Texas Boogie Classic Gets Zee Double 45 UHQR Treatment—Limited to 5000 Copies

it is the zz tops?

ZZ Top's third, released July, 1973 was the group's breakthrough set, peaking at #8 on the crowded Billboard Top 200. "Boogie-Rock", flavored with Southern Memphisonian (is there such a word?) blues charm produced a unique blend of pulsating rhythmic drive and country charm . Perhaps that's why all these years later the album continues to find new audiences wanting to both "boogie down" and draw close to the southern ether. It's not the kind of record in need of analysis beyond that, though there's been plenty trying to understand its broad, ongoing appeal.

Tres Hombres has had tres relatively recent reissues and quatro over the last two decades if you count the 2006 Because Sound Matters Warner Brothers release, mastered at AcousTech Mastering by Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman and pressed at RTI. That one has a median Discogs price of $55 and a high of $135.20, bought by someone who was. The last copy sold was April 19th of this year. Discogs lists 735 releases, with more than 200 on vinyl! Now that's a popular record!

The other recent ones were the VMP and the Rhino High Fidelity, part of the ZZ Top sold out box set but also available individually. The VMP was cut by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound and pressed oh "hot sauce" red vinyl at GZ Media. Kevin Gray cut the Rhino box version.

Of the aforementioned tres, the Gray/Hoffman double 45 sounds closer to this new UHQR than do the others, and that includes the Rhino Gray cut years later that sounds very different. The G/H cut has some bass "whomp", the RKS has the most neutral balance with a bit of warmth and for some reason the Rhino cut is surprisingly bright and antiseptic—almost as if the idea was to give listeners a document. Maybe that was the goal, but you can't turn it up or it gets bright.

And now we have the "ultimate" Tres Hombres cut by Matthew Lutthans from the original analog tapes on The Mastering Lab cutting system and pressed at 45rpm on two Clarity Vinyl UHQR flat discs. You know the process.

I wonder what confirmed audiophile Billy Gibbons would think listening to the quad four listed above, all of which sound different from one another. Which would he think correct? If there even is such a thing.

This new UHQR definitely pushes the mid-bottom end, which adds some warmth almost to the point of making the kick drum the star of the show. Matthew Lutthans is quoted in the annotation: "I tried to cut it so you can play it loudly, and not want to turn it down. Our version leans a little more towards the warm side than some others but not horribly so".

He ain't kidding! The louder you crank it, the better it sounds, but how it sounds will definitely be system dependent. If you like your Tres Hombres loud, this is the one you can turn up. Way up. The louder you play it, the better it sounds.

For people who complain about having to get up and turn over 45rpm double LP sets, that won't be a problem here. Once "Waitin' For the Bus"begins you're not likely to be sitting down until "Have You Heard?" ends!