Search - Zz Top :: Fandango

Beware the almighty disease of 1980's technology

charley hardman | occupied US | 06/11/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"yes, this album was as good as it gets, but some dippy engineers and producers got a little ga ga in the late 80's over the ability to replace original drums with samples, and the tasty room sounds of the original studios with $12,000 digital reverbs. though they didn't rape the live cuts, they sure as hell invaded everything else (all in the name of 'improvement'). not sure if there are multiple cd versions, but the one i have is horrible. i'll take scratchy, warped vinyl, with it's sweet, original mix, over the heinous abuse of digital toys which threatens to remove a great (5-star) album from history.who is responsible for the slaying of fandango? step forward, ye cads. didn't your mothers tell you not to 'fix' something that ain't broke?all they had to do was feed the original 2-track into a sony 1630 and go have lunch, but they couldn't resist screwing with everything, perhaps because those were the early days of cd's and they thought they had to have a gimmick just to get people to buy old songs on a new medium. the tunes are still great, but realize that you may not be hearing anything close to the original when you buy fandango on cd. bummer."

Cd remix kills classic

Bruce Tarney | Nahant, Ma. USA | 02/27/2003

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This was a great album and I had to have the cd. Unfortunatly when I recieved the disc and put it in to play, I was dissapointed to hear the studio side had been remixed. A ton of echo had been added. The drums had been remixed and the sound changed. The cymbals were burried in the mix. Small nuances that made the tracks interesting were also lost. The vocals are also covered with reverb. The original tight sound had been replaced with a muddy "hall" type sound. I have returned to listening to my cassette version of this album and feel ripped off by the cd remix. I wish I never bought it."

Just Plain Awesome.

adam | the home of the jayhawks | 01/12/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is my fave ZZ Top album, and I have most of them (I'll have them all soon, I'm sure). Whether it's the first-rate studio cuts, or the electrifyingly great live cuts, there's nary a weak track on here. Everybody knows "Tush", "Jailhouse Rock" and "Balinese", and many know "Heard It On The X", but the lesser known tracks truly stand out, especially the killer "Back Door Medley", which, at over 9 minutes, still isn't long enough, and "Mexican Blackbird". The albums "Tres Hombres" and "Deguello" are right up there, but this one is the best one you can get, and it's actually a pretty good intro to the band if you're just starting a collection."