La Futura

La Futura is the fifteenth studio album by the American rock band ZZ Top, released in September 2012. It is their first one in nine years, following Mescalero. It peaked at number 5 in the Billboard "Top Rock Albums" chart.

La Futura
Studio album by ZZ Top
Released	September 10, 2012 (2012-09-10)[1]
Recorded	Foam Box Recordings, Houston, Texas
Genre	Texas blues, blues rock, hard rock
Length	39:18
Label	American Recordings/Universal Republic
Producer	Rick Rubin and Billy Gibbons
ZZ Top chronology
Double Down Live (2009) La Futura (2012) Live at Montreux 2013 (2014)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
The Guardian	[3]
Rolling Stone	[4]

Overview

La Futura was recorded at The Foambox Recordings in Houston, Texas. The album title and album art were unveiled on ZZ Top's homepage on 3 August 2012 at 11:45 a.m. The album contains 10 tracks.[5] "We thought long and hard about what this album should be," Gibbons said in a press release. "We wanted to recall the directness of our early stuff but not turn our backs on contemporary technology. The result of this melding of the past and the present is, of course, La Futura."[5]

Four of the new tracks (the first four album tracks) --"I Gotsta Get Paid", "Chartreuse", "Consumption" and "Over You"—were first released on 5 June 2012 as an iTunes-only collection titled Texicali, which met with strong sales and glowing reviews. Music Radar summed up the tunes as "fresh, vital roadhouse blues."[6] Another track, "Flyin' High", appropriately made its world premiere in space, when the then-unfinished song was played on board a Soyuz spacecraft during its launch to the International Space Station in June 2011 at the request of the NASA astronaut Mike Fossum, a long-time ZZ Top fan and friend.[7] Two bonus tracks, titled "Threshold of a Breakdown" and "Drive-By Lover", were released on CDs sold exclusively at Best Buy stores.

Reception

Following its release, the album received mostly positive reviews. William Clark of Guitar International wrote, "La Futura is an impressive return to form for this infamous southern rock trio, and includes some of the best music ZZ Top has ever pushed out."[8] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic also praised the album, calling it their best album since Eliminator in 1983, while writing that "ZZ Top are celebrating everything that they've taken for granted for decades - they're embracing the sleazy boogie, the dirty jokes, the locomotive riffs, the saturated blues, the persistent lecherous leer, and by doing so they finally sound like themselves again."[2]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"I Gotsta Get Paid" (cover of "25 Lighters" by DJ DMD[9])	Dorie Dorsey, Billy Gibbons, Kyle West, Al B. Sure!, Joe Hardy, G.L. Moon	4:03
2.	"Chartreuse"	Gibbons, Dusty Hill, Frank Beard, Moon	2:57
3.	"Consumption"	Gibbons	3:47
4.	"Over You"	Gibbons, Tom Hambridge	4:29
5.	"Heartache in Blue"	Gibbons, Trey Bruce	4:09
6.	"I Don't Wanna Lose, Lose, You"	Gibbons, Hambridge	4:20
7.	"Flyin' High"	Gibbons, Austin Hanks, D. Sardy	4:17
8.	"It's Too Easy Mañana"	David Rawlings, Gillian Welch; additional lyrics by Gibbons	4:47
9.	"Big Shiny Nine"	Gibbons, Hardy, Moon	3:11
10.	"Have a Little Mercy"	Gibbons	3:18
Total length:			39:18

Best Buy bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
11.	"Threshold of a Breakdown"	Gibbons, Hambridge	3:29
12.	"Drive by Lover"	Gibbons, Van Wilks	3:03
Total length:			45:50

Personnel

ZZ Top

• Frank Beard – drums
• Billy Gibbons – lead vocals, guitars, piano, production
• Dusty Hill – bass guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Drive by Lover"

Additional musicians

• Joe Hardy – piano, Hammond B3 organ, recording
• James Harman – harmonica
• Dave Sardy – piano, Hammond B3 organ, mixing

Technical personnel

• Cameron Barton – engineering
• Ryan Castle – engineering
• Pedro Chapouris – photography
• Ross Halfin – photography
• Jason Lader – recording
• Eric Lynn – recording
• Vlado Meller – mastering
• Gary Moon – recording
• Sean Oakley – recording
• Rick Rubin – production
• Mark Santangelo – mastering
• Joe Spix – art direction and design

About the tracks

"Chartreuse" is a song about the famous French liqueur Chartreuse the band discovered (and loved) in their dressing room in 2011 during the Musilac Music Festival in Aix-les-Bains, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France.[10]

Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly sales chart performance for La Futura

Chart (2012)	Peak position
scope="row"	Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[11]	7
scope="row"	Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[12]	28
scope="row"	Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[13]	9
scope="row"	Canadian Albums (Billboard)[14]	7
scope="row"	Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[15]	14
scope="row"	Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[16]	46
scope="row"	Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[17]	4
scope="row"	French Albums (SNEP)[18]	13
scope="row"	German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[19]	5
scope="row"	Italian Albums (FIMI)[20]	45
scope="row"	Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[21]	7
Russian Albums Chart[22]	7
scope="row"	Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[23]	62
scope="row"	Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[24]	11
scope="row"	Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[25]	4
UK Albums Chart	29
scope="row"	US Billboard 200[26]	6
scope="row"	US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[27]	5

Year-end charts

Annual sales chart performance for La Futura

Chart (2012)	Position
Russian Albums Chart[22]	7

Certifications

Sales certifications for La Futura

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Germany (BVMI)[28]	Gold	100,000^^
^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

1. "La Futura". Play.com. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "La Futura - ZZ Top". Allmusic. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
3. Hann, Michael (6 September 2012). "ZZ Top: La Futura - review". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
4. Hunter, James. "La Futura". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
5. "LA FUTURA ARRIVES THIS SEPTEMBER FROM ZZ TOP". Official ZZ Top Website. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
6. Whitaker, Sterling. "ZZ Top Reveal Street Date, Cover Art and Full Tracklist for New Album 'La Futura'". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
7. "ZZ Top Premiere New Song 'Flyin' High' on Russian Spacecraft". Ultimate Classic Rock. 9 June 2011. Archived from the original on 14 September 2012. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
8. "ZZ Top Rocks On La Futura". Guitarinternational.com. Retrieved 20 October 2012.
9. "Houston Rap Connects on ZZ Top's "I Gotsta Get Paid"". Mass Appeal. 8 July 2012. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
10. E., St. (15 May 2014), La chartreuse, de Tarantino à ZZ Top, en passant par Springsteen..., Le Dauphiné libéré, retrieved 18 December 2016
11. "Austriancharts.at – ZZ Top – La Futura" (in German). Hung Medien.
12. "Ultratop.be – ZZ Top – La Futura" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
13. "Ultratop.be – ZZ Top – La Futura" (in French). Hung Medien.
14. "ZZ Top Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard.
15. "Danishcharts.dk – ZZ Top – La Futura". Hung Medien.
16. "Dutchcharts.nl – ZZ Top – La Futura" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
17. "ZZ Top: La Futura" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
18. "Lescharts.com – ZZ Top – La Futura". Hung Medien.
19. "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH.
20. "Italiancharts.com – ZZ Top – La Futura". Hung Medien.
21. "Norwegiancharts.com – ZZ Top – La Futura". Hung Medien.
22. Культура: Триумф нестыдной попсы (in Russian). Lenta.ru. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
23. "Spanishcharts.com – ZZ Top – La Futura". Hung Medien.
24. "Swedishcharts.com – ZZ Top – La Futura". Hung Medien.
25. "Swisscharts.com – ZZ Top – La Futura". Hung Medien.
26. "ZZ Top Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.
27. "ZZ Top Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard.
28. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (ZZ Top; 'la Futura')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved December 9, 2019.