Maps of Music

Recycler (1990)

Where the lyrics of Recycler take you, and where it was really made.

Recycler was the last ZZ Top album to use the synth-driven sound that began on Eliminator, and the same record marked the band's return to its blues roots.

Key places

Recorded at Memphis Sound Productions (1990)

Recording site Ardent Studios — The band moved to Memphis to finish the record after its Houston and Los Angeles sessions. The work was done at Memphis Sound studios on Beale Street, with engineer Terry Manning. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Recycler: tenth studio album by the American rock band ZZ Top
• Released October 1990
• Last album to use the synth-driven production style that began on Eliminator
• Marked a return to the band's blues roots
• Five singles released from the album: Doubleback, Concrete and Steel, Burger Man, Give It Up, My Head's in Mississippi
• In the UK, certified Silver by the BPI in 1990 (60,000 units), the band's third BPI-certified album

Background

• The band had a cameo in the 1990 film Back to the Future Part III, playing an old west version of Doubleback with local musicians
• The regular version of Doubleback plays over the film's credits
• The Doubleback music video used clips from the film and was included on the DVD
• Music videos were also made for My Head's in Mississippi, Burger Man and Give It Up

Recording

• Initially planned to follow the lineage set by Eliminator and Afterburner
• Band wrote a couple of highly structured pop tunes in its studio in Houston
• Spent a couple of months in Los Angeles on the sequencer-based, everything-in-its-place approach
• On arrival in Memphis to finish the record, the band slid into a looser mode and jammed as a band in a circle while waiting for high-tech gear
• Some of those sessions appear on 2000 Blues and My Head's in Mississippi
• My Head's in Mississippi began as a straight-ahead boogie-woogie before Frank added gated electronic drum fills
• Not counting preproduction in Houston and Los Angeles, the album took four months to make
• Recorded at Memphis Sound Productions, Memphis, Tennessee, with engineer Terry Manning
• Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk, New York

Cover

• Artwork credited to Barry E. Jackson

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in Houston, Texas, in 1969 after Billy Gibbons' band Moving Sidewalks disbanded.
• The name came from Gibbons' idea, inspired by B.B. King and Z.Z. Hill, reasoning that "king is at the top."
• Signed with London Records and released ZZ Top's First Album in 1971.

Members

• Billy Gibbons on vocals and guitar, the only constant member since 1969.
• Dusty Hill on bass and vocals from 1970 until his death in 2021.
• Frank Beard on drums from 1969 until his death in 2026.
• Elwood Francis took over on bass after Hill's death, at Hill's request.
• Michael Monahan has been on tour as drummer since 2025.

Career

• Tres Hombres (1973) and Fandango! (1975) brought radio success; "La Grange" and "Tush" became classic rock staples.
• Eliminator (1983) reached international stardom and sold over 10 million copies, the only ZZ Top album certified diamond.
• Afterburner (1985) was their highest-charting album, reaching number four on the Billboard chart.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.
• Recognized by Guinness in 2018 as the longest-running active group with no lineup changes.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

Reappraisal

• AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine retrospectively gave the album 2 out of 5 stars
• Erlewine found it puzzling that the band kept the synthesized blues path, since five full years separated Recycler from Afterburner
• Erlewine argued the album lacked the goofy fun and warped ambition that made Afterburner fascinating
• Erlewine singled out Doubleback and especially My Head's in Mississippi as standouts
• Give It Up also received an AMG Pick, marking it as another highlight
• Robert Christgau gave the album a one star honorable mention
• Christgau named Concrete and Steel and Burger Man as the strongest tracks

Records

• Billboard 200 peak: No. 6
• UK Albums Chart peak: No. 8
• Australian Albums chart peak: No. 27
• Doubleback: No. 1 on the Album Rock Tracks for five weeks
• Concrete and Steel: No. 1 on the Album Rock Tracks for four weeks
• My Head's in Mississippi: No. 1 on the Album Rock Tracks for six weeks
• UK: BPI Silver (60,000 units), 1990
• United States: RIAA platinum certification noted in the Spanish Wikipedia article

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Gibbons said the band called Recycler its Tres Hombres/Eliminator album because the sound recalled their earlier music
• Gibbons said the area around Memphis Sound studios on Beale Street was full of distractions, which added time to the project
• Doubleback became the album's most visible tie-in, with its film cameo and a video built partly from movie clips
• Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk, New York handled the mastering, according to the rear cover credits
• The album's early sessions in Houston and Los Angeles were not counted in the four-month total

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Maps of Ages ↗ (mapsofages.com)

Privacy · Contact