ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 1, 2020

ZZ Top is one of the more interesting bands in the American rock scene, one that has sold tens of millions of records, and one with an instantly identifiable sound and a perhaps even more instantly identifiable look, but one which may not have penetrated into the mass public consciousness enough that anyone who is not a diehard fan of the band would be able to even name its three members, let alone offer any biographical information about any of them. Fans of course would be able to list off Dusty Hill, Billy F Gibbons and Frank Beard* within seconds, but even some of those selfsame fans might not be able to list much biographical data beyond those names. For anyone in either of those categories (non-fan or fan), ZZ Top: That Little Ol’ Band from Texas may be an agreeable information dump of sorts, giving a glut of datapoints on what the back cover of this release probably correctly states as being “the extraordinary tale of a band whose image we know, but whose story we don’t.”

One of the many talking heads in this piece mentions how ZZ Top's early music videos created almost an aura of mystery, distancing the trio from the audience in a way, and that in and of itself may help to account for how little seems to be generally known about these guys. This very appealing documentary may not provide a bunch of "early childhood" biography, but it really has some hugely entertaining archival video and reminiscences from all three that get into their early music making activities, as well as their eventual formation and success as ZZ Top. There's also some touching content given to their longtime manager Bill Ham, who passed away recently. Some of the anecdotes are kind of funny, including their recounting of their own first encounter with MTV, which they initially mistook to be some kind of special, watching for untold hours and wondering when it was finally going to end.

*It's always struck me as a little funny that Frank Beard is the one without "the beard".

ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Vision, an imprint of Eagle Rock Entertainment, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer (largely) in 1.78:1 (as often tends to be the case with these music documentaries, some archival footage is in narrower aspect ratios). All of the contemporary footage here looks sharp as a tack for the most part, including long segments in Gruene Hall which have been kind of sepia toned (see screenshots 6 and 8). The piece has some whimsical animated elements as well (see screenshot 4), where line detail is typically very well defined. As should be expected, some of the archival video can look pretty ragged by comparison (see screenshot 5, which is actually some of the better looking archival footage).

ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band From Texas features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 tracks. While the music here is used largely as interstitial underscore bridging various talking head segments, there are the more extended snippets from Gruene Hall, which is where the surround track probably shines the most. Both tracks offer excellent fidelity that easily supports both the talking head and musical elements.

ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Gruene Hill Bonus Performances (1080p; 17:35) include:

  Shuffle in C / Fannie Mae

  La Grange

  Brown Sugar

  Blue Jean Blues

• Ham Estate Archive Bonus Performances (1080i; 16:58) include:

  Thunderbird

  Tush

  Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers

  I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide

  Manic Mechanic

Note: The Gruene Hall Bonus Performances feature either DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 or LPCM 2.0 audio. The Ham Estate Archive Bonus Performances feature only LPCM 2.0 audio.

ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Fans of ZZ Top are almost guaranteed to enjoy this often amusing and at least occasionally touching trip down memory lane. But even those who only the band through old MTV staples may find this unusually appealing. Technical merits are generally solid (with an understanding that some archival video can look pretty ragged), and ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas comes Recommended.