1283. AC/DC / Stiff Upper Lip. 2000. 2/5

AC/DC. Kings of the world. Certainly, they had built their brand up wonderfully over the 25 years they had been recording and releasing albums, being able to move on from tragedy and behind the scenes troubles to create a market that not only wanted but NEEDED the band and its material.
Even in the 1990’s, the decade where music had morphed into so many different varieties of metal and grunge and hard rock and alternative, AC/DC managed to stay relevant. 1995’s “Ballbreaker” had still performed exceptionally well despite the time period it was released in, and the demand for concert tickets never ebbed during this decade. And as the turn of the century approached it felt as though that may never change.
Indeed, the preparation for the follow up to “Ballbreaker” occurred much earlier than may have been expected. Malcolm and Angus Young actually began writing new material for a new album as far back as mid-1997 when they were based in London and the Netherlands, mostly with Malcolm on guitar and Angus bashing away on the drums. Some may have thought this superfluous, that a drum machine could have done the same job, but there you go. After eight months the brothers had a dozen songs completed. When it came to recording the album, the Youngs’ had decided to fall back on producer Bruce Fairbairn to helm the controls. Fairbairn had been the produced on the extremely successful 1990 album “The Razor’s Edge” as well as the follow up live album titled simply “AC/DC Live”. However, his schedule meant that there was some waiting time required to secure his services, and then tragically he passed away in May of 1999 before the two had ever entered the studio. Instead, the band fell back upon a familiar face and known quantity in George Young, elder brother of both Malcolm and Angus. George of course had been co-producer of the band's earliest albums alongside his former band mate Harry Vanda. On this occasion however, George was producing on his own, no doubt with his brothers looking over his shoulder. Brian Johnson was one who commented that he felt that the recording of the album was far more streamlined with just George at the console.
The album was recorded and mixed at Bryan Adams' Warehouse Studios in Vancouver, Canada between September and November 1999. The band recorded 18 songs in total, from which they eventually chose 12 to go on the album. From all reports the recording went smoothly, with Cliff Williams saying in an interview on VH1's Behind the Music in 2000, "It's a killer album. It was a very easy-to-record album in as much as Malcolm and Angus had everything ready to go, so we basically just had to come along and perform as best we could."

20 years on from their massive breakthrough album with “Back in Black”, Brian Johnson’s first outing with the band, there was the hope that AC/DC could produce something that came close to matching its impact. Perhaps that was pressure that was misplaced. Including that album, this would be the band’s eighth album with Johnson on lead vocals recorded over that 20-year period. In contrast, Bon Scott had helmed six albums in a five-year period. As a comparison, it had been five years between the release of “Ballbreaker” and “The Razor’s Edge”, and five years again between “Ballbreaker” and “Stiff Upper Lip”. Angus would turn 45 a month after this album’s release. Malcolm had just turned 47. Brian was 52, Cliff 50 and Phil 46. Looking back now, it is somewhat hard to believe they were this young when this album was released. They were theoretically still in their prime, though obviously at a point of their careers where they were able to feel comfortable with whatever material they wanted to write and record.
It’s a new century, and it is the same old AC/DC. Or is it? The songs on this album from the very start are what naysayers of the band’s music claim has been happening since time immemorial. That rhythm, that solid timing structure that is a hallmark of AC/DC’s music, is there from the start. The difference that actually punctuates the music here from their most recent albums “Ballbreaker” and “The Razors Edge” is that it for the most part noticeably slower in tempo throughout. And while this plays a part in making you believe there is also less energy in the tracks because this tempo has dropped, it is noticeable that those energy levels are missing from quite a bit of this album. Where do you actually hear it? Well, pretty much in the songs that were released as singles. Those three songs are the title track and opening number “Stiff Upper Lip” and “Safe in New York City”. This doesn’t necessarily make them the best songs, because a lot of this album suffers from very real ageing problems.
“Stiff Upper Lip” offers you what you would expect from an opening track on an AC/DC album that is also the lead single from the album. Well, with the possible exception of an AC/DC hook that gets you in and grabs your attention. It’s a rumbling track but without any real fireworks. “Meltdown” follows but doesn’t really live up to the title of the track at all. It is a slightly harder tempo than the opening track, where the final thirty seconds of the track is the hardest part about it. “House of Jazz” harks back to the sound and tempo of a couple of songs from that afore-mentioned “Back in Black” album, specifically “Let Me Put My Love into You”. The tempo, the way the lyrics are sung, almost the music itself, could almost have been drawn from that song and the sound of a couple of other tracks like that. Am I the only one who has picked up on that? I’m not sure, but the similarities are there. “Hold Me Back” on the other hand reminds me of “The Razor’s Edge” in places, with a change in style for the drum beat by Phil Rudd all through the track, and Malcolm’s rhythm guitar mirroring that era. It’s a mix up of styles through this part of the album that doesn’t stop here.
“Safe in New York City’ is just... a strange song, though it fits the calibrations that are set by the band on this album. The rhythm sets its mark, Angus does his pieces over the top when it is appropriate, and Brian sings his vocals, the populist piece being an oft-repeated tome of the title of the track as the so-called chorus of the song. Phil Rudd’s faster 4/4 drumming actually sets the song up nicely to give them a platform to really explode out of the blocks with song, but it never really reaches that point and is mor restrained that it probably should have been. “Can’t Stand Still” reactivates the more blues rock direction this album takes. Even Brian’s vocals draw from the blues even more than you would expect, and with a rare Malcolm Young solo interjection which sounds just like a blues guitarist riffing off the rhythm and vocals in an old blues basement night club. The morbid like tempo continues into the interestingly titled “Can’t Stop Rock ‘n’ Roll”, because this isn’t the kind of slow death show that rock ‘n’ roll was known for. Rock and roll is supposed to be uptempo and vibrant, not settled into a death march from which this song barely struggles out of at any point. Look, the feel of the song sounds great, Brian’s vocals are terrific, and the others play their parts well. And there is no denying the band has played tracks like this all through their existence. So perhaps I’m the one out of order here. It wouldn’t be the first time. “Satellite Blues” tries to get the bounce of the album back out of the quicksand. This was the third and final single released from the album, which suggests why the tempo here is an improvement of some of the songs that have come before it. It is toe tapping, but is it any more than that?
“Damned” has that standard AC/DC beat that the fans are after, with the rhythm of bass and guitar grafted on, as Brian and Angus do their thing in their designated areas. Then “Come and Get It” feels as though it should be a breakout track, one that hits roof tempo wise again and brings the album back to life. Instead, it is the same dreary tempo, deep diving into the blues riff and just clomping along like someone wearing concrete shoes. While there are several moments on this album that feel as though they would benefit from a more active and engaging song, they all end up like this.
“All Screwed Up” is the longest song on the album at a little over four and a half minutes, and surprisingly feels like it. It drags on too long, and that could well be because the standard rhythm that backs the song, along with a standard Angus guitar fill and Brian lyrical vocal delivery, just gets too much if it goes on longer than three and a half minutes. Or is it because by the time you get to this point of the album you thin maybe it is time for something different. That could also have occurred far earlier than this. However, there is some light at the end of the tunnel, with the arrival of the closing track “Give it Up”, which finally delivers more of what a casual or even middling fan of the band would be looking for. Energy! Tempo! Energy from the whole band! Yes, it did take some time, but finally the final track on the album delivers something that everyone can enjoy and at least gives the album an ending that is worth waiting for.

Have you ever gotten the feeling that a band has just put out an album for the hell of it? That they just felt it was time that they did some new material and threw it out there? There’s no doubt that in the case of “Stiff Upper Lip”, that is NOT the case. The writing, planning and recording of the album came together over a 2+ year period, so the planning could not have been more thorough. But as mentioned earlier, there was a five year period between their previous album and this one – and it was to be another 8 years until their next album “Black Ice” surfaced. It has become more the norm over the years to have such gaps in releasing albums, as file sharing became more prevalent and the way to make money was no longer from album sales but concert ticket sales and merchandise.
However, even for AC/DC, this is as formula driven song writing as you can come up with. It's very laid back, there's no speed in the music to speak of, and while it sounds great coming through the speakers of headphones with big thumping drums and guitar riffs, it just doesn't have the drive that the best AC/DC albums have. It is missing key ingredients, ones that were either being sifted out over time, or that the band decided, with the changing landscape of the music world and their place in it, that they just didn’t need. I think it was a mistake. No doubt all of the songs would sound better live, but here on the album they mostly seem to drag out well beyond necessary with the available lyrics in each song. And it is probably fair to say that as with all of AC/DC through the years, they don't actually have a bad album. Some are far better than others.
I didn’t have this album when it was released. The purse strings were tight in 2000 when my lovely wife and I were back living with my parents as we tried to save for our first home, and this was not a priority. I knew the singles and was not overawed by them, and the album was on repeat in the car of a good mate of mine whenever he drove me to and from cricket which we played together. So I knew it. I just didn’t feel I needed to own it. Eventually down the track I found a second-hand CD of the album which is the copy I still own today.
That CD has been out again for the last few days, along with having it playing at work. And as always, it is not unpleasant. It is AC/DC after all, and their style is pretty much etched in stone. It’s just that there are a lot more dead spots on this album than there are on others in their discography. The biggest fans of the band won’t hear them, they will probably just hear what they like and like it all. I’m slightly more discerning than that, which comes from being a fan of the band for so long, and having a love affair with albums much earlier in the catalogue. And though of the 17 albums in the band’s discography I rank this at #17 it should not allow you to think this is a worthless album. It is however an average album. I saw AC/DC for the fourth and final time on this tour in 2001. I had seen them three times previous to this, all from the front row of the Sydney Entertainment Centre, and had decided that for me that would be good enough. Then my friend I mentioned earlier who had this album in his car said he had a spare ticket, and would I like to come. I thought, well, I wonder what they sound like from the middle section of the complex, and agreed. It wasn’t until we were on our way to the gig that I asked where we were sitting. “Front row!” my friend informed me enthusiastically, which is why I have seen this awesome bands four times from the front row. And they were still great on this tour. It was the last time they played in smaller venues before reverting to stadiums, and they still knew how to deliver. Why wouldn’t they? They are AC/DC after all.

1198. AC/DC / Powerage. 1978. 4/5

By the time 1978 had come around, AC/DC had built their reputation on the back of hard blazing live shows based on their amazing rhythm section holding together at the seams, while lead guitarist Angus Young and lead vocalist Bon Scott did their thing to create the powerhouse that the band had become.
One change had occurred in the group, with bass guitarist Mark Evans having been moved on, and Cliff Williams coming in to take his place. What hadn’t changed was the volatile way the band was received by fans over the globe. Having been adored by their home fans in Australia initially, their popularity had waned slightly as the band had relocated to the UK and built their reputation on the continent. This had led to better sales in the Uk and Europe. In the US however, they were still being held at bay by their record company who were continually unhappy with what the band had been producing. They had canned the release of “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”, and had been almost fooled into releasing the previous album “Let There Be Rock”, an episode you can find in Season 2 of this podcast. But that album had been one where the band had decided on a strategy of riffs on riffs in order to collate their new songs, and it was a strategy that they brought forward into the writing for their new album “Powerage”. Recorded back in Sydney in Albert Studios, the band worked at what they did best, the blues based hard rock that powered through the speakers and powered up the room.

When it comes to listening to albums by AC/DC in the Bon Scott era, I’ve found that in general there is a wider slew of song variations than became the case in the Brian Johnson era. More simply put, once we got to “Back in Black” and beyond, there is a certain style that the vast majority of songs sit in that gives them a certain sameness. Leading up to that album, and certainly pre-”Powerage”, there was a mixture of the high octane and the cooler blues based tracks on those albums, where the pace of the songs sometimes ebbed and flowed throughout. Overall though, “Powerage” may be the exception to that thought process, as what we have here are nine songs that sit much closer together in style and substance than those other releases. The rhythm section barely pauses for breath throughout. Angus slices through each song with his trademark solo lead, and Bon sings everything in his trademark energetic style. It’s a great fit all the way through, opening with the anthemic “Rock ‘N’ Roll Damnation”, a song that was basically written for the American market when their arm of the record company complained that there were no singles on the album. Following this is the wonderful “Down Payment Blues” with a great rock base carrying the song, and followed by “Gimme a Bullet” that picks up that beat from the leading song and carries it on perfectly.
The close of side one and the opening of side two centre on the AC/DC classics “Riff Raff” and “Sin City”. “Riff Raff” comes at you hard and fast with that driving drums and guitar fuelling Bon’s vocal masterclass, while “Sin City” is the obvious exception to the ‘rage-all-the-way-through' songs, but the energy seeps out throughout, and it retains its title of classic to this day. “What’s Next to the Moon” picks things up again following the slight change in mood, and is complemented by “Gone Shootin’” that follows it. “Up to My Neck in You” is top shelf classic Bon Scott era AC/DC, blown away with that charging rhythm section driving the song while Bon tells his story, and then the album concludes with the bombastic “Kicked in the Teeth”. And is interesting to this day that for many enjoyers of AC/DC the band that the songs that proliferate “Powerage” may not be considered classics from the AC/DC catalogue, but they all do their job in keeping the album moving and driving it (within the speed limit) to its destination.
And that is the beauty of “Powerage”. It doesn’t have the power-punch hit songs or singles of other albums, or the massive gap between high energy hard rock and slower bluesy ballad type songs. What it does have is a perfectly balanced selection of songs that doesn’t deviate in style and substance. Bon’s vocals are superb, Angus’s lead is wonderful, and the backing beat of Malcolm, Phil and Cliff is perfect. The foot tapping and air drums don’t quit for the entire span of the album, and makes it a joyful experience every time you put it on to listen to.

No doubt I’ve mentioned this already on this podcast when it comes to the AC/DC catalogue, but I didn’t start listening to the whole of the AC/DC album collection until I was beyond my high school years. I heard other people playing their albums on bus trips and in the school yard, most especially “TNT” and “Back in Black”, but discovering the goodness of the other albums came to me in trickles.
I distinctly remember first listening to “Powerage”, and not being overly ecstatic about it. At the time I guess I was looking for more like those two albums I just mentioned, and “Powerage” doesn’t fit that mould, so I didn’t seek it out often over a number of years. Eventually of course I went through a preiod of making an effort to go through a band’s complete discography, and I discovered that I had, of course, made a huge error in judgement. Because this album actually pulls itself into a category of its own, because it is so different from other releases. And while there will be those of you out there who proclaim ‘surely every AC/DC album sounds the same as the next one?’, that is patently not true. “Powerage” for me has a uniqueness that might be subtle but is still there. Following on from the quite brilliant “Let There Be Rock”, this album pushed forward with similar characteristics, ones that led to what became their initial masterpiece in their next studio album “Highway to Hell”. It draws together the strengths that the band had in its ranks, and focused more tightly on them to produce a bunch of songs that, while most are relatively unknown outside of the true AC/DC fans base, still sounds as fresh and marketable today as they did 45 years ago. And not every band or album can claim to be that.

1179. AC/DC / Live. 1992. 5/5

Live albums. They are an artform. Generally you wouldn’t think you could stuff them up, but when they are done well they are a pleasure to listen to. Prior to this album’s release, AC/DC’s only officially released live album was “If You Want Blood You’ve Got It” from back in 1978, with Bon Scott on vocals and recorded on the “Powerage” tour. It has an eclectic song selection that often annoys younger listeners even today, because it doesn’t contain what they necessarily believe are the ‘hits’ of the band from the time. That’s what actually makes it a really good live album. But I’m not here to talk about that album.
In the years since AC/DC had continued to write and record solid hard rock albums, coming up with occasional radio hits, but generally building their audience worldwide. When they finally toured Australia in 1988 after a long absence, they sold out shows throughout the country. Songs such as “Who Made Who” and “Heatseeker” had been popular hits, and on the back of “The Razor’s Edge” album, which had brought the big selling number one “Thunderstruck”, the band made the decision to record some shows around the world in order to release their second official live album. The double CD version of the album has songs recorded from eight different shows in six different venues, all put together from the setlist played over the length of that worldwide tour. And while some discussion can always be had over what was played and what was left off, what you can’t complain about is the quality of the performances of the songs they did perform.

When it comes to live albums, as I have said multiple times on other episodes of this podcast, you should get the best of the best, and therefore rate almost any live album full marks. You always have to play the ‘greatest hits’, which is difficult for a band with the longevity and success that AC/DC has enjoyed. There are often just too many to choose from. And you also have to play songs off the latest album, because after all that’s what you are touring to promote. So the balancing act is always a tenuous one.
Even all these years later, the set list is fun and still listenable. The songs from “The Razor’s Edge” are still worthy, with “Thunderstruck” starting off the album in excellent fashion, and is followed up throughout by plenty of other tracks from the album, “Are You Ready?”, “Fire Your Guns”, Money Talks” and the title track. Which is what you expect from a band on tour. Then you have the recent singles that had done well on the charts such that everyone knew the songs, such as the classic “Who Made Who” which really shot them back to the top after a period in the doldrums, and “Heatseeker” and “That’s the Way I Wanna Rock and Roll” from the “Blow up Your Video” album. So for the fan who had just come upon the band in those late 1980’s years, there is plenty here for them to enjoy.
Beyond that you delver back into the Bon Scott era with those legendary tracks, ones such as “Sin City”, “Jailbreak”, “The Jack” and “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”, before the second disc includes great songs like “High Voltage”, “Whole Lotta Rosie”, “Let There Be Rock”, “Highway to Hell” and “TNT”. It’s a gluttony of that great era of the band. And finally we have the early Brian Johnson era where the band was able to revitalise following Bon’s passing, with the songs “Shoot to Thrill”, “Back in Black”, “Hells Bells” and “You Shook Me All NIght Long” from the “Back in Black” album, and the concert and album closer, the legendary “For Those About to Rock, We Salute You”. As you can see, there’s a lot to fit in to two discs and over two hours of live music.

So you obviously can’t argue with that track list for a double live album, can you? And the performances are top notch. The whole band is at the top of their game. Chris Slade, who had arrived on drums on this album following Simon Wright moving on to Dio, is terrific, and added a new dimension to these songs with his presence. And what can you say about Malcolm Young, Cliff Williams, Brian Johnson and Angus Young that hasn’t bee said before? They were at about their peak at this point in time, riding high on renewed success and still of an age where Angus could get away with the schoolboy uniform.
Is there a bone to pick? Perhaps a small one. “Flick of the Switch” and “Fly on the Wall” don’t have a song representing those albums here, and perhaps finding space for just one off each would have given this a collection a complete feel. It’s a small thing, but one worth mentioning.
I got this album on the day of its release 30 years ago, and played it a damn lot at that time. I had also been fortunate enough to have seen this tour when it hit Sydney, from the second row of the gig, which as just amazing. Great times and great memories. And that’s what this album offers. Great memories of one of the great hard rock bands of all time, playing their all time greats at the peak of their powers. For a live album, it’s pretty hard to stuff that up. And I can guarantee you that that isn’t the case here. This is a top shelf live album experience.

1024. AC/DC / Let There Be Rock. 1977. 4/5

Back in 1977, if you are to believe the reports and interviews of people in and around the band, AC/DC had some problems. Because they had been based in the UK for 18 months on tour, their Australian fans had begun to abandon them. There was some tension within the band between some of the members. And their record company was on the verge of dropping them entirely. So, if you are any other band, you probably fight on for a little while and then break up. If you are AC/DC? Well, you say ‘damn the man!’ And you come out and produce an album that, 45 years ago today, was released upon the world for the first time. An album that, in many people’s eyes and ears, could be considered arguably their finest moment and one of the greatest albums in Australian music history.

Looking back now, all of those long years ago, it is hard to believe that AC/DC had a period where they were not revered in all places of the world, and that in Australia they had begun to wane in popularity. For those of us who waited so long to see them live in concert, because they had refused to return to Australia because of the lack of attention they felt they were receiving at the time, the hurt and pain is still real.
The story of the period leading up to the recording in January 1977 still makes for interesting reading. Mick Wall wrote a terrific article on the Classic Rock website in 2016 titled “Let The Be Rock: The album that saved AC/DC’s career”, where he laid out the landscape that the band found themselves in at the time. They had gone to London for most of 1976 on the back of the international version release of “High Voltage”. However, on returning home just prior to Christmas expecting a triumphant reception, they found that the audience they had recruited through appearances on ABC’s ‘Countdown’ had moved on, to bands such as Skyhooks and Sherbet. They played a gig at Sydney’s Hordern Pavillion that was barely half-full, something that had the band seething. And while their album “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” had reached top five in Australia, overseas in the UK it hadn’t made the charts at all, and in the US… well… Atlantic Records there decided they hated the album, and wouldn’t release it, and were going to drop the band completely. With the soft rock sounds of artists such as The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and Elton John dominating the American radio stations, Atlantic saw no way that an Australian hard rock band could penetrate that market. Add to this that the band’s antics on and off the stage were causing friction, and that bass guitarist Mark Evans was not on the best terms with the Young brothers, and it can be seen that things did not look great for the still fledgling group.
So how did the band react to all of this? Probably as you’d expect. They were cranky – pissed off actually. And while the head of the UK section of Atlantic Records was able to convince the US parent company to retain the band, AC/DC retreated into the Alberts Sydney recording studio, where they spent two weeks writing, rehearsing and recording a new album with which to set things right. And that album became “Let There Be Rock”.

Certainly in those days, the band never went into the studio with anything written. They never did demo’s of songs. Everything was written and recorded in the studio, and rarely in any more time than two weeks. That’s how long it took this album to appear from start to finish. All of the rhythm and drum tracks were completed in the first week, while the vocals and lead guitar were completed in the second week. Malcolm and Angus came in during that first week and decided to just throw riff after riff after riff into the mix, looking to make “Let There Be Rock” a huge sounding guitar album. As the songs took shape, cassette versions were given to Bon, who then delved through his book of shorthand notes to compose the lyrics for the songs.
The description of how those songs were composed and recorded is absolutely insane. They were angry and fuelled by alcohol and drugs, and that’s how the album sounds from start to finish. As a way to stick it up those who they felt were against them, it was effective. Certainly, if their American record company thought they were going to soften their image in order to make themselves amenable to the US market, they were sorely mistaken.
There is definitely a heavier blues based rock in the rolling rhythm throughout most of the songs, highlighted immediately by the opening track “Go Down”, where the blues beat holds together the basis of the song, and allows Bon Scott initially to hold the reins on vocals, before Angus Young comes in to perpetuate his solo piece in the middle of the track. Bon and Angus trading vocals and guitar tweets through the second half of the song draws in the blues roots as well. It is a terrific opening track, which is followed by a better one in “Dog Eat Dog”. It settles into that hard rocking rhythm that Malcolm, Phil Rudd and Mark Evans play so well on these early albums, and again let Bon and Angus do their thing. And as great as Bon’s vocal is here, for me it is Phil’s drumming that hold this song together and makes it so great. The rhythm he keeps throughout is just magnificent, and by utilising a beat that focuses on the toms and bass drum with little hi hat or cymbal action at all it enhances everything. Just terrific.
And then there is the title track. We all know what a great song it is, how Bon’s lyrics are brilliant, how Malcolm and Mark’s rhythm riffs just dominate the track, and how brilliant Angus onlead is. But for me again Phil Rudd’s contribution gets overlooked. As Mick Wall wrote in the article I mentioned earlier… and I quote:
“Mark Evans said of “Let There Be Rock”, “Phil on that is just absolutely out of this world. We did two takes of it, and at the end of the first one I remember thinking: ‘That’s the end of Phil for a couple of hours’ But Phil said: ‘Let’s go again now.’ I thought the guy was gonna fucking explode. From my memory, I’m pretty sure they used the second take.” End quote. No click tracks, no drum machines. Just Phil Rudd playing the song back-to-back twice, and they get the take. Incredible.
“Bad Boy Boogie” inserts the lengthy and stretched out solo sections for the guitars to make their mark, much like the band would do in a live setting but here in the studio, an example of the ‘riffs and riffs’ idea of this album, and it ends the first side in style.
Depending on what version of the album you have, on the second side of the album you will either be enjoying a shortened version of “Problem Child” on the International version, which initially was released on ‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap’, or the song “Crabsody in Blue” which came on the initial and Australian release of the album. I personally like “Problem Child” better, despite its original place on Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. “Crabsody in Blue” seems to stifle the momentum of the album at its entry point, and is also drowning in the blues which may also be a bone of contention with me. The exchange of these two songs does make the international version of the album a better listen, but it is ironic given the US refused to release the “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” album, but had this song replace “Crabsody in Blue” because they felt the subject matter was not befitting their label. Please….
“Overdose” and “Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be” also run along similar lines and patterns. “Overdose” has a similar pattern to “Live Wire” early on, but builds with its own momentum to reach its crescendo. “Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be” has always been one of those underrated AC/DC songs, one that those that only listen to the singles never get to know. It again builds from a slowish start to find its own pace and strength, and it does all the right things for the fans. It’s another great track here.
So too is “Whole Lotta Rosie” which is still a live favourite today. Focusing on Bon’s meeting with a female ‘acquaintance’ back in the day, this is a rollicking track that is ecstatically explained by Bon, before Angus takes over and gives an extended solo piece to hold the middle of the song together. It is still one of the great AC/DC songs and it closes the album on a high note.

Like most people of my generation, I was aware of AC/DC before I became a fan. The occasional AC/DC song was played on the radio when I was growing up, but nothing like it is now, where you can get one every couple of hours. As a teenage boy growing up in Australia in the early 1980’s, AC/DC was one of those bands that you were expected to listen to and adhere to. But for those early 80’s years the only albums I knew were “TNT” and “Back in Black”.
Once out of high school, and having seen the band live at the start of 1988 on their first Australian tour in seven years, the ability to accumulate more albums came about, and I was able to eventually find my own copies of all of their back catalogue. And, like all of them, it’s terrific.
In the years since 1980, there has been that old story that AC/DC just keep producing the same album year after year, with the same rhythm beat and riff and keep churning out the tracks and albums. Perhaps there is an element of the ‘same’ about them, but that certainly wasn’t the case with “Let There Be Rock”. That rhythm is amazing, but Phil Rudd’s drumming is a star attraction, changing with the tempo of the track as set by the Young brothers, and utilising every piece of his kit in different tracks. And Angus’s solo pieces are electrifying. There is no doubt that the attitude and underlying frustration they all went into the studio with fuelled the way this album was written and played, and it is all the better because of that.


I truly love this album, still pull it out of its cover and throw it on the turntable almost every month of every year and enjoy all forty minutes. It is still as fresh today as it was on the day of its release… or so I assume. And I can assure you I have had it going around a lot over the last few days leading up to this podcast episode… right now as I record this in fact, in the background there. “Go Down”, “Dog Eat Dog”, “Overdose”, “Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be”, “Let There Be Rock”, “Whole Lotta Rosie”… I mean really, what is there NOT to love about this album? It is a masterpiece, a slab of the greatest hard rocking genius that has ever been recorded – and I say that even considering that, two years ago when we were sent int our first covid lockdown, I went through the entire AC/DC catalogue, and ranked their albums from 16 to 1 (before their latest album Power Up came to be released), and even though I have fawned over this album… there is still one AC/DC album I ranked ahead of it… now I’m not going to name that, you can all have a bit of a guess between yourselves… because on day’s like today, I really believe that THIS is their best ever…

762. AC/DC / Rock or Bust. 2014. 3.5/5

Releasing just their fourth album in the past 24 years hasn't affected AC/DC's popularity worldwide, nor has it changed their style. As always, this either bothers you to the point that you can't listen to what is on the album, or it makes you feel warm and fuzzy, and you sink into it like a comfortable pair of shoes. There is a change of some description however. It's old man's easy listening rock now. The real trademark energy that used to punctuate their songs and performances has now settled back into stuff these guys could be playing in dressing gowns and armchairs.
That's not meant to be a cheap shot either - I mean, they ARE all old now, and you can't keep doing what you used to forever. Malcolm Young's retirement due to illness is the best indication of that.

But there used to be riffs and solos from Angus that transcended songs and albums, ones that immediately made you recognise the song as soon as you heard it. There's none of that here. The songs are tight and held together by the infinite and endless 4/4 beat on Phil Rudd's drums along with Cliff Williams' bass guitar. Stevie Young does a serviceable job on rhythm guitar, filling in his uncle's shoes. Brian Johnson's vocals are as recognisable as ever, with lyrics that cover the usual AC/DC song subjects. There is nothing out of place here, but there is nothing that is a breakout song, busting out of the speakers to take a hold of you. It isn't as though there is a lack of energy here, it's just that it is a slow fissure that is spread throughout the whole album, not changing all the way through. In the past there would be explosions of energy, making you look up and take notice of the song or riff or solo. Here it is more of a levelling situation, letting that tempo sit all the way through the album, hardly missing a beat along the way.

This album sits comfortably between the way I feel about Blow Up Your Video and The Razors Edge. Both of those albums start off with the money shots, the singles that was the momentum to those albums' sales. But whereas with Blow Up Your Video the rest of the album disappointed me and left me feeling unfulfilled, there are some great other tracks on The Razors Edge that keep me coming back for more. Here on Rock or Bust, there is no doubt that the opening two songs are where the promotion of the album comes to. "Rock or Bust"  is the title track and second single to be released, which followed the initial release of the second song on the album "Play Ball" which preceded the release of the album proper. Both are catchy enough to have already been used in sports promotions worldwide, so you know you are getting good album coverage when that occurs. Following these two songs, you have a collection of songs that follow the same formula as AC/DC songs do. Sometimes, as on Blow Up Your Video they don't really work, unable to keep the interest of the listener. For me at least, the remainder of Rock or Bust is closer to The Razor's Edge. There is enough here to keep you listening and rocking along, even if it is in an easy listening kind of atmosphere. They may not be outstanding, and they may not be memorable for anything out of the ordinary, but as a package they are still great to listen to.

There is every chance that this will be AC/DC's final album. But then again I've probably thought that of their last three or four albums. If it does become their last release, we can at least be happy that they ended it on their own terms, delivering an album that does very little different to what they have in the last two or three decades, and still delivering songs that have that foot-tapping, head-bobbing capability.

Rating:  Listen, drinks all around I'm in the mood.  3.5/5

679. AC/DC / T.N.T. 1975. 4.5/5

Coming off a solid and satisfactory debut album, AC/DC return for their second opus, one that not only rates as one of the best ever Australian albums, but also as one of the best hard rock albums ever. T.N.T. is a literal hit factory, with great song followed by great song, and only a couple of moments during its 42 minutes that could be considered filler.

There would have to be very few people on the planet who could not at least cobble together a few words or hum the tune of the best known songs here. "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" is the biographical song of any band, and one that, perhaps ironically, managed to help get AC/DC to "the top". It sometimes goes unnoticed in this day and age, but the introduction of the bagpipes into a hard rock song, which actually enhances the middle bridge of the song, is quite an achievement. Less successful is Bon Scott mimed attempt to play them in the video clip of the song on the back of a flatbed truck going down Swanston Street in Melbourne. It is as popular today as it was when it was released. This is followed by the rocking beat of "Rock 'n' Roll Singer", which in a similar path to the opening track is a sort of biographical song about the path to becoming... well... a rock 'n' roll singer! By this stage of the album it is obvious that the band has got their ship in order, and know what formula they are going to follow - a solid pounding drum beat, supported by a rumbling bassline, with clear, crisp guitar riffs setting the foundations of each song, allowing Bon Scott to star on vocals and Angus Young to flail away when he feels the need to.
"The Jack" is the next song, with its simple drum and rhythm throughout the song, and its repeated chorus line making it a favourite among teenagers especially (I recall a school bus trip in high school where this album was played a lot, and this song got repeated playings joined by the chanting of the chorus by the entire population of the bus). Closing out the first side of the album is "Live Wire", which is one of my favourites. The somber opening of the bass and quiet guitar chords, then joined by the drums and eventually Bon's singing is just brilliant. The song builds wonderfully from the quiet into the pumping hard rock anthem. For me, it would be in my five best AC/DC songs. Extremely underrated.

Side Two opens up with the timeless anthem "T.N.T." which again does a marvellous job of getting the listener to join in singing the vocals. It's hard to resist singing the chorus at the top of your voice, no matter where you are when you are listening to it. "Rocker" could perhaps be classed as filler, if it wasn't for the energy shown by Bon Scott's vocals through the song. It almost feels like an on-stage jam between the band, with Bon coming up with lyrics just to fill the gaps. "Can I Sit Next To You, Girl" is a re-working of AC/DC's first ever single, back before Bon Scott was in the band. The original was sung by Dave Evans. It is patently clear that this is a much better version of the song, not only because Bon gives it a little bit more oomph than Evans, but because the band is sharper, cleaner and tighter.
"High Voltage" is a sister song to "T.N.T." and was inspired by the title of their first album. It was also the first single, released before this album came out, and as a result the single boosted the sale of High Voltage as many people thought that it was actually off that album. Good marketing and selling all round.
The final song on the album is "School Days', a cover of the Chuck Berry song. Now, while this may be an historically great song, and one can only assume that it was an influence on the band members in their youth, I feel it just muddies up the end of the album a little. "High Voltage" is really the best song to close with, letting it finish on a high. "School Days" doesn't tend to do that.

Despite a couple of moments that are a little lacklustre, this is a true classic album. It was the making of AC/DC and was followed by more great albums, a couple that even arguably match this. But for me, this is where it is all capture, in this bottle called T.N.T, the very best of everything this band can offer. The super rhythm section, the brilliant riffage from Angus and Malcolm Young, and the unique vocal capacity of Bon Scott. The complete package.

632. AC/DC / Who Made Who. 1986. 4.5/5

In the main, this album serves as the soundtrack to the Stephen King penned movie Maximum Overdrive, a moderately enjoyable film with big trucks that gain their own conscious state. As a collection of songs, both newly recorded and a smattering of good 'uns from their back catalogue, this becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

The headline song is the title track, "Who Made Who" which became a huge anthem through the late 80's. It's popularity and importance to the AC/DC catalogue is obvious, and more than makes this compilation on its own.
There are two other new songs on this release, and both are instrumentals, "D.T." and "Chase the Ace". Both are great additions as well (with "D.T." becoming a favourite to play for the band I was in during my early twenties).
The remainder of the album is packed with great songs from their other albums. I like it because this is not a greatest hits collection, it is a soundtrack collection, so rather than getting the most popular songs of the band, you get a mix of songs that provided a background during the movie.
The obvious are included - "You Shook Me All Night Long" and "Hells Bells" from the Back in Black album boom along nicely, and fall into this category. There are the great "Sink the Pink" and "Shake Your Foundations" from the underrated Fly on the Wall album, the understated "Ride On" (the only contribution from Bon Scott here) from the Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap album, and the awesome "For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)" from the album of the same name that closes out the album.

This is not a greatest hits album, but it is a great collection of some terrific AC/DC songs, not all of which are often considered when it comes to putting together a 'best-of' list, that is more than worthwhile owning.

528. AC/DC / If You Want Blood, You've Got It. 1978. 4/5

There’s a point in every band’s career that they need to record and release a live album. There are any number of reasons why this is the case, but in the main it is something that is required in order to showcase to the fans who have not seen them in concert exactly what they can do in a band’s natural environment. It can also be a handy move in order to give a band a break from releasing albums year after year, as was the case during this time, and offer them a bigger break away from either touring or recording or both.
Also during this time frame, live albums would often be double albums, in order to have all the songs played on the night or nights of recording on the album. Here though AC/DC have gone for the short and sharp version, with just the single vinyl album containing 10 tracks. The setlist on the night this was recorded was only 12 songs, which meant that a part of the encore was not put on, as well as the song “Dog Eat Dog”, which is a shame as it is a terrific song. N the end does it detract from the album as released? No, it doesn’t.
What you are left with here is the band on stage, arguably at their absolute peak when it comes to their performances, at the very least with Bon Scott at the helm. As a result it is a gem of an album to put on and bathe in the gloriousness of AC/DC live on stage.

There are some quite brilliant songs on this album, and they sound superb. They are pulled from most of the band’s albums to this point in time, and just rock the house down. The opening salvo of “Riff Raff” and “Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be” is a tour de force, the blistering assault from Angus Young on lead guitar and the bombastic vocals from Bon Scott out front. Behind them the trio of Malcolm Young, Cliff Williams and Paul Rudd provide the best rhythm section in the business. “Riff Raff” in particular here is dominating, the true high voltage that the band sang about in the song of the same name. Just brilliant. “Bad Boy Boogie” also works well here, a drawn out section that allows the band to showcase its talents further.
I have never really been a fan of the song “The Jack”. For me it is ponderously slow, it is repetitive throughout the chorus, and delves heavily into the blues guitar, something that I can take or leave at the best of times. Obviously here in the live environment, t used as a crowd motivator and to include the crowd in the song, so as a live tool I guess it does its job. Personally, I would preferred to have heard any of two dozen songs played instead of it. “Problem Child” here actually proves that point as far as I am concerned, as the tempo switches back into top gear immediately, Bon’s vocals hit back to their best and the band is re-energized. It’s a great contrast of those two parts of AC/DC and for me shines a light on the positive aspects with force.
The second side of the album comes at you with similar ferocity in the best possible way. The fantastic joy of “Whole Lotta Rosie” lights up the stereo as it jumps out of the speakers, followed by “Rock n Roll Damnation”, the high voltage that is “High Voltage”, and then the power chord extravaganza of “Let There Be Rock”. A brilliant punch by punch collection of the best of AC/DC one after the other. The other song I’m less than fond of here is “Rocker”, which ends the album and was the encore on this tour. It’s a fast paced song that would no doubt have been a crowd favourite at the time. But again there were many other songs that could have been substituted in for it that would have been at least as good if not better. These are picky things here, and no doubt not the thoughts of a majority of AC/DC fans. It just seems like a missed opportunity to me... some 45 years on...

There are two things I’ve mentioned about live albums on past episodes, and they are these: one, any live albums should immediately be a 5/5 album because it should contains the band’s best songs of the era in their best environment. For the most part, this album does that really well. Two, while there are generally reasons why a band would put together a live album that has the songs in a different order than what they were played in, would really prefer they didn’t change the order. I prefer to hear the setlist as it was played. That isn’t the case on this album, with a couple of songs omitted from the release, and the others put together in a different order, probably to have them marry up nicely for the two side of the vinyl. Whatever the reason, they do have the songs join together nicely here so that if you didn’t KNOW it wasn’t in setlist order, you would never notice.
I don’t even recall when I actually got this album. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t until after 2000, as I still only had the basic AC/DC collection up to that point, despite having seen them four times (all from the front or second row which was as big a fluke as you could wish for). It would definitely have occurred during my period of making sure I had copies of every album the band had released, which was around that time. I know I’ve always enjoyed it, mainly because, what’s not to like?
The following year the band released the seminal “Highway to Hell”, climbed to the very top of the hard rock tree, and then found tragedy awaiting. But that story is for another episode.

496. AC/DC / Highway to Hell. 1979. 4.5/5

As I am sure I have mentioned on other podcast episodes when it comes to the albums that AC/DC released prior to 1980, it is still hard to conceive that the band was far less successful in the United States than they were in other parts of the world. This of course came down to the attitude of their record company in the US, Atlantic Records, who more or less decided that the band and their sound was not suitable for the markets they were trying to reach, and basically would not push them. For goodness sakes – they wouldn’t even RELEASE “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” to the US market which is just ludicrous.
Rather than push hard to make these albums successful – you know, like a record company’s JOB is – they instead decided to push the band’s management to firstly replace lead singer Bon Scott (yep, that would have been a great move), and eventually pushed them to change their producers. The problem with that of course is that the band’s producers for all of their albums had been Harry Vanda and George Young – yep, Malcolm and Angus’s older brother George. Now that seems like a story that wasn’t going to end well. Atlantic’s representative flew to Sydney, and told George that for the record company to continue to invest in AC/DC, he would need to accede to their wishes, something he grudgingly agreed to. Atlantic then brought in Eddie Kramer, who had produced albums for Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Kiss, and was no doubt someone they thought could produce an album to their liking. The problem was, Kramer and the band did not gel, and it eventually came out that Malcolm and Angus were sending demos of the sessions back to George in Australia, who was obviously critiquing them harshly. Eventually, having relocated to a studio in the US and with the relationship completely breaking down, Malcolm’s constant barrage to have Kramer replaced came to pass, and another alternative came into the mix for the first time – Robert John (but better known as “Mutt”) Lange. It was to be a partnership that did indeed take AC/DC to another level of success, in album sales at least if not necessarily in the quality of the output achieved.
Lange at that time had conjured up chart success for the Boomtown Rats, and his more hands on approach as a producer was beginning to see results with whatever he was involved in. The stories from the making of this album, from him teaching Bon how to coordinate his breathing during the singing of “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)” after being told by the singer “if you’re so good, why don’t you sing it?”, to which he apparently did first time, to manipulating what Angus played on what became the solo to the title track “Highway to Hell”, became legendary. It was a partnership that took both parties to a higher level of success.

When a band is on fire, and consistently releases high quality albums, I guess you can only wonder when the dry spell is going to come. Well, it certainly isn’t here, with the band putting the seal on yet another fine moment in their history. In fact, it could almost be the pinnacle of an ever evolving and growing giant.
Leading off with the great title track, there are very few weak holes to be found in this package. "Highway to Hell" is a great song, one that still stands the test of time, and is rightly considered one of the band's best. The pure simplicity of the track is often overlooked, because it is such a great song with a terrific groove and Bon’s teasing vocals over the top. The song caused a ripple in the US when it was the name chosen by the band as the album’s title (conservative US get a bit prickly about stuff like that) while many mistook the song being about wanting to party in hell, when in fact the lyrics are about the band’s experience of being on the road non-stop, and how that could very well wear you down.
It is interesting that when you listen to it in the context of the album it starts, it feels almost like a plodder when you crash into the follow up "Girls Got Rhythm", which takes off at a faster pace alongside Bon's ecstatic vocals. It's a bold comparison, and "Girls Got Rhythm" has always been a favourite track of mine because of the way it jumpstarts the album. The supporting vocals from Malcolm and Cliff also excel here. From here you dive headlong into "Walk All Over You", which starts off at a mellowing pace before exploding with Bon's blinding vocals and Angus letting rip on lead guitar. Just fantastic stuff. It mixes up the faster paced harder parts with the slower and softer mid-section along the way, and once again with Malcolm and Cliff’s supporting vocal tying out the track. Listening to this in the live environment exemplifies the strongest parts of the track in much better style as well.
There’s no time to rest, as the album moves along straight into "Touch Too Much", a song that rises on the back of Bon's great vocal performance in particular, pushing up the energy levels of the track. It’s a different style to the music for this song, built around the sensational rhythm section which ebbs and flows as to the needs of the vocals, with only two short bursts from the lead guitar to punctuate it. Another superb song, one that is crafted particularly well. The first side of the album concludes with "Beating Around the Bush", that harks back to a style found on the first couple of albums.
Side Two opens with "Shot Down in Flames", a straight up rocker where the band hits the groove from the outset and then let Bon and Angus do their work. Simple, uncomplicated, and terrific. Rinse and repeat for “Get It Hot”, following the same storyboard but making enough changes so that the band can’t be accused of plagiarising... themselves. Then comes what is arguably one of the band’s most iconic and best songs, "If You Want Blood (You've Got It)". This is a brilliant song to drum to (as those who have watched the movie ‘Empire Records’ would know), along with the great riff from Angus and Bon's blood-curdling lyrics and vocals it makes almost the perfect song. Brilliant to sing along with, a great anthem and a great party song. It covers the full gamut.
In contrast, "Love Hungry Man" appears quite lacklustre and underwhelming and seems a strange choice to follow such a terrific and energetic song. The album closes off with "Night Prowler", which probably received more attention due to its eventual association with the serial killer Richard Ramirez, who was nicknamed "Night Stalker" and was supposedly a big fan of the band. Again, this song goes against the grain of the majority of the album, plodding along to its conclusion whereas the high energy of most of the previous songs seems almost lost because of it. To me this has always been a real shame. It's not a bad song, but perhaps just a bad place for it.

As with a lot of AC/DC's work, the unheralded star once again is the rhythm section of the band. It does not miss a beat, and provides the bulk of each song, as well as the backing vocals. Phil Rudd on drums is immaculate, while Cliff Williams on bass and Malcolm Young on rhythm guitar lock in on his groove and hold together each and every song. It is their great work that allows the extroverts in vocalist Bon Scott and lead guitar Angus Young to strut their stuff and be so outward in their roles. Bon’s vocals as always are just brilliant, uniquely his, and driving each song. As his epitaph you could ask for little more. The guitaring of Angus here is once more an inspiration to those youngsters growing up in the era.
Growing up in Australia, AC/DC was an institution. In the 1980’s especially, as a high school student, you knew the band, you knew the hits. There was someone within your circle that had their music, and you all listened to it in some way. This is how it happened for me, knowing all the songs that were played on the radio and on music video shows, and hearing albums at different friends and acquaintances homes along the way. Eventually, as I found the funds required, I began to build my own AC/DC album collection. Somewhere along the way, “Highway to Hell” became one of those purchases.
Often considered as one of the best two or three AC/DC albums recorded, this has always been one of those albums that contains more than a touch of magic. There is a lot of great music here, and some of the songs are indeed legendary, and if you wanted to argue the point as to where this album should rank on any all-time list I'm sure you could have me come around to your way of thinking if you had enough good points.
“Highway to Hell” is a driving force. Put it on at work and you start playing drums on the desktop. Put it on in the car and the air guitar starts flying. There is a real perpetual motion going on with the tracklist, a consistent drive that barely abates from start to finish. Those that have only ever heard the singles and 'famous' tunes may not know a lot of the songs on this album, but they all meld together to make an album that does not quit.
Bon's vocals on his final charge are probably the peak of his career, and the mix with the backing vocals of Malcolm and Cliff add both drama and power to every song. Bon’s performance is top shelf, and the fact it was his last still stings. Phil Rudd's drumming is sublime, and the rhythm is brilliant. There aren't many times Angus Young plays second banana - and he is great here, no doubt - but Bon is the star and this is a pretty fair finale for him. His passing just seven months after the release of this album could easily have meant this was AC/DC’s final album as a band. That it wasn’t, and that they continue to tour and record 45 years later is an amazing achievement. There were still some terrific albums to come, but Bon’s passing does mean “Highway to Hell” concluded the first great era of AC/DC. Some fans think the great days ended here, while many agree that the follow up to this album showed the band had a lot more to give. Like the song says... if you want blood...

495. AC/DC / High Voltage [Australian Release]. 1975. 4/5

The path from the initial formation of the band AC/DC, through to the writing, recording and release of their debut album, was as big and interesting journey as was the case for all bands of all eras. In the case of this band, in Australia at least, the story has become a blueprint for how aspiring young bands want to set themselves up for their future. Blueprints are often difficult to follow.
The band came together In November 1973 in Sydney, through several other bands forming and breaking up. Malcolm Young and bass guitarist Larry Van Kriedt had just played together and decided they wanted to continue working together. Malcolm’s younger brother Angus then came on board as well. They then found a drummer in Colin Burgess, who had worked with well known Australian band the Masters Apprentices, and the group was completed by the addition of vocalist Dave Evans. In searching for a name of the band, legend tells us that Malcolm and Angus came up with the band's name after their sister Margaret pointed out the symbol "AC/DC" on the AC adapter of her sewing machine. It was to be a prophetic decision.
AC/DC's first official gig was at Chequers nightclub in Sydney on 31 December 1973. As was a popular notion at the time, for about 18 months most members of the band dressed in some form of glam or satin outfit. Angus, being the youngest and looking for a stage presence to outweigh his more docile usual nature, tried various costumes including Zorro, a gorilla, and Superman. Their set list during this time involved cover versions of songs by the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, the Beatles and other popular blues artists, while also throwing in original songs when they cropped up. After many attempts at a stage presence in pantomime, Angus first wore his soon-to-be iconic school-uniform stage outfit in April 1974 at Victoria Park, Sydney, an idea that apparently was their sister Margaret's.
The band did a recording session in January 1974 at EMI Studios in Sydney, with George Young and Harry Vanda as the producers. George of course is Malcolm and Angus’s older brother, and both were former members of the Easybeats. Several songs were recorded, including "Can I Sit Next to You, Girl", "Rockin' in the Parlour" and an early version of "Rock 'n' Roll Singer". Following this, the band signed with Albert Productions in June 1974, which led to "Can I Sit Next to You, Girl", backed with "Rockin' in the Parlour", taken from the January session, being released on 22 July 1974 as the band's first single. The song reached the top 50 on Australia's Kent Music Report singles chart.
Despite this, there were many changes still going on in the band members. A week after the January recording session, Burgess was fired due to intoxication. Subsequently, Van Kriedt was replaced, and his recorded bass lines for the January session were re-recorded by George Young. Their replacements, Neil Smith on bass guitar and Noel Taylor on drums, lasted six weeks, replaced in turn by Rob Bailey and Peter Clack, respectively.
AC/DC had developed a strong live reputation by mid-1974, which resulted in a supporting slot on Lou Reed's national tour in August. It was during that tour that Malcolm switched to rhythm guitar, leaving Angus on lead guitar – the roles the two guitarists played from then on. At this stage the band was still persisting with a glam rock image, but the end of 1974 Malcolm and Angus had decided they needed to change their direction and pursue a more pub rock sound. It was also around this time that they decided that Dave Evans was no longer suitable as the frontman of the band. This situation was solved by befriending of Bon Scott, formerly of the bands The Valentines and Fraternity. With an audition performed to make it official, Evans was sacked and Bon named as his replacement. Bon’s first gig as lead singer was at that doyen of concert places, the Masonic Hall at Brighton-le-Sands south of Sydney on 5 October 1974, before heading into Albert Studios just a month later to record their debut studio album, titled “High Voltage”.

AC/DC recorded their first studio album, High Voltage, in November 1974, with Vanda & Young producing at Albert Studios in Sydney. During the recording, Bailey and Clack were still members of the band, but Clack played on only one track, with session drummer Tony Currenti providing the drums for the rest. George Young, as had been the case with the earlier recordings, handled some bass parts and later rerecorded others. The recording sessions lasted ten days and were based on instrumentals written by the Young brothers, with lyrics added by Scott. Following the recording sessions, the band relocated to Melbourne where both Bailey and Clack were dismissed. Paul Matters briefly took over bass duties before also being dismissed and replaced temporarily by George or Malcolm for live performances. On drums, Ron Carpenter and Russell Coleman had short tenures before Phil Rudd from the band Buster Brown joined, and when bass guitarist Mark Evans was enlisted in March 1975 it established the line-up that lasted for the next two years.
While the songs on High Voltage showcase a wider influence and perhaps more in the direction of the sound they were trying to move away from than the riff-based hard rock sound that followed this release, the structure of the songs in regards to wriitng can definitely be heard here in their infancy. In an interview with VH1 in 2014, Angus is quoted as such: "I think the '60s was a great time for music, especially for rock and roll. It was the era of the Beatles, of the Stones, and then later on the Who and Led Zeppelin. But at one point in the '70s it just kind of became... mellow. When Malcolm put the band together, it was obvious what was missing at the time: another great rock band. So it was basically a reaction to that, because the music at that point had just turned into that soft, melodic kind of period, and that seemed to be all over the world. For us, it was a pretty easy choice, especially because Malcolm and myself – we’re two guitarists – so from the get-go, it was going to be a guitar band."
From the outset, despite the fact that AC/DC is the garage band Aussie pub rock gods, it is Bon Scott that more than anything plants his influence all over this album. The re-recorded and slightly more innovative cover version of the original “Baby, Please Don’t Go” from Big Joe Williams leads off the album, and brings the energy and high tempo to the album from the start. This song was performed live by the band on the influential ABC music programme ‘Countdown’, with Bon Scott decked out as a blonde schoolgirl. You can still find this on YouTube if you have never seen it, but it was this performance that gave AC/DC a platform that showcased them to the nation rather than the bounds of the Sydney city limits.
"She's Got Balls" (apparently written about Scott's ex-wife Irene) was the first song that Scott and the Young brothers put together, and it is immersed in the sound that the band was trying to strive for. The solid guitars and bass tracking each other, and the steady clomp of the drums driving the song along, and Bon singing his diatribe over the top. As soon as the song begins, you know the era it comes from and who is behind the music. From the opening track that hits you with the pace and fun, back into this serious architecture based on blues but pushing hard at the pub rock scene, the album opens with two tracks that have stood the test of time since its release.
“Little Lover” draws itself back into the cocoon of the blues-based rock that the members of the band had grown up with, moving along at the pace of a slug sludging its way up the concrete path. Bon holds court with his captivating vocal, telling his story in his own way in his own time, and doing so as the band holds back on anything too extravagant. The band wrote several of these types of songs for their early albums, and not all of them worked as well as this one does. It’s creeper, musically and as a hook into the song. “Stick Around” sticks to the tried and tested (beyond this album) method of the solid guitar riff rhythm that AC/DC made famous. It’s the perfect example of how the band created this from their first album, making a song structure that was to survive their entire career. A good solid track that identified where the band was heading.
Another song on the album that is a real creeper is “Soul Stripper”, a song that establishes a blueprint for several songs to come later in the AC/DC catalogue. The opening of the track has the rhythm of guitar, bass and drums locked in as it would for the next 50 years and counting, with Angus’s lead guitar softly building over the opening two minutes into the track, perfectly subtle and yet building in power. Bon’s vocals come in from a softer tone before they build to the chorus and following verse. Then comes the Angus solo break that doesn’t break out to extreme levels, but instead is a well thought-out and played piece that doesn’t repeat itself, entwined as the song flows out to its natural conclusion in the same manner as it introduced the song. This apparently came from an unrecorded song called “Sunset Strip” by Malcolm and Evans, and its style may be familiar to anyone who knows later tracks such as “Live Wire” and “Squealer”. The follow up “You Ain’t Got a Hold on Me” follows similar lines to the previous song, the easy rhythm of the track, Bon’s mellow vocal lines following the lovely bass line of the track, while the solo from Angus again is understated compared to what came later on, but suits the track’s style perfectly.
"Love Song" apparently evolved from an unrecorded song called "Fell in Love" which was written by Malcolm and Dave Evans. However, Bon rewrote the lyrics for this version for the album. It’s a rather maudlin song both lyrically and musically and does feel a little out of place on the album. However, "Love Song" was released as the album's first single (under the title "Love Song (Oh Jene)") and was backed with "Baby, Please Don't Go". Not surprisingly, the radio stations who received this single to play all preferred the B side to the A side, and it was “Baby Please Don’t Go” that got the airplay, and not “Love Song”. The album then concludes with the upbeat and blues rock based “Show Business”, a song that mirrors the stock songs that filled the spaces of the hit maker songs on the following several albums. It’s a serviceable and enjoyable song, but doesn’t offer anything extraordinary in its composition, something AC/DC was about to produce in spades.

Like most teenagers growing up in Australia, I was exposed to AC/DC on a number of fronts. The singles were on the radio, the albums were around at different people’s places, and they were played in the school yard by the kids whose fathers were fans of the band. It was an all encompassing thing. If you are Australian and growing up in Australia, you knew who AC/DC were. So I was the same. I knew songs, but not albums. And it wasn’t until the late 1980’s that I actually owned an AC/DC album, and from there began to build my copies of their discography.
The problem with this debut album is that it was only ever released in Australia and New Zealand and since the end of the 1980’s the only version that is readily available to buy is the international version, which in fact is a hybrid of this album and their next album “TNT”. Then a portion of the other tracks were released on the “Jailbreak ‘75” LP. But two of the songs, “Stick Around” and “Love Song”, can only be found on the “Backtrack” compilation that was released years later. It’s a mishmash, and makes it very difficult for someone like me, who wants everything in order and as it was released, to actually make that happen. And for me, the essence of this album has been lost because of record company policies and politics. The international version of this album should not exist, just this album and then “TNT”. The same with the international version of the band’s third release “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” which for some reason does not have “Jailbreak” on it. And yet, that is the only version that is readily available. Idiots!
Anyway... let’s move on. So, I have a copy of this album, but it is a cheap version that does the job rather than adorn my collection with pride. And when I got it, which was some time after I had collected all of the other album released to that point in time, I found it to be a novelty. Because though it showcases the real roots of AC/DC, and gives us a glimpse into the window back in time when they were just starting out, it is different from what followed, even just a few short months later. There are different sides of the band that didn’t appear from this album on as the band refined their sound and began to blast it out of the speakers. And that is lost in a way by the unavailability of this album in the modern day. It takes away the progression that this album shows occurred between this and the next album. And, although others will say that the majority of these songs have been made available in other formats... that just isn’t the same as listening to THIS album.
I think this is a terrific debut for the band. Yes, there are lots of albums come from this point on that would be considered better, but it doesn’t overshadow the importance of this album. The playfulness of “Baby Please Don’t Go”, the change in moods of “She’s Got Balls” and “Little Lover”, and the songs that show the potential that the band exuded here that came to fruition going forward, songs like “Soul Stripper” and “You Ain’t Got a Hold on Me”. All of this bathes in the sound the band began with, a mix of glam rock and blues rock, the rhythm section that became the best in hard rock history, the man with the voice at the front, and the guy in the school uniform throwing out solos that electrified a generation.
Of the 17 studio albums the band has released – the AUSTRALIAN releases too I might add – for me this ranks at #9. I’ve had it on over the last week or so, a dozen times in total, and it still entertains and delights. For those of you who have missed out on this important album, it's time to track it down and give it a listen. Turn the stereo up to 11 if you like. It’s worth it. And it's a great place to remind you of the wonderful career it started.

494. AC/DC / High Voltage. 1976. 5/5

Having their first album to be released internationally, the decision was made to take the best of the first two albums released to the Australian public, High Voltage and T.N.T., combine them, and release them under the title of the original first album. Then there was a change of cover art to distinguish it from the original Australian release - and probably to highlight Angus Young as the front of the band - and what you have is one of the best albums to have originated on Australian shores.

Unlike the original Australian version, High Voltage contains a majority of its songs from the highly successful follow up T.N.T., and the result is that it became a worldwide smash. it is arguably AC/DC's finest hour. It contains a collection of songs, many of which are known by everyone throughout the world regardless of their music taste, complemented by the other solid songs surrounding them.
To be honest there simply isn’t a weak song on this album. Each is followed by another of equal quality. Few albums exist where you could, when trying to compile a greatest hits collection for a band, lift every song from the one album. This is one.
There are just so many anthems here – “It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock and Roll”, “Rock n Roll Singer”, “The Jack”, “Live Wire”, “High Voltage”, “TNT” – it’s probably a crime not to just list the entire tracklist. And these are real anthems too, not your pretend pop tunes that some people think are fun to sing along to. These are the real thing, where everyone knows what to sing and when. By taking what would probably be considered as the best two songs off of the Australian release of High Voltage, "She's Got Balls" and "Little Lover", and putting that with the majority of the songs off of T.N.T., the record company has produced a monster.

As an Australian, I prefer to refer to the two Australian record releases when it comes to ranking and rating AC/DC's albums. This will always be somewhat of a compilation. If forced to do so, it ranks above T.N.T. because of the extra tracks from the original release. A true rock masterpiece.

Rating:  High voltage rock and roll.  5/5.

397. AC/DC / For Those About To Rock (We Salute You). 1981. 3/5

Trying to follow up the monster that was Back in Black must have been a daunting task, but with a stellar stable in their back catalogue, AC/DC had been producing consistently brilliant albums for six years, and even with the loss of Bon Scott they had hardly skipped a beat thanks to the recruitment of Brian Johnson. There was no reason to believe it wouldn't continue.

They couldn’t have started off better. Track one, the title track, is one of their all time classics and is still in their live set to this day. It is a quintessential AC/DC track, building up beautifully from the quite guitar at the front to the completion with the cannons firing at random. It is a terrific anthem, directed from the band to the fans, and it is still as powerful today as it was on it's release. A real classic. This is then followed by “I Put The Finger On You”, another up tempo track that keeps the album moving in the right direction. With these two songs to start the album you can only think you are in for something special once again.
From this point on, however, the album falls back into what would become the ‘stock-standard’ AC/DC slew of songs that probably found their beginnings on the previous album, but would seep through their releases for the next 30+ years. You know the ones, the mid-tempo songs with standard 2/4 drum timing with the bass and rhythm guitar locked in to make that solid back beat, while Brian sings his lyrics over the top, which generally contain choruses that just repeat one line over and over again so that it becomes a chant, and Angus throws in his pieces when it feels necessary. This isn't meant to be a criticism as such, because they've done it so well for so long. But it can certainly become repetitive, and sometimes it feels as though it just goes on too long. Here on For Those About to Rock (We Salute You), many of the songs have very little spectacular about them. Some are good, some are just average. Stuff like “Let’s Get It Up” and “Inject The Venom” and "Breaking the Rules" I find that I have to be in the right mood to enjoy, otherwise I just think ‘skip to the next song please’. It became a theme for the band's albums throughout the 1980's. They mixed some standout songs with a lot that many people would have difficulty in placing what album they were actually released on.

This album marks the beginning of a number of albums throughout the decade that all had promise, without ever really climbing back to the heights of the albums that had preceded it. There's no problem with that, all bands face it at some stage. There is nothing bad on this album, but there are a couple of tracks that could be described as boring, and when that happens it can test your mettle.

Rating:  We're just a battery for hire with the guitar fire, ready and aimed at you  3/5

391. AC/DC / Fly on the Wall. 1985. 3.5/5

The mid-1980's is a part of the career of AC/DC that is sometimes hard to put into perspective of the decades that preceded it and followed it. The 1970’s Bon Scott led era of the band had also had its differences with both sales and fan adoration, something that seemed to grow in the estimation of both once Bon had passed away and the band had continued. Then there was the enormous overnight success of the “Back in Black” album that came less than six months after his passing, with new lead singer Brian Johnson seemingly an immediate hit, and the building of the band that had come over the previous five years hit its peak. Eventually though there has to be a point where a drop has to occur, even a minor one, and the enormous sales and success of that album left the band in a place where they had to try and follow it up. “For Those About to Rock We Salute You” was and is a perfectly serviceable album, but the drop in sales immediately had the record company demanding a reversal of that situation. Because of course, every band should be able to constantly increase their sales with every single album. The band had then decided to self produce their next album, moving away from the magic touch of Mutt Lange and strip things back to recover some of their original sound. The resulting album, “Flick of the Switch” failed to ignite sales or the fans excitement. It still had solid sales across the band’s demographic, but compared to the previous five albums it was not in the same league musically or commercially.
Their American record company Atlantic decided at this time to release an EP called “‘74 Jailbreak”, that contained the tracks that they had cut from their own release version of “High Voltage” back in 1976, of the songs that had appeared on the original Australian versions of their first three albums, included the song “Jailbreak” that somehow they thought wasn’t a good fit... idiots. This EP with songs with Bon Scott on vocals, seemed like a desperate effort to retain their US fans in a period where they were obviously concerned about the AC/DC fan base.
For the follow up album, it was again decided that the Young brothers would produce, hoping to reconnect with a sound closer to the first two Johnson-helmed albums than their most recent. This was offset by a period out of the studio when the band headlined two nights at the Rock in Rio festival in January 1985, on one night to over 250,000 people. The reception the band received at the festival proved that the band still had plenty of credits in the bank, and that the fan base was ready for what was to come on their new album, titled “Fly on the Wall”.

AC/DC has built a career on creating a formula for their music that is based on a number of characteristics that are similar in execution and yet still manage to appeal to their fan base and those on the periphery who just enjoy a solid rock song. This is perhaps just a fancy way of saying that AC/DC has a penchant for writing albums that barely sway from their core sound, tempo beat and structure. That is as solid an argument that can be made for the songs on this album. The band did not want to be as stripped back as they were for “Flick of the Switch”. In fact the Young brothers were quoted as saying that they were hoping to go back and recapture the rawness and simplicity of their earlier work. The introduction of Brian as lead singer had seen the last vestiges of the band’s earliest blues based material seep away, and the advent of 1980’s hard rock had become the basis for the solidity of the tracks from that point. Here in 1985 though, the band was now also fighting the rising tide of both glam rock and metal, and thrash metal, both of which were beginning to make strides in the popularity of the music market that AC/DC was aiming for. And while the blues sound had been drained from their music, the solid rigidity of the backbone of the tracks had come to the fore, the rhythm section that became the most renown in the land for its tightness and reliability. To that measure, long time drummer Phil Rudd had been dismissed from the band prior to the previous tour due to his personal problems and an allegedly physical confrontation with Malcolm Young. Simon Wright had been brought in to replace him, and this was his first album recording with the band.
So the band had some issues they were fighting, but there is no doubt when you listen to this album that it had been fairly strictly regimented in regards to rhythm, tempo and structure. Rather than the band trying to tell the producer what they wanted with their songs, they now had Malcolm and Angus running the show. There is a reasonable argument that this perhaps swung the pendulum too far in one direction again, that a firm handed producer may have been able to draw more from what the band had written that the brothers were willing to accede with themselves in charge. It is not a long bow to draw that the least exciting albums from AC/DC from the 1980’s are the two that didn’t have an outside producer attached to them.
Lyrically, “Fly on the Wall” is of a childish standard. As a 16 year old when I first heard it I thought it was childish then. At least when Bon wrote and sang his lyrics he gave them a knowing leer. These for the most part are unclever and should have been embarrassing to sing. For most of this album though, that isn’t really a problem, as Brian’s vocals are not only difficult to distinguish as words from the English language, they have also been placed back in the mix, making it even harder to discern precisely what is being said. Whether this was a deliberate mix to get the guitars out the front rather than the lead singer, I don’t know. But in places on this album, that is exactly what it sounds like, a decision to put AC/DC’s most marketable attributes – its rhythm section and its flamboyant lead guitarist – out front to drag the punters in. Even the choruses with the backing vocals from Malcolm and Cliff, sounded drowned in noise.
The album is front loaded, with the singles that were released and any other song that may have been of initial interest chucked onto the first side of the album. The decision to release “Danger” as the first single to promote the album seems like an atrocious choice. Was it the band or the record company that went in this direction? It’s a plodding track at best with lyrics that are over repeated throughout and the lack of any energy in the sad excuse for a guitar solo that make it a less than average song. Apparently it bombed so bad on the tour that followed that it was very quickly booted from the set list. Now that’s the kind of reaction you want from your lead single. The other two songs released as singles – in separate countries as it turns out – were “Sink the Pink” and “Shake Your Foundations”. Both are exactly the kind of songs you would expect from the album as I have described to this point in time. They have that slight increase in commerciality, the ones that can grab your ear and give you something to grab a hold of. Which is what they do, and why they were the better choices to be released as singles. The videos for both songs, with the band playing in a bar and the story of the songs being told around them, got good airplay on MTV and helped to promote the band in a way that may not have been possible without the music video networks being around.
The rest of the album, for the most part, is what became known as the AC/DC cookie-cutter effect, with songs more of less based around the same rhythm, the same verse-chorus-verse-chorus chanting vocals, the same Angus solo spot, and lyrics that didn’t seem like they took very long to come up with.

I knew of AC/DC before my heavy metal epiphany occurred, about five months after this album had been released in 1985. So I very well remember the videos for these songs when they were released. I had a copy of the “Fly on the Wall” VHS video, which had the film of AC/DC playing in the same scenario as their singles music videos - "Fly on the Wall", "Danger", "Sink the Pink", "Stand Up", and "Shake Your Foundations" - which they did for the MTV generation. So I knew this album pretty well even before I had my own copy of it. And for me at the time, I enjoyed them. I knew the popular AC/DC songs that came from the Bon era and the “Back in Black” album, but this was sort of the first AC/DC album I knew most of, and the rhythm beat and chanted chorus vocals and Angus on guitar was a part of what was drawing me towards the harder and heavier style of music that I eventually gravitated to. So yes, it is fair to say that “Fly on the Wall”, or at least the five songs I knew listed previously, was one of those steps to my heavy metal conversion.
By the time I actually got around to getting a copy of this album, I was full blown and had certainly digested all of the Bon Scott era albums, and also the wonderful “The Razors Edge” album. So I had experienced the best that the band had to offer before I finally got my own copy of this album. And you know what? It’s okay! It isn’t terrible. It just isn’t very good, or outstanding in any way. It has its charms, apart from the lyrics mostly. And what it does do is bring back the mid-1980's in its style.
So I’ve pulled this album out again this week, my battered old CD copy that I bought second hand some time ago, such that it looks as though it has been listened to a lot more by me than it actually has. And for the most part it has been on as background noise at work as I while away my time crunching those numbers – in a uniformed solid rhythmic kind of way, obviously influenced by the music I was listening to. And I came to the same conclusion that I always do with this album – there are many many better albums in AC/DC’s catalogue than this one. Butat one point as I was beginning to compose this episode, I had a flash back to those days in mid to late 1985, when I would watch the videos to these songs, and it reminded me of how I felt about these songs THEN rather than how I have felt about them n the years since. And THAT was a great memory, when you get that flood of good feeling rushing down to your stomach and you remember something that you have since forgotten. And that is what I look for from albums that I may not be especially ecstatic about in the modern day, the ability to remember how I DID feel about them when I first discovered the music. And just in the past 24 hours, I have happened to remember those feelings of that time. And that is the power of music, no matter how your opinion on an album may have changed over the years.
So this resides in the back five of the list of AC/DC albums for me, but is still able to retrieve good tidings in me that not all albums do. So while I may have been harsh in some criticism I have spoken on this episode today about the album, don’t think I don’t still have a little love for it as well. That is the power of music and the memories it can revive and carry. “Fly on the Wall” has definitely done that for me again.