Billy F. Gibbons launched his belated solo career in 2015 with Perfectamundo, a loose exercise in Latin rhythms that was slightly outside of the wheelhouse of ZZ Top, which had been his main gig since 1969. Big Bad Blues, its 2018 sequel, could also be seen as a bit of a genre exercise, as it was a heavy blues album, but Hardware is something else entirely. This 2021 platter is a straight-ahead rock & roll album in the vein of ZZ Top, a record filled with originals that feel familiar, as theyre built of the same components Gibbons has relied upon for decades: fuzztone guitars, thick swing and burly boogie, sly jokes and growled vocals. Gibbons is working with much of the same crew as he did in the past -- his old friend, engineer, and co-producer Joe Hardy passed in between records -- so Hardware sounds similar to Big Bad Blues, but its lighter on its feet, spending as much time with lively party tunes like I Was a Highway and a cover of the Texas Tornados (Hey Baby) Que Paso as it does with the crunching riff-rockers My Lucky Card and More-More-More. There are slight traces of dusty desert soundscapes, apparent on the widescreen rocker West Coast Junkie and spooky spoken-word closer Desert High, a texture that helps give Hardware shape and dimension while also distinguishing it from the ZZ Top catalog. Still, what makes Hardware cook are the very elements that always work for Gibbons: deceptively sharp songwriting that supports full-throttle rockers and soulful, slow(er) grooves. Its a formula thats yielded great results for Gibbons throughout the years, and they do once again here. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Rovi