While the nation was being swept away in growing hysteria over KISS, they reconvened to record what they hoped would be a successful follow-up to Destroyer, tabbing Eddie Kramer to produce it, then making a curious choice to record the album in an empty theatre in a small New York town, in order to replicate the live feel from Alive. The other thing about RARO is that there are still some moderate residuals from the Destroyer experience, yet, there is a sense that we are back to the old way of doing things, too. Like it or not, Ezrin held these guys to a high standard. On here, there are many high-quality tunes, but ultimately, the inmates are back running the asylum and they can only run it well for so long. Or not for very long, as it would soon turn out.

The Kerner/Wise production team set the tone, as far as the basic KISS sound went, but now it was time to elevate the standard. Enter Bob Ezrin. There was mutual interest from both sides, but as Bob did with Alice Cooper (and as it turned out), KISS was even more in need of the bedrock professionalism and discipline it took to put together a real classic studio record. Here's the deal with Destroyer - it literally destroys any past notions you may have about this band, and believe me, they could not have done it without Ezrin involved. This is somewhat similar to the trashy pop-rock which Alice Cooper was playing around the same time, but devoid of the scary psychological content, and therefore, just a whole ton of fun to rock out to - with the added rider of the band assuming a dumbed-down, meta hard-rock, all-things-to-everyone role - but in quite the condensed time and space. Because, back in the mid-70's, there was not 10,579 subgenres in music like there is now. This is the length of a goddamn EP, and you can argue they were short on tunes here, because they had to tack on some backwards-tracked sound collage at the end to fill up space. Oh well. And oh yeah, the critics? Hated it. Not even the fans really liked it at first, until "Beth" - which was originally the B-side of "Detroit Rock City" - somehow lucked onto the radio and captured the hearts of radio listeners across America, becoming the group's biggest chart hit. In my opinion, they should have kept Ezrin on retainer as producer much like Alice Cooper did for the majority of his 70's albums, but it was not to be. By the time the band worked with Bob again, they were at a low point, so was Bob, and it resulted in an album you might have heard of called Music from "The Elder", which absolutely bombed.

This one sounds like a cross between the roughshod, shambling sound of the first two albums, and the more streamlined pop attacks that were to come in the post-Alive trilogy of records. Out of the producer's chair is the Kerner/Wise team, and in their places is founder of Casablanca Records, Neil Bogart. Which means the sound is definitely more polished. I actually wonder to myself why this was not a bigger hit, but then again, quite a few tracks here just race by without much of an impression.

Thought to be a stopgap record, El Loco further injects elements which would soon drive music fans to record stores in droves in search of ZZ Top albums – New Wave experiments (“Groovy Little Hippie Pad”) and even more pronounced sexual escapades (“Pearl Necklace”). Not their best, but still interesting.

My pick for best ZZ Top album of the early years. The free-wheeling, outlaw spirit of Texas blues is amplified to not only higher energy levels but also from a number of different, diverse angles in what ends up being one of the most appealing packages the Top has ever sprung on the public.