There are two box sets available for this Texas Top collection. I ordered the "limited edition" set which is an additional $18 after I looked on another site and read that the limited edition came with ZZ Top action figures which I thought might be fairly cool. After receiving my set I found out that the "action figures" are actually color paper cut outs of the band and a few things like BBQ Ribs and a picnic table, etc. So...the music is great with a few omissions that are detailed in other reviews. I just wanted people to know that the only difference between the limited edition and the standard set is color paper cut outs. If that is worth the additional pesos to you fine....after seeing them I really wish I hard ordered the other set. Great Jams though....

I would actually rate this new 4 cd box set 41/2 stars. This is arguably the best place for the uninitiated to began experiencing the joys of ZZ Top. The newly remastered 4 cd set is full of enough Texas blues/rock and boogie to get everyone's toes tapping. One of the best aspects of the set is that original mixes were used for the remastering of the earlier period material. Whether you remember ZZ Top from their seveties era hits (pre long beards)like the catchy John Lee Hooker rewrite "La Grange" or "Tush" or you are a fan of their MTV era hits like "Gimme All Your Lovin'", "Legs" or "Sharp Dressed Man" you will find much to enjoy with this comprehensive retrospective. Early tracks like my own favorite "Jesus Just Left Chicago", "Sure Got Cold After The Rain Fell" and "Blue Jean Blues" show that Billy Gibbons and his guitar Pearly never lost track of his blues influences. While uptempo rockers like "Bar-B-Q", "Thunderbird" and "Heard It On The X" never fail to excite. Gibbon's playing is always tasteful and his Texas influences permeate his songs. Diverse covers like "Viva Las Vegas", "I Thank You" and "Reverberation (Doubt)" prove that Billy and the boys were at home in covering number of genres. The mushmouth grungy vocals of Gibbons and Hill fit the songs like jalapeno peppers on nachos. Mid period tracks like "Cheap Sunglasses", "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide" and "Tube Snake Boogie" hint at the massive success the band would experience with their Eliminator and Afterburner albums.

The rarities are a mixed bag, on the plus side are few cuts from Billy Gibbons pre-ZZ Top psychedelic band the Moving Sidewalks, the band's first non-lp single and a live version of "Cheap Sunglasses". The remixes and dance mixes are a waste of space in my opinion. Great tracks like "Back Door Love Affair", "Certified Blues", "Apologies To Pearly", "Low Down In The Street" or a cover of Elmore James "Dust My Broom" could have been added instead of the remixes. Even better would have been a disk of live outtakes from the "Fandango" album and more cuts from the concert from which "Cheap Sunglasses" was taken. It is also interesting that while a few tracks from the Moving Sidewalks Billy Gibbons pre-ZZ Top band were included no tracks were included from the band American Blues which contained both bassist/vocalist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard along with Hill's brother Rocky before they joined ZZ Top. These quibbles aside anyone with more than just a passing interest in the Texas boogie of ZZ Top should snap this up pronto!

Thank goodness for this box set. It's not just that the song

selection (for the most part) is excellent, not just that the

"Moving Sidewalk" selections are (all three of them) great,

the main reason this box set is a must-have is.........

sound quality! Especially evident in the Tejas selections,

there is a night-and-day difference between the box set and

the Tejas CD...and for that matter ALL those "Six Pack" CDs...

this box set sound quallity is approximately 6 zillion times

better. Plus you get this cool "flip book" as an interesting

They've finally done it. Gone is the godawful reverb that dominated the ZZ Top Six-Pack. This is a beautiful crystal-clear remaster that replicates the original sound of the vinyl albums of yesteryear, and not the whim of some trendy sound engineer. They even restored the first couple of missing words from "Arrested For Driving While Blind," a pet peeve of mine from the first cd versions.

The remixes are a blowoff and could have easily been replaced by other album tracks, but that's a minor issue. The booklet is an excellent companion piece, covering the history of the band in depth and song-by-song discussions of each track (check out the story behind Blue Jean Blues).

This is essential ZZ Top. Don't miss out.

Even though this package is a bit pricey, each CD is packed with over 75 minutes of music, and the accompanying booklet is well-written, interesting and a good addition to the set.

The song selections are right on the money. For Tres Hombres and Fandango, for instance, the best songs were chosen and the lemons were left off of this compilation. One could quibble about including more from the First Album, but then choices had to be made. In general, every song on this compilation is enjoyable. A 5 or 6 CD set could easily have been released but this is an excellent sampling.

A couple of the other reviewers gave incorrect information which I'd like to correct. The version of Legs is the exact same version, down to the second, as appeared on their album Eliminator--it was not cut-off during a guitar solo as one reviewer erroneously stated. Also, another reviewer said that this compilation uses the "disco mix" releases of the early albums. The reviewer is wrong. This set uses a remastering of the original album releases, not the bogus rerecorded versions.