Stephen Thomas Erlewine (All Music Guide)

ZZ Top had reached the top of the charts before, but that didn't make their sudden popularity in 1983 any more predictable. It wasn't that they were just popular — they were hip, for God's sake, since they were one of the only AOR favorites to figure out to harness the stylish, synthesized grooves of new wave, and then figure out how to sell it on MTV. Of course, it helped that they had songs that deserved to be hits. With "Gimme All Your Lovin," "Sharp Dressed Man," and "Legs," they had their greatest set of singles since the heady days of Tres Hombres, and the songs that surrounded them weren't bad either — they would have been singles on El Loco, as a matter of fact. The songs alone would have made Eliminator one of ZZ Top's three greatest albums, but their embrace of synths and sequencers made it a blockbuster hit, since it was the sound of the times. Years later, the sound of the times winds up sounding a bit stiff. It's still an excellent ZZ Top album, one of their best, yet it sounds like a mechanized ZZ Top thanks to the unflaggingly accurate grooves. Then again, that's part of the album's charm — this is new wave blues-rock, glossed up for the video, looking as good as the omnipresent convertible on the cover and sounding as irresistible as Reaganomics. Not the sort the old-school fans or blues-rock purists will love, but ZZ Top never sounded as much like a band of its time as they did here.

Jaan Uhelski (Amazon.com)

ZZ Top's ninth studio album truly captured the mood of the times. Released as MTV was learning to crawl, the videos of the Lone Star trio's droll, masculine anthems were staples on the nascent music channel, making the world think that all the women in Texas looked like Jerry Hall--which wasn't far from the truth in 1983. And even if it wasn't completely accurate, listeners could at least visit a world where both cars and woman were fast and available. Billy Gibbons's roaring guitar licks streaked across songs with the speed of a young Hendrix. Even though the lyrics are often ham-fisted, all is forgiven for the pleasure of just letting the ZZ Top locomotive mow you down. While "Gimme All Your Loving," "Legs," and the satirically dynamic "Sharp Dressed Man" ruled the airwaves, the real gems here are the thundering "I've Got the Six" and the equally bombastic "Bad Girl," which showcase's Dusty Hill's heart-stopping drumming and Frank Beard's sturdy bass. Eliminator also marks the first time that the rough-and-tumble outfit turned to studio wizardry to goose up their meat-and-potatoes boogie. And while some early fans may have been dismayed, truth be told, their new studio sophistication added finesse and depth to ZZ Top.

(CD Universe)

ZZ Top: Billy Gibbons (guitar, vocals); Dusty Hill (bass, synthesizers, vocals); Frank Beard (drums, percussion).
ELIMINATOR, with its churning guitars and synthesizer hooks, was on the album charts for over a year, and had hits with "Sharp Dressed Man," "Gimme All Your Lovin'" and "Legs." The album and its accompanying videos were ubiquitous in 1983, on television ZZ Top was seen on MTV, "St. Elsewhere," even on the Tonight show.
1983 was the year Z.Z. Top went from being everyone's favourite bar-room boogie band to international superstars. Graced with mind-boggling and incredibly photogenic beards, a very neat trilogy of sexy videos and a collective ear for a quite distinct and highly stylized, if somewhat grizzled blues/pop, the sudden enormity of their success seems in retrospect like no real surprise. MTV had never quite seen the like and the attention given to the excellent 'Gimme All Your Lovin'' single was quickly repeated for both 'Sharp-Dressed Man' and the quite irreverent 'Legs'. It still sounds fresh, innovative and fun today. in the wake of many imitators.
 

Steve Pond (RollingStone, 395)

Eliminator makes ZZ Top's last album, El Loco, sound positively mellow as it harks back to the single-minded, burn-rubber days of the band's biggest successes. One could do a lot worse: drummer Frank Beard slams away as tight, hard and potent as a kicking mule, bassist Dusty Hill accompanies Beard with the kind of dirty thunks that'll loosen your back teeth, and guitarist Billy Gibbons roars through a repertoire of blues- and Hendrix-influenced licks as sharp and flashy as a pimp's wardrobe.

Lyrically, the songs tell a simple story: a guy fuels up with the right food ("TV Dinners"), clothes ("Sharp Dressed Man"), car (constant references, including the album title) and attitude ("Gimme All Your Lovin'"), and heads out into the Houston night to flag down a fast woman. The next day, unfortunately, he finds out she's a shade too fast ("Bad Girl") and starts calling her names ("Dirty Dog"). Of course, one could ask for more variety, or for a more enlightened approach to courtship; one could also say it worked better in 1974 than in 1983. But when songs like "Bad Girls" and "Gimme All Your Lovin'" kick in, complaints like those start sounding pretty wimpy. Hey, bud, let's party.