Tres Hombres

„ Tres Hombres “ ( spanisch für „drei Männer“) ist das dritte Studioalbum der US-amerikanischen Rockband ZZ Top und erschien am 26. Juli 1973 bei London Records . Es war die erste Zusammenarbeit der Band mit dem Toningenieur Terry Manning . Das Album markierte ZZ Tops kommerziellen Durchbruch in den Vereinigten Staaten und erreichte 1974 Platz 8 der Billboard 200. Die Leadsingle „ La Grange “ erreichte Platz 41 der Billboard Hot 100. Es war das erste von vielen Alben der Band, das spanische Begriffe in sein Branding integrierte.

The track "Waitin' for the Bus" segues into "Jesus Just Left Chicago" almost seamlessly. Houston Chronicle entertainment writer Andrew Dansby wrote in 2013 that this fusing of the songs was not the original plan. Dansby claimed that the album's engineer was splicing tape and cut too much, leaving no gap between the songs.^[7] The album's engineer Terry Manning, who performed the edit, counter-claimed in a 2017 blog post that it was no accident. Manning admitted that although it was not planned, as an engineer he was "always looking very carefully at the timings between songs ... counting time, feeling how different time sigs go together, different keys, different feels". Manning wrote that he "tried several things to see how those two [songs] would go together" when it dawned on him that they could "come together as one song, exactly as if played that way." Manning wrote that when he initially presented the edit, Billy Gibbons loved it, while the album's producer Bill Ham was confused and wary of it. "[A]fter several plays," he wrote, "it was obvious (to) everyone that there was no other way they could ever exist again."^[8]

The album was released in July 1973. Frontman Billy Gibbons said in 2013:

We could tell that we had something special. The record became quite the turning point for us. The success was handwriting on the wall, because from that point we became honorary citizens of Memphis.^[9]

At the height of ZZ Top's success in the mid-1980s, a digitally remixed version of the recording was released on CD and the original 1973 mix was no longer issued. The remix version created controversy among fans because it significantly changed the sound of the instruments, especially drums. The remix version was used on all early CD copies and was the only version available for over 20 years. A remastered and expanded edition of the album was released on February 28, 2006, which contains three bonus live tracks. The 2006 edition is the first CD version to use Manning's original 1973 mix. Subsequent releases on digital platforms such as iTunes have used the original mix as well.

In addition to the standard 2-channel stereo version, a four-channel quadraphonic version was also released in 1973 in the Quad 8 8-track tape and Q4 Reel-to-reel tape formats.^[10]

The only international single released from the album in most countries was "La Grange" (backed with "Just Got Paid" from the band's second album Rio Grande Mud), which peaked at number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1974.^[11] The song "Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers" was released as a UK only single.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
The Daily Vault	B+[13]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[14]
Pitchfork	9.0/10[3]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[12]

The album was released to a lukewarm reception by critic Steve Apple, who in a September 1973 review for Rolling Stone wrote that while the "Southern rock & roll sound" was becoming popular, ZZ Top themselves were "only one of several competent Southern rocking bands", though they had "an advantage over most white rockers" because they "sound black". He felt that ZZ Top had "the dynamic rhythms that only the finest of the three-piece bands can cook up. Billy Gibbons plays a tasty Duane Allman lead with Dusty Hill and Frank Beard pounding out the funky bottom", and were "one of the most inventive of the three-piece rockers" but wondered when "audiences will get tired of hearing the same ... 'Poot yawl hans together' patter."^[2] The album peaked at number 8 on the Billboard 200.

Im Jahr 2000 wurde das Album in Colin Larkins Liste der 1000 besten Alben aller Zeiten auf Platz 501 gewählt . ^{[ 15 ]} 2003 erreichte es Platz 498 auf der Liste der 500 besten Alben aller Zeiten des Rolling Stone Magazins und 2012 Platz 490 in einer überarbeiteten Liste. ^{[ 16 ]} 2011 kürte die Houston Press es in ihrer Liste der „Fünf essentiellen Boogie-Rock-Alben“ zum besten Boogie-Rock- Album aller Zeiten. ^{[ 5 ]} Im Juli 2013, 40 Jahre nach seiner Veröffentlichung, beschrieb Andrew Dansby das Album im Houston Chronicle als „…voller Charaktere und Handlungen, die so karikaturhaft – und doch todernst – präsentiert werden, dass sie Skepsis hervorrufen. Das Album strotzt vor Farbe und Geschmack, genau wie das berühmte Klappcover-Foto im Inneren: ein paar herzhafte Teller mit Essen aus dem beliebten, aber inzwischen geschlossenen Leo’s Mexican Restaurant in der South Shepherd Street nahe Westheimer.“ ^{[ 7 ]} AllMusic kommentierte: „ Tres Hombres ist das Album, das ZZ Top ihren ersten Top-Ten-Hit bescherte und sie damit zu Stars machte. Es hätte keinem besseren Album passieren können“ und vergab 4,5 von 5 Sternen. ^{[ 4 ]} Andy Beta von Pitchfork vergab dem Album 9,0 von 10 Punkten und schrieb 2017: „ZZ Tops Durchbruch im Jahr 1973 war eine meisterhafte Verschmelzung komplementärer Stile, bei der Southern Rock und Blues Boogie durch den ganz eigenen Filter der Band gepresst wurden.“ ^{[ 3 ]}

ZZ Top

• Billy Gibbons – Gitarre, Gesang (Leadgesang auf allen Titeln), Mundharmonika bei „Waitin' for the Bus“
• Dusty Hill – Bass, Gesang (Co-Lead bei "Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers")
• Frank Beard – Schlagzeug, Perkussion (unter dem Pseudonym „Rube Beard“)

Produktion

• Bill Ham – Produktion
• Robin Brians – Tontechnik (Robin Hood Studios)
• Terry Manning – Tontechnik, Mixing, Schnitt ( Ardent Studios )
• Bill Narum – Design des Albumcovers
• Galen Scott – Fotografie

• "Jesus Just Left Chicago" (2006 Remaster) auf YouTube