I don’t know that I’d call myself a ZZ Top fan, but I’m grateful to them for saving Back to the Future 3. About a decade ago, during a summer when concert ticket sales were at an all time low, I saw ZZ Top live for $5 with my British friend who called them “Zed Zed Top”. It was during that concert that I realized that these guys looked, and continue to look, exactly like they did in the “Sharp Dressed Man” video, apparently never young but never getting older. So I’m not sure just how remarkable it is that ZZ Top continues to sound energetic and produce catchy tunes because I have no idea just how ancient these guys are.
“La Futura” is perhaps most notable for the pedigree of its first track, “I Gotsta Get Paid”. Attempting to modernize your classic rock sound by blending it with a more contemporary genre is one of the pitfalls that a lot of classic artists fall into (see also: Chubby Checker and the Fat Boys. Instead of sounding more hip, they end up sounding less so because it’s forced or a passing fad. “I Gotsta Get Paid”, which is a cover of a hip hop track from the 90s (or so I’m told) deftly avoids this trap by retaining a distinctly classic ZZ Top sound with a modern lyric. It makes for a very stuck-in-your-head-in-a-good-way track.
The album overall is consistently good. I found myself humming some of the tracks at random, unable to recall if they were old ZZ Top songs I was humming or new ones from this album. There are some good new riffs here too, though I couldn’t help but notice that both “Chartreuse” and “Consumption” have the same opening riff played at different tempos. And “Over You”, while a good track, seems derivative of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Tuesday’s Gone”. I also kept wondering if the final track, “Have a Little Mercy” is a sequel to 1973’s “Waitin’ for the Bus”, which also contains a repeated request for mercy, though arguably slightly more than a “little mercy”.
The album is a little choppy at times, with tracks ending abruptly or not providing enough of a transition between disparite tempos. But for anyone who could use some grungy southern-ish guitar rock by 2/3rds bearded men of indeterminate age, this is the album for you.