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...

AC/DC: The Razor's Edge

 

 AC/DC: The Razor's Edge

1990

Atco Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing:  1. Thunderstruck  2. Fire Your Guns  3.Moneytalks  4. The Razor's Edge  5. Mistress for Christmas  6. Rock your Heart Out  7.Are You Ready?  8. Got You by the Balls  9. Shot of Love  10. Let's Make It  11.Goodbye & Good Riddance to Bad Luck  12. If You Dare

I remember Christmas 1990, my sister bought this cassette and Megadeth's "Rust in Peace" for me. Which actually made sense since track 5 is a Christmas song...

 These tapes were great picks because no two albums scream "1990" to me more than AC/DC's "Razor's Edge" and Megadeth's "Rust in Peace."  Y'see, back in the day, I was a weird headbanger kid who looked like this...

(that's my friend Josh on the left, me on the right and ...Star Trek's Johnathan Frakes' head on the ground...don't ask....)

Hard rock and Heavy Metal was my life...it was all I cared about...Before too long I would run across copies of Misfits "Earth A.D." and GBH's "City Baby's Revenge" and move onto punk, but in the meantime, it was all about  the heavy shit...

I can recall hearing "Thunderstruck" and "Moneytalks" and maybe a few others on the local radio station WKQZ 93.3 FM, in Michigan, shortly before the album came out. Last time I heard this station it was terrible (Active Rock! Yuck!) but I can tell you back in the late 80's and early 90's this was the place to hear rock. And I remember there was some talk/music show where they were previewing cuts from AC/DC's upcoming album "The Razor's Edge." I couldn't believe what I was hearing! When I heard the slow build intro to "Thunderstruck," with that suspenseful one-handed-tapping technique Angus was playing, I knew I had to have this album!

When I finally got to hear it, I couldn't fathom that it was recorded in a studio. Nuh, uh. Listen to "Are You Ready?" They must have recorded this in a packed arena somewhere! The whole thing has that giant ringing arena-rock sound that epitomized late 80's early 90's glam rock but this wasn't exactly glam rock. Hair-metally producer Bruce Fairbain did a really great job of utilizing this technique for AC/DC's brand of working-man's rock.

Needless to say, this record was in  ridiculously heavy rotation during 90-91. You know how it is, when you're 13 years old and you love nothing more than being locked in your bedroom listening to music, but you only have a handful of records. You end up playing the shit out of them. I knew every split second and nuance of this tape.

Listening to it now, the record is a tad inconsistent, but the high points are still high. In addition to the aforementioned singles, there's also a grip of should-of-been singles. "Fire your Guns" sits well next to hits of AC/DC's past and the incredibly ass-kicking title track, which is so foreboding it should've been on "For Those About to Rock" (where it very well might have blown away all the other tracks.)

Oh yea, and it has the song "Got You By the Balls." Which is at least their third song about balls so far. Man, these guys love balls! 

I used to also have a videocassette my friend Joe gave me that had the video for "Are You Ready?" and maybe a couple others...It's hard to remember...I mainly remember the cover, which looked like this...



Back in the day, I also had a mirror of this record cover hanging up in my room. Remember, when you used to go to the carnival and hit balloons with a dart or something and they'd give you a bootleg mirror in a white cardboard case, usually depicting a heavy metal band, beer logo, chick leaning against a corvette, or Freddy Krueger with his glove on the wrong hand...This isn't the one I had but they usually looked something like this...

They may still do this...I haven't been to many carnivals, lately...Maybe now they have mirrors with Justin Beiber on them...I don't know.. Anyway, I used to have one of those mirrors with the "Razor's Edge" cover on it...

I never bought or listened to an AC/DC album after this one. I moved on to other bands and they were relatively inactive for awhile...Then one day "Ballbreaker" (these guys can't keep their minds off of balls!) came out and I was listening to it at my brother's house and heard "Cover Me in Oil" and it made me want to puke! I'm still tempted to check out one of their later albums, but I'm kind of afraid. It's entirely possible "Cover Me in Oil" wasn't as bad as I'm remembering it, but I also don't want to hear it and then get so disgusted that I stop listening to AC/DC all over again...

Has this ever happened to you guys? Have you ever heard a record by a band that was so bad that you stopped listening to them completely. Even the records you used to like were tainted by its memory.

I said "taint."

Oh well...Let us not dwell on the negatives...I prefer to remember AC/DC like this..."Are You Ready?"

AC/DC: Who Made Who

AC/DC: Who Made Who



1986

Atlantic Records

Format I Own it On: Vinyl

Track Listing:  1. Who Made Who  2. You Shook Me All Night Long  3. DT  4. Sink the Pink  5. Ride On  6. Hells Bells  7. Shake Your Foundation  8. Chase the Ace  9. For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)

The soundtrack for a Stephen King movie nobody but me seems to like....C'mon! How can you not love this?

Or this...?



God, I loved that Green Goblin truck so much! When I was younger and would daydream about one day getting my driver's license, this is totally what I pictured myself driving...

This record is mostly songs from their previous albums, but it also contains 3 tracks recorded exclusively for the film. Two of which are instrumental.All in all, it functions as a pretty good greatest hits album. A pretty good-est hits, if you will.

The album kicks off with "Who Made Who," which is possibly my favorite AC/DC song. Very likely the poppiest thing they ever wrote but you'll hardly notice cos it rocks so much. A simple power-pop riff! A bumble-bee busy lead that buzzes across the entire song! Multiple, unforgettable hooks!

 Boner!

The instrumentals don't quite hold up as well, but they're not a total boner-killer,either. "Chase the Ace" is  a speedy rocker, and "DT," with its oddly mechanical beat, fades out exactly as it starts getting cool.

As for the rest? Well, mostly repeats form the last few albums and one stray from "Dirty Deeds, Done Dirt Cheap." I have to tell you, after listening to Brian Johnson AC/DC records all week, hearing Bon Scott sing "Ride On" again was incredibly moving. It felt like seeing an old friend...even though it had only been a week since I last heard him...

Anyway,  I used to have a tape of this back in the day, but I had all my cassettes stolen years ago and hadn't heard the album in years..

 About a year ago I found a used vinyl copy at the local FYE for about $2.99. Pretty much all the records at the local FYE are $2.99...and then they always have some deal where you buy one get one, or something along those lines. You have to be real careful though because a lot of times you'll get excited cos you found something cool but then you look at the record and realize it's all scratched to shit. Oh well...

Boy, are you guys in for a treat! Here's the video for "Who Made Who" which features  tons of clips from "Maximum Overdrive." The ATM machine never calls me an "asshole." A "broke motherfucker" maybe, but never an asshole...Enjoy...

AC/DC Fly on the Wall

AC/CD: Fly on the Wall

1985

Atlantic Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing:  1. Fly on the Wall  2. Shake Your Foundations  3. First Blood   4. Danger  5. Sink the Pink  6. Playing with Girls  7. Stand Up  8. Hell or High Water  9. Back in Business  10. Send for the Man

I really don't get the hate this album receives. It's not their best record but it's not bad at all.  I'll admit the sound is a little odd. There's a bit too much reverb on the drums and they're mixed way too loud. There's also the small matter of  Brian Johnson being recorded in a way that sounds like he has a chest cold or something, but I don't see these as fatal problems. It's not the drastic drop in quality that it's frequently made out to be.  In fact,  I think there's a few songs here ("Shake Your Foundations," "Fly on the Wall," "Sink the Pink")  that rank near the top of my favorite AC/DC tracks.

I can, to an extent, see the argument that  Brian lost his voice around this time, but  I personally don't think it makes that big an impact. I mean, it's not like the guy has to sing Wagner's "Die Meistersinger von Nürnbergor" or something....He basically just has to scream about getting laid...which he does just fine.

 (I wish I had that sweet patch! I love the cartoon fly! Even though he only has four legs...)

AC/DC was one of the bands in the 80's that put out a companion video cassette for the album, which is a bit of a trend we'll explore further on this site...

Here's the front cover of the video tape: 



and here's the back cover...



 And the ad inside the record cover also says you can get it on beta! So bust out your old betamax player and shine up that wood paneling on the side....

...because we're going to check out "Shake your Foundation" by AC/DC...Enjoy...

AC/DC: Flick of the Switch

AC/DC: Flick of the Switch

1983

Atlantic Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing:  1. Rising Power  2. This House is on Fire  3. Flick of the Switch  4. Nervous Shakedown  5. Landslide  6. Guns for Hire  7. Deep in the Hole  8. Bedlam in Belgium  9. Badlands  10. Brain Shake


This album came out when I was in first grade and I always remember the record being around our house as a kid...It always stuck out in my mind because of  that  embossed cover...as blinding white as "Back in Black" was pitch black....come to think of it, AC/DC has had quite a few memorable embossed covers...

Where did the embossed record cover come from, anyway? The oldest one I can think of is the "White Album?" If it wasn't the first, it had to have been the one to popularize it...unless I'm overlooking another real obvious one...

anyway....

For some reason (ahem...For Those About to Rock...) this record remains one of AC/DC's most overlooked.  I think this one would've been a bit more successful if it was the follow up to "Back in Black." It has a bright, upbeat, rocking sound that seemed like it should have been more popular than it was. Hard to say what happened... Maybe it didn't have the promotion that the previous records had...Maybe people were just sick of AC/DC at the time...But it's definitely not the fault of the music...AC/DC were back and self producing their album this time and It sounds just like AC/DC should sound, stripped down and tight.. The lean attack of  "Rising Power" explodes from the speakers.  Real, raw rock n' roll. Nothing wrong with that, right?

Besides, "Bedlam in Belgium" is a freakin' cool song title.,..even though "Belgium" makes  me think of waffles...



and the Smurfs....



...I love waffle and Smurfs! Belgium is bad ass!

 And let's not forget about the band's heartfelt cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide," where Brian Johnson's subtly aching vocals add a uniquely male interpretation of Stevie Nicks feminine mysticism....

I'm just joshing ya...It's the kind of skull-rattling blues that you thought died with Bon Scott. "Nervous Shakedown's" stuttering riff also brings to mind the pre-Back in Black glory days. There's really no shortage of great stuff here and I'm even going to say this is probably the second best album AC/DC made with Brian Johnson as vocalist.

I notice myself using the word "riff" quite a bit, when I'm talking about AC/DC. I can't help it! Riff riff riffity riff! These guys were all about the riffs!

Let's check out the video for the title track, I can recall MTV showing this around 1990 on Headbanger's Ball...Why were they showing this in 1990? I don't really remember, but it was better this than Poison or Trixter.. So let's count our blessings and listen to "Flick of the Switch."

AC/DC: For Those About to Rock, We Salute You

AC/DC: For Those About to Rock, We Salute You

1981

Atlantic Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)  2.  Put the Finger on You  3. Let's Get it Up  4. Inject the Venom  5. Snowballed  6. Evil Walks  7. C.O.D  8. Breaking the Rules  9.  Night of he Long Knives  10. Spellbound

I remember seeing this record around the house a lot when i was a kid. I was always drawn to the spare striking cover...

My God! That black alternate cover from Spain is possibly even cooler!

Anyway, how do you follow up one of the biggest selling records of all time?

Apparently, by not worrying about it too much and subsequently selling a fraction of what "Back in Black" sold...

But I don't care about sales...I care about rock....

And this record rocks! It has a bit of an odd vibe in that it alternates between slower, scarier songs and  extra poppy rockers. You can start to hear some of the production touches Mutt Lange would use later in his career.  "Let's Get it Up," is a dead ringer for his popular 80's Def Leppard work....

The title track kicks things off not with a bang but with more of a lurch... It somehow achieves  its desired anthemic quality while lumbering menacingly. It really encapsulates the singular tone of the record. And who can forgot those cannons going off! It's celebratory and it's evil...I like it!

The same goes for "Evil Walks." "Care of the Devil" and "Snowballed." Where did they dig up all these great ominous riffs?

On the other hand there's also also a handful of energetic rockers, like "Put the Finger on You," and "Inject the Venom," which keep things moving and stop the album from getting too bogged down.

 (I might get in my DeLorean this weekend and go back in time to 1981 to see this show! AC/DC? Blue Oyster Cult?!?!? SLADE?!?!!  I might have to take a piss  during Whitesnake though...)

Is there anything on here that approaches the heights of the best material on "Back in Black?" Not really. But it does show them tweaking the formula slightly. I actually play this one a lot more at my Friday night Record Parties due to the fact that the tracks aren't quite as overplayed as the "Back in Black" material is...

I say we party like it's 1981, cue up Side one, track 2... "Put the Finger on You!"

AC/DC: Back In Black

AC/DC: Back in Black

1980

Atlantic Records

Format I Own it On: Vinyl

Track Listing:  1. Hell's Bells  2. Shoot to Thrill  3. What Do You Do for Money Honey  4.  Given the Dog a Bone  5. Let Me Put My Love Into You  6. Back in Black  7. You Shook Me All Night Long  8. Have a Drink On Me  9. Shake a Leg  10. Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution

I've had this record my whole life, know it by heart, heard it ten million times and actually haven't listened to it since the late 90's....To tell you the truth, due to every single track on the album being played to death on classic rock radio, I  kind of take it for granted...I haven't even listened  to classic rock radio for about 10 years and I still hear "Back in Black, Hells Bells, & You Shook Me All Night Long" ALL-THE-TIME!

But let's face it...They became overplayed classics because...well...they're pretty great!

After playing it for the first time in years, it turns out I  I totally forgot about  "Let Me Put my Love Into You."  But it was for a pretty good reason...it's not that memorable. Still,  I'll defend its inclusion to the death based on that hilarious title alone.

This is their second record with Mutt Lange and these guys really had it down to a science at this point. The music reminds you of nothing so much as a well-oiled machine cranking out highly- polished Rock N' Roll. The attention to the space in between the notes is very effective, There's empty space all over this thing and it brings a satisfying weight to every riff.

 I can only imagine what it was like at the time, pulling the record out of that foreboding black cover, putting the needle down only to hear an ominous clanging church bell and that spine-tingling "Hell's Bells" riff ...and then finally getting to hear Brian Johnson's voice for the first time, screeching "I'm Rolling Thunder...Pouring Rain!" like he'd spent his whole life drinking gasoline and swallowing rusty nails, and was finally let loose upon this world to raise hell add scare the shit out of us. Sure, he's lacking Bon Scott's playful grasp of irony, but the guy's great in his own right.

One memory I have as a kid, riding the school bus, there was this girl listening to this on her old-school 80's boombox...you know the type...

...anyway she was playing the cassette tape of this album and I remember her singing along to "You Shook Me All Night Long," but she had the lyrics kind of wrong...not wrong, so much as, she kind of added a word...

"She was a fast machine, kept her motor lean, best GOD damn woman that I ever seen..."

For some reason, it seemed so right, To this day I still find myself singing it that way...

...and you can sing it along with me as we check out the original video of "You Shook Me All Night Long." But probably not the version you're thinking of with the one with the girl with the big...hair....

For some reason (like I don't know...some silly little thing called copyright infringement,maybe...) I can't find a video for that version so you're gonna have to make due with this one...

AC/DC: Highway to Hell

AC/DC : Highway to Hell

1979

Atlantic Records

Format I Own it On: Vinyl and compact disc

Track Listing: 1. Highway to Hell  2. Girl's got Rhythm  3. Walk All Over You  4. Touch Too Much  5. Beating Around the Bush  6. Shot Down in Flames  7. Get it Hot  8. If You Want Blood (You've Got It)  9. Love Hungry Man  10. Night Prowler

AC/DC's 6th studio record, their first with Mutt Lange (who pretty much only produces shit records now, but back in the day he had a pretty good run) finds the band ever so slightly adjusting their sound to create a more radio-ready, hard-pop-rock sound. The riffs are ridiculously catchy. Just try and get "Girl's Got Rhythm" out of your head! You can't!

Bon goes out on a high note with "Night Prowler." Everything great about him appears on this song.  Leering menace! Drunken squealing!, Nanu nanu! You can only go on to wonder what "Back in Black" could have been if he was still around...

 

This record has been around my whole life. I remember being fascinated by the airbrushed devil tail Angus is holding on the cover...which doesn't appear on the original, much more hellish, Australian cover...



I think I prefer the international cover this time. I like the fact that it's just a drab-looking band shot where one of the band members just happens to be ol' Scratch himself.

 I purchased my current vinyl copy somewhere in the 90's... and it's pretty great cos some one appraised how attractive they found each band member in pen on the cover...

It may be hard to tell from the terrible picture I took, but if you look around the giant flash, you'll see the Young brothers both have "Ugly" scrawled across their faces, while the other three have "OK" written on theirs... Angus' face also has something written very lightly across his chin that is hard to make out in the photo, but it appears to say "Joy." Perhaps that was the name of the person who owned this record before me. Maybe she wrote all over it!  "Are all men just MEAT to you? Huh, Joy?!?! HUH, ?!!?!?!"


So let's say our goodbyes to Bon in style, rocking out to "Girls Got Rhythm!"

AC/DC: If You Want Blood...You've Got It!

AC/DC: If You Want Blood You've Got It

1978

Atlantic Records

Format I Own it On: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Riff Raff  2. Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be  3. Bad Boy Boogie  4. The Jack  5. Problem Child  6. Whole Lotta Rosie  7. Rock N' Roll Damnation  8. High Voltage  9. Let There Be Rock   10. Rocker

I'm a sucker for 70's live albums. The only thing I like better than a 70's live album is a 70's DOUBLE-live album. This one, unfortunately,  is a single record but it's really interesting because it catches AC/DC touring for "Powerage" an album which they pretty much neglected after Bon's death.

They give a hell of an energetic performance and I'm fairly crazy about the set list. My only (minor) complaint is some of Angus' guitar solos are just a taaaaad too long for my liking. I prefer his solos in the short, energetic bursts as they appear on the studio records, but...c'mooon! What's a 70's live album without a few extended solos? Pound a few beers and you won't even notice...It's the only live album from the Bon Scott era and catches them right before the breakthrough of "Highway to Hell." What's not to like...It even has "Problem Child" again!





Huh...I didn't even know they made a" Problem Child 3" until I Googled it right now...

I actually just heard "If You Want Blood, You've Got It"  for the first time a couple of months ago,  when I found an old copy in beautiful shape at the local Zia records store. I think it cost me, like $3.99...

(thumping sound as we place the needle down...)

skkrrtch...skrrtcchhh....skrrttcchh ...

 ...cue "Riff Raff..."

AC/DC: Powerage

AC/DC : Powerage

1978

Atlantic Records

Format I Own it On: Compact Disc

1. Rock N' Roll Damnation  2. Down Payment Blues  3. Gimme a Bullet  4. Riff Raff  5. Sin City  6. What's Next to the Moon  7. Gone Shootin' 8. Up to My Neck in You  9. Kicked in the Teeth

This one tends to get a little overlooked. You never hear any of these songs on the radio, the band never plays any of it live, but don't let that dissuade you from checking this out. It's probably my favorite of their albums, and it's as good a place to start as any if you're looking to get into AC/DC.

This one kicks off with the bruising "Rock N' Roll Damnation," which for some unknown reason (at least on my copy) is almost completely lacking in bass guitar... did  new guy Cliff Williams forget to plug in his bass? Were they going for a tinnier sound as some nod to the punk scene that was currently in full swing? Who knows? Somehow it doesn't seem to make much of a difference, and the song shines through regardless.."Gimme a Bullet" is basically a dry run for "Highway to Hell." Is it just me or do the two songs sound suspiciously similar? And I love that twisty guitar riff on "Riff Raff." Great performances all around! On "Down Payment Blues" Bon even convinces us  he's on "Rock N' Roll Welfare," for Chrissakes! 

Unfortunately it marks the end of the end of the Vanda-Young production era. After this point, there's a slight shift towards a sleeker, less bluesy, more pop-rock sound, but not here!  It's all sleaze-blues! And to top it off they even pull off a good song about Superman on "What's Next to the Moon."!  How can that be? Songs about Superman always suck (see Three Doors Down "Kryptonite, " "Superman" by Bush, and especially "Superman (It's Not Easy)" by Five for Fighting.)

I don't understand this shitty history of Superman songs! Superman is cool...

Look....

...and it has AC/DC's coolest album cover, hands down! Win. win. win. If you've somehow missed this one, or haven't heard it in awhile, I absolutely recommend throwing it on at your next Friday night record party...Here, I'll shut up now so we can air guitar to some "Rock N' Roll Damnation."

AC/DC: Let There Be Rock

AC/DC: Let There Be Rock

1977

Atlantic Records

Format I Own it On: Compact Disc

Track Listing:  1.Go Down  2. Dog Eat Dog  3.  Let There Be Rock  4. Bad Boy Boogie  5. Problem Child  6. Overdose  7. Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be  8. Whole Lotta Rosie

Alright! Now we're talking! The band hits its stride here. Every song is a knockout and look!..."Problem Child" is back!



By the way, check out the bad-ass cover of the original Australian record....



True, the International cover has that inspiring image of Angus holding his SG on high, as a ray of heavenly light shines down from on high to bless his sacred shredding, but I like this cover  even better... It captures something of the dark menace of tracks like "Overdose" and "Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be."

This is where the band really starts to rack up the classics too, like the high velocity title track, and their tribute to big girls, "Whole Lotta Rosie!"




Let's hope they don't mean that Rosie...

Outside of the Classic Rock radio staples, I can't recall ever hearing this record until I found a used vinyl copy at a thrift store sometime around 1997. 

I no longer have that record. I moved from Michigan to Arizona in 2001 and only brought what I could fit in my car, so I jettisoned half of my record collection...which killed me! I got rid of albums I was sure I could get back easily, but there's been a few I've never been able to find again...

Like this one...

...and this one...



What were we talking about?

Oh yea...

Check out the video for "Let There Be Rock..."

AC/DC: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

AC/DC: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (International Version)

1976 (orignal version) 1981 (U.S. Release)

Atlantic Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl
 
Track Listing: 1 Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap  2.  Love at First Feel  3. Big Balls  4. Rocker  5. Problem Child  6. There's Gonna Be Some Rockin'  7. Ain't No Fun (Waiting 'Round to Be a Millionaire)  8. Ride On  9.  Squealer


This is one of the oldest records I own. It's seriously been around since I was a kid. I thought it may have belonged to my brother, Troy, but he doesn't recall ever owning it, so I guess the identity of the original owner is a mystery forever lost to the mists of time. Oh, well. It's mine now.

I can recall looking at this cover and it held a lot of mystery to me. I don't think I quite grasped the significance of the black bars over the eyes until later in life, one thing I definitely grasped as a kid though was "Big Balls."

Yes...That's right, I said it...I grasped big balls as a kid...

Get your minds out of the gutters! This song is clearly just about the lavish parties that Mr. Scott likes to hold in his big...albeit...dirty...ballroom. Some people may say this song isn't suitable for children to hear, but I'm going to have to disagree. I would say that I most appreciated this song when I was about 8 years old.

Even though the production values seem like an improvement from "High Voltage," I actually don't find myself listening to this one as much.. That may be due to the fact they chopped the best song ("Jailbreak") from the U.S. version.and put it on a separate e.p ('74 Jailbreak.)

Oh, and I hope you like the song "Problem Child" cos you're going to be hearing it a lot in the AC/DC discography.  But since we're hearing it here for the first time, it's actually pretty incredible. Malcolm's crashing chords! Bon howling that chorus at the moon!  Hot shit! It makes you want to lean against the hood of your '76 Trans Am and hoist your beer high as you shout along....



Which brings us to the burning question...What's should we be drinking while we listen to AC/DC?



NO!!!




Nahhh....



hmmmm.... Getting closer...




YES!!!!

YES!! YES!!! Wild Turkey! The big fucker!

The title track benefits greatly from this improved production. The guitar tones on this album are incredible! That slashing rhythm guitar still manages to whoop my ass, even though I've heard it on the radio, 10 billion times...The record also contains "Ride On." Which  is actually an uncharacteristic slow blues number for the band but it's so effective in its road-worn weariness that I kind of wish they explored this side more often, as I really think it highlights Bon Scott's range...."Rocker" is possibly the band's fastest song, done in a whiplash arrangement that recalls a speedier than usual Chuck Berry style...

My vinyl copy has that Christmassy green and red label that Atlantic started using around 1968, that I instantly identify with Atlantic records...

Now that I look at it I kinda realize it's actually green and ORANGE...and white...and yellow...and pink...

Wait...that might be red in the upper left-hand corner of the "A" in Atlantic.

These early AC/DC albums are extremely consistent. Even tracks that I may consider lesser ("Ain't No Fun Waiting 'Round to be a Millionaire") are almost of the same caliber as their best material...They never truly  misstep  You don't need to worry about any ill-advised attempt at Disco or Reggaeton, or dubstep. Probably the biggest departure in their entire career consists of the bagpipes that appear on their first album, so it's easy to take their single-minded pursuit of ass-kicking for granted. Let's take a moment...grab something to drink...



(No...not that...)


 ...and salute AC/DC by checking out their big balls...

...you know what I mean...