I can listen to a lot of classic southern-fried rock, and ZZ Top is certainly willing to play lots of it. The first 3 songs on Tres Hombres feature slightly different takes on the signature blues I-V-VI progression. Not a ton to complain about, except that it's a bit repetitive and derivative. "Master Of Sparks" mixes things up a bit- the tone is a bit psychedelic, almost like a mix of ZZ Top and Cream. "Precious and Grace" reminds me of what I heard on Black Sabbath's No. 4, though not quite as dark.
The 7th track on Tres Hombres is the mega-hit "La Grange" which on the radio, as opposed to their other mega-hits like "Gimme All Your Lovin'" and "Sharp Dressed Man" always sounded like a major outlier. The vocals on "La Grange" just sounded so strange compared to the others. The same is true on Tres Hombres to a lesser extent. Actually the vocals on Tres Hombres vary a little bit from track to track, but the deep bass styling used on "La Grange" is still pretty out there. And awesome. Still an outlier, but I'm glad the band didn't overuse the vocal style on "La Grange" because it would have worn out how cool it is.
On a side note, classic rock stations tend to play a remix of "La Grange" that has a ton of reverb applied that completely destroys the sound. The album cut is super tight and groovy, the radio cut just awful. It's almost like the radio cut tries to sell it as a live recording, but it's clearly the same take as the album version. I don't know why anyone would fuck with this song.
Basically I'm never going to find very much wrong with a classic rock album that's 33 minutes long. It's good, I like it. 3 stars.
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