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."
Track List:
1. Flashback
2. Scoun da Be
3. You Make Me Shake
4. You Don't Know the Life
5. Pluto-Sept. 31st.
6. No Good to Cry
7. Crimson Witch
8. Joe Blues
9. Eclipse
10. Reclipse
11. 99th Floor
12. What Are You Doing to Do
13. I Want to Hold Your Hand
14. Need Me
15. Every Night a New Surpise
Download: Moving Sidewalks - Flash (50.7MB)
6 comments:
hello...havent had a chance to grab this one yet but plan on it...just wanted to drop a line to say thanks for postings so far. its nice to stumble onto a blog with some across the board taste.....
Many thanx for this one.........Ive been a big fan of gibbons since the early dayz. I used to have this one in my collection years ago, but was lost in a flood.....nice to have it back in the fold once again
Cheers
=Psychotronic420=
Thank you both for the comments. I was beginning to wonder if the stuff that I've uploaded recently appealed to anyone because of the lack of comments recently. It's nice to know that someone out there enjoys it.
great record, much appreciated.
Hi,
This is great. Visit myspace if you like as I'm doing a book on this subject. (Houston 60's music)
www.myspace.com/texasmusicwriter
Thanks,
V
Sounds a like a good album from a very underated guitarist ......obviously nothing like zz top but thats why this sounds interesting...thanks for the share.
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