VIDEORGY: If we were doing a sequel...

VIDEORGY: If we were doing a sequel to “The Catalogue of Cool” this year, we’d devote a whole chapter to the saga of ZZ Top, whose effortless videos are the ultimate in hip--they’re so loopy and slyly unpretentious that they’re beyond criticism. After a couple of recent missteps, the band’s latest clip, “Velcro Fly,” is a return to form, casting the bearded wonders against a backdrop of Egyptian hieroglyphics and amid a harem of dancing girls, who shed various outfits in sync with the song’s chorus. The best part of the clip, however, is the band’s own routines, which were staged by Paula Abdul, an ex-Lakers head cheerleader turned choreographer (she’s done all of Janet Jackson’s recent videos). The ZZ boys spin, shimmy and pivot, all accompanied by exotic hand motions that make them look like a trio of spaced-out football referees acting out a bizarre array of 15-yard penalty calls. (Car cultists take note: The band’s new custom conveyance is a 1947 Pontiac limo.) . . . And Godley and Creme are back on the video beat, directing a clip for the Police, who have finished a new version of their hit “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” for the group’s upcoming greatest hits collection.