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.