ZZ TOP “Antenna” RCA *** A...

ZZ TOP “Antenna” RCA *** A fretful Billy Gibbons emerges on ZZ’s latest, but there is more on his mind than the pressures of having signed a megabucks deal with a new label. While there is no radical departure from the electro-plated, machine-enhanced techno-boogie that gave ZZ Top its commercial legs in the ‘80s, the Gibbons-led band has its antenna out for new stylistic and thematic signals that serve it well.

Yes, a few business-as-usual, cartoonish, round-up-the-video-vixens sexual-entendre exercises are included, with the booty-motivating “Cherry Red” a particularly good example of this patented ZZ form. But a darker shadow hangs over much of the rest, in songs that pack a tense sizzle as they express unease over drug addiction (“Pincushion”), the AIDS specter (the slow-blues grinder “Cover Your Rig”) and various forms of personal malaise.

The pop-blues ballad “Breakaway” is one of the band’s best, a soulful piece that could have been written by Lowell George or covered by Bonnie Raitt. Gibbons sparingly but effectively introduces some new, occasionally dissonant hues into his futuristic blues-guitar work--one song, “Deal Goin’ Down,” even has shades of U2 and Jesus Jones. After its stale, aptly-named 1991 album “Recycler,” “Antenna” is a welcome refresher for ZZ Top. New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).

* Times Link 808-8463 With this issue, Sunday Calendar introduces a new phone service for readers. To hear excerpts from any of the albums reviewed, call TimesLink and press * and the artist’s corresponding four-digit code. Domino *5710 Alice in Chains *5711 ZZ Top *5712 Shai *5713 Bobby Brown *5714 Mary J. Blige *5715 Das EFX *5716 Jody Watley *5717 TimesLink is available in the (213), (310), (714), (818) and (909) area codes.