ZZ Top – Tres Hombres

Side B sounds bad - very bad mastering it has the stamped matrix. Side A sounds glorious and is all etched with bell sound.

Rhino can have all my money! Like all of my Rhino Hifi pressings, this thing is excellent. Packaging is stellar and record is dead quiet. Incredible soundstage, instrument separation and punch. I don’t have a history with ZZ Top outside of loving Eliminator as a teen, so I don’t have an opinion on how ZZ “should” sound. KG does not disappoint here. The man is basically defeated. To be fair, these modern audiophile pressings can be a bit much for some but I can’t get enough.

Vinyl Quality - 4.625 stars
Sound Quality - 4.75 stars
Packaging(I don’t really care) - 4.5 stars
Value - 4.75 stars
Overall - 4.65625 stars

Rega P10, Hana SH cartridge, Dynaudio Contour 30i

10/10 Dripping with sweat and swagger. I see some reviews here that are praising other pressings (VMP) as “warmer”, don’t have em so can’t compare but — let’s be real— Tres Hombres is not a smooth jazz record. It’s a grimy, whiskey-soaked Texas blues album. That bite, that energy—it’s part of what makes this Rhino HiFi pressing feel like a front-row seat to the recording sessions. Again — just my ears. I do not understand the criticism of KG’s mastering as leaning too heavily toward detail? and transient response? I guess I’m not that sophisticated because I feel this presentation brings the album’s legendary grit and groove into sharper focus than ever before. Example: The infamous La Grange shuffle? It absolutely cooks here—snare snaps, hi-hats sizzle, and the room ambience feels immediate and alive.

The pressing is flat and silent and plays oh so well but the sound is not to my liking and again a Rhino Hifi cut has flaws. I personally think KPG is either overworked or past his prime or both. The RHF series so far has seen every single remaster done for maximum presence and clarity. With the Cars Candy O this worked out badly with a thin bright dry sound with distortion on hotter moments. The Television Adventure album... again dry and bright and bitty. The ZZ Tops First Album... bright, tonally try and simply not as good as the older Bellman cut. Where the mastering choices have worked is the Faces Ooh La La and the Coltrane Lps.

Anyway, with Tres Hombres ive now added this RHF cut to my existing KPG/SH Rhino SYEOR pressing and the Ryan Smith VMP pressing. This one again in line with all 10 RHF ive had/have goes for detail at the expense of rich, juicy and sweet analogue sound. It has snappy transients so the bass and drums seem more prominent than usual and the top end is the KPG/Rhino signature dry and crisp and presence boosted style. It doesnt work for me and my ears. The VMP is better balanced and the SYEOR is just a party on a record with bass and juicyness aplenty which for this album just works. The VMP and RHF are the two most close. As the VMP has more dead wax its a db or two down but the sound is not as dry and crispy. On top of this like the RHF Cars Candy O which has distortion on the keys and hotter moments at the end of sides this Tres Hombres also has a slight breakup in that presence region. Its just a distortion not heard on the VMP or SYEOR. Im sorry to say while this is easily the best pressed of the three and lovely - if tight - of packaging i am ranking it last in mastering as its not to my tastes and the slight peaky distortion is once again not welcome.

I feel many blindly worship at the altar of KPG and im now of true belief he is vastly overrated and knocks out alot of mediocre masterings where in the past i dont think i could fault any of his work (at least the KPG WITH SH era). Dont get me wrong, this press has alot to offer and many will likely prefer a spotlit upper mids/lower treble as it fools people into thinking a press is more detailed. I do like the transient attack of it but thats not enough to compensate for the shortcomings.

Talk about first world problems eh!!!

I've never listened to the original , this is an astounding pressing , sonically big , wide and deep soundstage , deep bass, clear treble and no crackles or noise at all

I write this as someone who is neither a huge ZZ Top fan or who is particularly familiar w/ this album in general, so I can't compare it at all to previous versions, pressings, masterings, etc. What I can say is that this pressing absolutely rips. Pressing is flat, quiet, and punchy. The soundstage is huge, vibrant, and dynamic.

I can't weigh in on how faithful this is to the original or not, but this pressing rocks and is exactly what I'm hoping for in a reissue, especially for an album that I don't know that well beforehand. Very pleasantly surprised and highly recommend.

Fantastic pressing. Thousand times better than that 2020 RE atrocity.

If you find one of these in the wild don’t hesitate to grab.

This is the cd version to seek out. Well mastered and transferred version of this classic!

Listening for the first time. Laughing because it sounds ok to me. Plenty of bass. Not bright, for sure. Some tracks are brighter than others. Pressing quality is good. Noise floor a bit elevated. Got it half price so didn't have expectations. I'd be looking at the 2024 Rhino for a more audiophile experience. I'm just flashing back to screening seeds from my stash in this gate fold back in the 70s.

It's a completely different album, practically. Your mileage will vary, as this is VERY different sonically, but I prefer it over what is a very flat original pressing.