The sole album by the Moving Sidewalks is as fascinating as it is unremarkable. As the birthing ground for legendary blues-rock guitarist Billy Gibbons, one would expect at least a taste of what would later make ZZ Top one of the best touring and recording bands on the planet; sadly, the album offers little in the way of revelation in its 15 tracks.
Admittedly, at the time of ZZ Top's 1970 debut, Gibbons' transformation from a journeyman bandleader into a boogie-blues demigod was still not fully realized, but his chops were miles away from what is heard here. Part of that lies in the fact that ZZ Top was less about psychedelia than straight blues; whatever psychedelic touches made their way onto the studio albums were largely an accessory. (They would eventually fully integrate on 1979's Deguello.)
The Moving Sidewalks, on the other hand, were psychedelic rockers whose songs hinted at the blues without fully diving in. The songs show little of Gibbons' future promise, and in fact are so thoroughly mediocre (both in writing and playing) that it's amazing to think he was only a few years away from international success. "Pluto-Sept. 31st" shows a clear Hendrix influence (the two guitarists openly admired each other), and as a bonus, Akarma's reissue includes five bonus singles that are some of the strongest material on the album, especially "Need Me," "I Want to Hold Your Hand," and the legendary single "99th Floor."
by Jim Smith
Tracks
1. Flashback (Ames) - 4:46
2. Scoun Da Be (Moore) - 2:07
3. You Make Me Shake (Gibbons) - 3:04
4. You Don't Know the Life (Moore) - 3:56
5. Pluto - Sept 31st (Ames, Gibbons) - 5:13
6. No Good to Cry (Anderson) - 4:32
7. Crimson Witch (Gibbons) - 3:06
8. Joe Blues (Gibbons, Mitchell, Moore, Summers) - 7:37
9. Eclipse (Ames, Gibbons) - 3:37
10.Reclipse (Ames, Gibbons) - 2:30
11.99th Floor (Gibbons) - 2:17
12.What Are You Doing to Do (Gibbons) - 2:29
13.I Want to Hold Your Hand (Lennon, McCartney) - 3:20
14.Need Me (Gibbons) - 2:14
15.Every Night a New Surprise (Ames) - 2:58
The Moving Sidewalks
*Billy Gibbons - Vocals, Guitar
*Tom Moore - Keyboards
*Lanier Greig - Keyboards
*Don Summers - Bass
*Dan Mitchell - Drums
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the Free Text
Pure excellence ! Thanks very much...
ReplyDelete@Marios, awesome psychedelic album, The Freeborne's Peak Impressions, posted in lossless on Rutracker.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for this classic Marios!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this great record.
ReplyDeleteΠάρα πολλά ευχαριστώ Μάριε για αυτήν δεώ την ανάρτηση με τα bonus tracks. Φανταστικό άλμπουμ!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Marios!
ReplyDeletejust another quick thank you for this excellent post!
Nice site but UPLOADING hosting service SUX for freeusers. I click free user box. I wait my 45 seconds expecting the file. The stupid thing then tells me that my session has expired. Try again later.
ReplyDeleteNo thankx
Oh, the links have expired. Oh well...
ReplyDeleteBrilliant - thanks for the reload Marios !
ReplyDeleteThe quintessential garage / psych Texan, very simplistic definition, for one of those albums so folgorantiche you mark the life.
ReplyDeleteI remember that I bought the version with 5 bonus Eva, entitled 99th Floor, in April 1983 in Milan with great astonishment of the shopkeeper seeing a kid who was interested in some music (I was 22 and he, on the 35 I looked like an old man).
I was military so I had to wait several days to get home and listen to a disc which I had read a review so passionate, but I never thought it was so immense that I definitely would put in a time capsule destined for posterity.
From a record you can not expect more.
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