me Under Pressure" is an underrated track - that does have a combination of the heavy guitar and synthesizers. It's a good song, but the chorus is somewhat of a let-down. Another harder-edged song is "I Got the Six". This song almost has an "Arena/Hard Rock" quality to it. Gibbons' guitar shines again on that track. The collection's final track is "Bad Girl". Like "I Got the Six", ZZ Top employs a similar "Arena Rock" quality to it.

The track "Thug" is a very interesting one. This is probably the most "80s" sounding Synth-Pop track. It's not a bad song, but it's not a great one. It's definitely something different by ZZ Top.

The Blues are still present on many tracks. In fact, I think ZZ Top is true to their roots and show their strength is still in this area. This will be heard on tracks such as "I Need You Tonight". This track almost has a Led Zeppelin-like Blues start to it. Perhaps the best track on the album is "TV Dinners". This is one of the simplest tracks both musically and lyrically. It is a song about - well, food. It has a very simple Blues track to it and the formula works very well here. "Dirty Dog" is another Blues-laden track, but this one has a harder rock edge to this song. "If I Could Only Flag Her Down" is another very strong track (possibly the second strongest). On this track, ZZ Top employs a classic Southern Rock style Blues style.

My conclusion about "Eliminator" is that the MTV tracks probably are a bit overrated. The Harder Rock stuff is ok, but not great. The Synth Pop experiment on "Thug" doesn't have me doing handstands. Overall, I still look at ZZ Top's strength to be in their Blues roots - and this is demonstrated nicely on "Eliminator". Overall, if you are looking at ZZ Top even to get the MTV hits, you may be pleasantly surprised by the Blues work. However, I'd recommend this for getting the Blues-laden songs only.

I own this in LP. But I had heard on the radio before buying it, this was their first hard rock recording. And between the radio and MTV, I had heard enough of the songs from this album. I admit. I was impressed by how they did this. It separates the professionals from the amateurs. I will cover why.

One thing I like about this recording is, it was so little of a transition hardly anyone who had not heard this was a hard rock recording would not know it. They made little change in their style of music in this recording. But it was enough to classify as hard rock. I had heard earlier recordings of theirs. One is Tres Hombres. It was to be one of their last regular rock recordings for a while.

The guitars were a little deeper and heavier. They slowed down the tempo just enough. The drums had a harder beat. It was in all their songs in this recording.

I noticed why they only made a gradual transition. One was to keep their regular rock fans. The other was to pick up new hard rock fans. And they did succeed in both areas.

Of course, I noticed their next hard rock recording that came out in 1985, Afterburner, got a little harder yet. I liked their gradual approach. There is a reason.

There have been other regular rock groups who changed too rapidly into either hard or metal rock. They did not last.

Others chose not to change. And they faded as well. One is Pat Benatar. It was at an era when regular rock was fading. And hard and metal rock were on the rise. ZZ Top knew they had to change or fade out. And they knew to change gradually. Or they would risk losing their then current fans. And they would not be able to pick up hard rock fans. This is what separates the professionals from the amateurs.

All I can say is to buy this CD from this site. Listen closely to their style. You will see as I have why they survived while others died. And they are still going strong. It is a momento in the 1980's history of rock 'n roll. It is well worth the investment.