Almost 15 years before MTV got crazy about these sharp-dressed men, ZZ TOP released their first single on the Scat label. The song is called "Salt Lick" and I recently acquired a copy, which I sold almost immediately. I was able to give it a spin before shipping it out to that lucky buyer, as I didn't recall ever hearing the track.
To quote my pal Steve Simels over at Power Pop, "Hole E. Crap!"
First of all, I had no idea this existed. I'm no ZZ Top completist, but I am familiar with most of their records, including their 1971 London debut. I am also a casual fan of Billy Gibbons' pre-ZZ psych band The Moving Sidewalks, who occasionally do some good, but mostly sound like your typical psych band of the 60's finding their way.
"Salt Lick" is a different beast altogether, sounding like a cross between early Mothers Of Invention and The 13th Floor Elevators.
This may be old news to you, but "Salt Lick" blew my mind.
14 comments:
You can add me to the blew my mind list. Thanks so much.
News to me as well. Fantastic! I Youtubed the flip side, Miller's Farm - it's an organ dominated stomper and great as well. Apparently, the band had a different bass/organist and drummer during this time.
Sal, hope you scored some buckaroos when you sold this - it fetches a pretty hefty price on Discogs.
This has me pumped to get my Francene '45, which btw, is my fave ZZ song.
Randy
Yes Randy, "Miller's Farm" is a killer, too.
That "Francene" single's b-side is "Francene" in Spanish!
WOW! Great song, great label art!
Damn, that kills!!
And the label is amazeballs.
I certainly hear early Mothers in this for sure. Pretty cool.
That's really something. You called it. Mothers/Elevators-ish.
craaaaaazy man !!!!!
you can hear the evolution from the Moving Sidewalks to what ZZ was to become. thanks Sal i had never heard this before. Excellent.
Hello Sal, I have a question about an album cover that maybe you can help me with. The album is Patti Smith's first album Horses. I had seen Patti at CBGB's before her album came out and loved her so I bought the album as soon as it was released. I later loaned it to a friend & never got it back. He moved to another state & I lost contact. I'm not a collector but lately I've thought about trying to buy another copy. I see some copies listed as 1st issue with the word Horses in white & others also listed as 1st issue with Horses in black. Do you know which is the actual 1st issue? I can't remember which one mine was.
Thanks for any help.
Tom,
I, along with many dealer friends, have always sold the glossy cover with "Horses" in white and the light blue label as a first pressing. This doesn't necessarily mean "Horses" in black is a repress. They could have alternated covers on the first issues. But for my purposes, I go with "Horses" in white.
Thank you. I was thinking that white was the true 1st issue. Do you or any of your dealer friends have a copy for sale?
Tom,
I'll poke around.
Thank you Sal
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