AC/DC: High Voltage (Australian Version)

AC/DC: High Voltage (Australian Version)

1975

Albert Productions Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Baby, Please Don't Go  2. She's Got Balls  3. Little Lover  4 Stick Around  5. Soul Stripper  6. You Ain't Got a Hold on Me  7. Love Song  8. Show Business



Oh yea, shout out to my friend Joe who sent me a gorgeous vinyl copy of "Decoration Day" by the Drive By Truckers. One of the best albums ever, in my big-ass opinion! Thank you very much...I'm going to get a package together this weekend to send to you...





(by the way...I just found out about the "Alabama Ass Whuppin' reissue! Oh my God! Why didn't anyone tell me?!)

It's hard to believe it was exactly one year ago that I started the Friday Night Record Party blog...

January 1, 2013: I was on my lunch break and I decided to do a quick write up of how much I loved the American release of AC/DC's "High Voltage" and waxed nostalgic about a particular 80's family reunion where I locked myself in a car and listened to the album...And look at me now! I've topped this year's "Forbe's Grubbiest People of 2013" list!

I spent last year listening to  my record collection alphabetically (by artist) and made it as far as Elvis Costello's "This Year's Model." I had the idea a couple month's ago to make a few changes...First, I decided that through 2014 I'll speed things up a bit by doing more than one album a day...I was thinking of doing them in groups, similar to how I handled the comedy and Christmas records. so that way it won't take me 100 years to get through all my music...If the new format really sucks let me know and I'll go back, but I think it's gonna be a bit tighter and more fast-paced...

I also decided that I would restart the alphabetization...Throughout the year I had bought so many records by artists starting with the letters A, B & C...So I'm going to start again from A and cover my new acquisitions until I'm back to Elvis Costello again, at which point I'll start doing the "album groups" thing...By sheer chance, I'm starting the new year exactly where I started the previous year...with AC/DC's "High Voltage" only this time it's the original Australian version that I picked up a coupla weeks ago at Eastside Records (my favorite place of all time)...



Despite being called "High Voltage," the US edition only had a measly two songs in common with the original version ("She's Got Balls" and "Little Lover")...  In fact, the "74 Jailbreak Album" was closer to being "High Voltage" (since half of the Australian album is contained on that release)...



"Baby Please Don't Go" is a hell way to kick off a discography...High impact blues with some blazing guitar work...Tell me that "Deeee deedle dee dee deeeeeeee...." riff doesn't set the hairs on my wolfman arms on end...I can't wait for the trouble that's coming! My other favorite rocker here is "Stick Around" which has such a cool, classic AC/DC riff...I wonder why they never used this on the American releases? Man, everybody would have eaten this song up if they'd had the chance to hear it...

 And as much as I love those songs, to be brutally honest I usually bust this one for the small deviations from their normal sound...

Y'see,  after this album the AC/DC sound was set in stone;  Simple, straightforward minimalist drums, Malcom's solid riffing, Angus' hyper-kinetic leads and grunting, sweating vocals by either Bon or Brian...The songs are almost always the same 4/4 tempo, dealing with the same handful of subjects...Although it's a successful formula, it's still a formula...They establish this formula right away with the first track, but they're not as beholden to it as they would later become...As a result, we get  a couple of enjoyable oddballs like the honest-to-goodness power-ballad "Love Song."

"Love Song" starts out rather ominously (think "Razor's Edge," but suddenly the dark atmosphere gives way to clean guitar picking and Bon tenderly crooning the romantic lyrics, "When you smile,  I see stars in the sky. When you smile, I see sunrise..." Wha-? You keep waiting for a punchline that never comes, and as somehow who enjoys surprises, this song was a very welcome addition to my collection...

To my ears, "Show Business" is also a bit odd...It's very clearly in the hard blues style that AC/DC often utilize, but the campy, old-timey flourishes make it feel different for some reason...I couldn't really picture something like this on "Highway to Hell," for example...

(Y'know, after posting this picture of the "High Voltage" single cover, it suddenly struck me that the song "High Voltage" isn't on this album...Apparently it's from the follow-up Australian album "TNT." Huh...)

Even if you have the US "High Voltage" and "74 Jailbreak" albums, I'm still recommending this...It's cool to hear all these songs in their original context and the songs that never made it here are essential for any self-respecting AC/DC fan, so let's check out "Love Song"...Enjoy...