How anyone can give this great album 3 stars is beyond my comprehension. But then again it's all a matter of personal opinion, isn't it..........For me then, "Recycler" is one of my favourites from the grouchy old grandmasters of Tex/Mex howlin' blues/boogie. In fact I like it so much I have a CD for travelling and a vinyl copy for home. Not bad, eh? And I know this lil' ol' band pretty well after many many years of scaring the neighbours and blowing the roof off our conservatory! (lol) Seriously though folks, this album from the Weirdy Beardy ones is a real scorcher apart from one rather lame track - "Burger Man" - which is just SO American it sucks. And sadly "My Head's In Mississippi" is a bit of a rehash of "La Grange" from the wonderful "Tres Hombres" album. For the rest, however, you will find a terrific selection of fast and not-so-fast boogie, some sensational slow blues stuff ("2000 blues"), and three top-class stand-alone songs: "Concrete And Steel", "Give It Up", and "Doubleback". "Decision Or Collision" is pretty neat too. Honestly this album has it all and the unique tight-but-laid-back style of ZZTop is here in all its rowdy glory. In my opinion there is only one ZZTop album that beats this one and that's "Rhythmeen", which deserves a 5.5 star rating. I was lucky enough to catch the guys in 2003 at the Brixton Academy and apart from the fact that their own song selection was pretty dire (viz. "I'm Bad I'm Nationwide"/"Manic Mechanic" etc.) it was a memorable gig which of course climaxed with a scorching encore of "La Grange". If you're into ZZTop but don't have a copy of "Recycler" do yourself a big favour and hurry out and get one. Or better still just buy a cheapy from Amazon! But don't come moaning to me if you don't like it........and anyway for a couple of quid you're bound to like some of it.
