AC/DC Album Discussion and Listening Party - NP: Rock or Bust and Power Up

[jammindude]

Can I just say that I LOVE this version of The Jack.

I’ve already said I prefer the original lyrics, and I believe this is one of (I’d not THE) only live version with Bon singing it (mostly) as it was on the original record.

There is a charm to the IYWB version, but when I heard Brian try to recreate it, I thought it was awful, and that they should have reverted back to the original version.

[jingle.boy]

Listening (finally) to it right now.  Problem Child is da bomb.   

[Stadler]

Listening (finally) to it right now.  Problem Child is da bomb.   

 

[TAC]

There is a charm to the IYWB version, but when I heard Brian try to recreate it, I thought it was awful, and that they should have reverted back to the original version.

The Jack should've died with Bon. As much as I despise the song, it belongs to Bon.

Hearing Brian do The Jack is cringeworthy.

[jammindude]

POWERAGE

Original European Pressing:

Side1:
1. Gimmie a Bullet
2. Down Payment Blues
3. Gone Shootin'
4. Riff Raff

Side 2:
1. Sin City
2. Up to My Neck in You
3. What's Next to the Moon
4. Cold Hearted Man
5. Kicked in the Teeth


International Version

Side 1:
1. Rock-n-Roll Damnation
2. Down Payment Blues
3. Gimmie a Bullet
4. Riff Raff

Side 2:
1. Sin City
2. What's Next to the Moon
3. Gone Shootin'
4. Up to My Neck in You
5. Kicked in the Teeth


Here it is guys.   What can I say.   I've been an AC/DC fan for 40 years, and to my ears, this album is AC/DC perfection.  This is both fire and lightning in a bottle.   If someone wanted to know "What does AC/DC sound like", I'm flipping past BiB and going straight for this one.  This is a band that has been working their collective asses off for 4 years, and just started getting some recognition, and deciding they need to go "next level".     Never again from this point forward would Angus be left completely off his leash to smoke everyone on the planet.   In fact, I would go so far to say that I don't think I ever truly appreciated what an amazing soloist Angus Young is until I really sunk my teeth into this album.   I think I may have memorized nearly every solo, and they are a joy to listen to.  Every. Single. One.    Even Brian Johnson once said on the Eddie Trunk show that Powerage was the best AC/DC album, and ET was kinda floored by that.   But I already knew, and I got out of my chair and cheered. 

One unauthorized biography claims that some of these songs (Kicked in the Teeth, Up to My Neck in You, Riff Raff, and an early version of Touch Too Much) found their genesis during early rehearsals with new member Cliff Williams in the Summer of '77.  But recording began in Sydney in Jan '78, and continued through the beginning of March.    An early (and MUCH DIFFERENT) mix of the album had already been shipped to the UK.   These 1st pressings are highly sought after by collectors.   Because it's not just that there's the rare song "Cold Hearted Man" on Side 2, but also the mix of the other songs we know very well is quite different.   I have heard those mixes on YT before, but I haven't seen them in a long time, and I think band management probably makes sure it stays that way.   But the US brass complained that there wasn't a radio single.   So the band did a last minute write and record of Rock n Roll Damnation (the maracas and hand clapping were an uncharacteristic addition that the band never repeated) and subsequently, the entire album was remixed, resequenced, and Cold Hearted Man was dropped to make room for the new single on side one. 

I'm actually hoping to get my hands on a 1st UK pressing someday.   They do go on Ebay for a pretty penny...but not anything that would break the bank.   

It's very difficult to pick out favorites.   But Riff Raff has got to be an all time #1.  Even the more single sounding songs (RNRD, and GAB) that I used to think were "also-rans" have grown to be among my favorite AC/DC songs.    Side 2 is just non-stop astounding.   What's Next to the Moon, and Gone Shootin were always big favorites.   And ending the album with the 1-2 punch of Up to My Neck in You and Kicked in the Teeth is brilliant as well.   

And it's not just Angus.  This might be Bon's best and most mature lyrics.   He's grown out of his crudeness, and actually dances around with downright clever.   Down Payment Blues, and What's Next to the Moon in particular are ripe with wordplay that flows pretty darn well through his signature sneer.   

For those who have never heard Cold Hearted Man (which later FINALLY saw release on the Backtracks boxed set in 2009) I've included a link below.   It's a fantastic song, and I wish they would have included it as a bonus track when Powerage got re-released in the first place.    This was yet another rare track that I heard a few times on the local rock station.  (obviously, at least one DJ was very proud of his imported AC/DC collection).  And again, I had it on cassette for years.

Cold Hearted Man:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBoE4LQCwRM

And how about AC/DC's first US Television appearance on Midnight Special performing Sin City, with an introduction by Ted Nugent, and Steven Tyler...ya know...just for kicks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frxfq9coKwk

[TAC]

I've never heard Cold Hearted Man before. Interesting.

[jammindude]

As I was doing some additional research on this, I discovered that I had skipped over another really rare track...one of their better ones IMO.   

For Let There Be Rock's Australian release, "Dog Eat Dog" was released as a single (only in Australia) in March of 1977, a full 3 months before the US would see the international version.    The B-side of this single was the song "Carry Me Home" which was never released anywhere else on anything until it also found its way onto the 2009 Backtracks boxed set.  (AC/DC's version of "Cleaning Out the Closet")

While I wouldn't call this track AC/DC on their A-game, I will say that it's at least 10 times better than Crabsody in Blue that made the final cut.   Kindof surprised that CiB made it's way to the final album and this didn't.   This song would have been a better fit for the feel of the rest of the album.   

Carry Me Home:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWFmJXo0MXA

[Stadler]

I'm pretty sure he's "acting", but that last verse is a tough listen.

[EPICVIEW]

a true classic and ACDCs coming out party of a album   whats not to love

[TAC]

i liked Carry Me home. Would've sounded right at home on Dirty Deeds though.


Let There Be Rock will always be my go to Bon Era album, but that doesn't mean that I do not LOVE Powerage.

Riff Raff kicks so much ass, it's one of their best all time songs. I would've rather had it have the Let There Be Rock production.

I love the ending to Down Payment Blues, that neat little bluesy part.


Every song is really great.

[jammindude]

i liked Carry Me home. Would've sounded right at home on Dirty Deeds though.


Let There Be Rock will always be my go to Bon Era album, but that doesn't mean that I do not LOVE Powerage.

Riff Raff kicks so much ass, it's one of their best all time songs. I would've rather had it have the Let There Be Rock production.

I love the ending to Down Payment Blues, that neat little bluesy part.


Every song is really great.

Excellent point on CMH. I can totally see it working on DDDDC. I was just thinking it was a better song than Crabsody.  But if you swapped it for PC on DDDDC, and then stuck with the international version of LTBR, the redundancy of a a binge listening is solved. 

Back to Powerage. Anyone else notice the improvement of Bon as a lyricist?

And I want to bring extra attention to the multiple leads breaks. In fact I think there are 3 lead sections on Riff Raff alone. AFAIK, this will not occur on any AC/DC album from here forward. And I almost find it irritating the more I realize it. I would just love to hear Angus GO OFF just once in awhile.

[Stadler]

I'm relistening to this now.   I'm less familiar with this than the ones that came before, only because I was always going for the live album (and only RnRD and RR are on there), but it's been a favorite over the years. 

Some things I love:
- the slight wimsy of RnRD that isn't evident on the live version;
- the rumble at the beginning of Down Payment Blues;
- Riff Raff; I think Cliff Williams brought a LOT to the table in this band.  He makes the songs MOVE;
- The last verse of "What's Next To The Moon", when Bon, Mal and (I think) Cliff all sing in unison (sort of);
- "What's Next To The Moon" is probably Bon's best lyric.  There are about five different legit meanings - and it may actually be ALL of them - to what is, actually, "next to the moon" (Superman, the girl, unattainable dreams, her "entertainment center", unreasonable demands from her)
- The line in "Up To My Neck In You": "I'm a loser that ain't lost it."  That's Bon in a nutshell if you think about it.
- Malcolm's sound.  He just always sounds so GOOD.  So full, so thick, but never so distorted it's mushy or noisy.

By the way, I've gone 35 years thinking Bon sings "Gonna light your southern half" in the chorus. It's actually "Go on and laugh yourself in half".      

[EPICVIEW]

POWERAGE

Original European Pressing:

Side1:
1. Gimmie a Bullet
2. Down Payment Blues
3. Gone Shootin'
4. Riff Raff

Side 2:
1. Sin City
2. Up to My Neck in You
3. What's Next to the Moon
4. Cold Hearted Man
5. Kicked in the Teeth


International Version

Side 1:
1. Rock-n-Roll Damnation
2. Down Payment Blues
3. Gimmie a Bullet
4. Riff Raff

Side 2:
1. Sin City
2. What's Next to the Moon
3. Gone Shootin'
4. Up to My Neck in You
5. Kicked in the Teeth


Here it is guys.   What can I say.   I've been an AC/DC fan for 40 years, and to my ears, this album is AC/DC perfection.  This is both fire and lightning in a bottle.   If someone wanted to know "What does AC/DC sound like", I'm flipping past BiB and going straight for this one.  This is a band that has been working their collective asses off for 4 years, and just started getting some recognition, and deciding they need to go "next level".     Never again from this point forward would Angus be left completely off his leash to smoke everyone on the planet.   In fact, I would go so far to say that I don't think I ever truly appreciated what an amazing soloist Angus Young is until I really sunk my teeth into this album.   I think I may have memorized nearly every solo, and they are a joy to listen to.  Every. Single. One.    Even Brian Johnson once said on the Eddie Trunk show that Powerage was the best AC/DC album, and ET was kinda floored by that.   But I already knew, and I got out of my chair and cheered. 

One unauthorized biography claims that some of these songs (Kicked in the Teeth, Up to My Neck in You, Riff Raff, and an early version of Touch Too Much) found their genesis during early rehearsals with new member Cliff Williams in the Summer of '77.  But recording began in Sydney in Jan '78, and continued through the beginning of March.    An early (and MUCH DIFFERENT) mix of the album had already been shipped to the UK.   These 1st pressings are highly sought after by collectors.   Because it's not just that there's the rare song "Cold Hearted Man" on Side 2, but also the mix of the other songs we know very well is quite different.   I have heard those mixes on YT before, but I haven't seen them in a long time, and I think band management probably makes sure it stays that way.   But the US brass complained that there wasn't a radio single.   So the band did a last minute write and record of Rock n Roll Damnation (the maracas and hand clapping were an uncharacteristic addition that the band never repeated) and subsequently, the entire album was remixed, resequenced, and Cold Hearted Man was dropped to make room for the new single on side one. 

I'm actually hoping to get my hands on a 1st UK pressing someday.   They do go on Ebay for a pretty penny...but not anything that would break the bank.   

It's very difficult to pick out favorites.   But Riff Raff has got to be an all time #1.  Even the more single sounding songs (RNRD, and GAB) that I used to think were "also-rans" have grown to be among my favorite AC/DC songs.    Side 2 is just non-stop astounding.   What's Next to the Moon, and Gone Shootin were always big favorites.   And ending the album with the 1-2 punch of Up to My Neck in You and Kicked in the Teeth is brilliant as well.   

And it's not just Angus.  This might be Bon's best and most mature lyrics.   He's grown out of his crudeness, and actually dances around with downright clever.   Down Payment Blues, and What's Next to the Moon in particular are ripe with wordplay that flows pretty darn well through his signature sneer.   

For those who have never heard Cold Hearted Man (which later FINALLY saw release on the Backtracks boxed set in 2009) I've included a link below.   It's a fantastic song, and I wish they would have included it as a bonus track when Powerage got re-released in the first place.    This was yet another rare track that I heard a few times on the local rock station.  (obviously, at least one DJ was very proud of his imported AC/DC collection).  And again, I had it on cassette for years.

Cold Hearted Man:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBoE4LQCwRM

And how about AC/DC's first US Television appearance on Midnight Special performing Sin City, with an introduction by Ted Nugent, and Steven Tyler...ya know...just for kicks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frxfq9coKwk

thanks for the link to Sin City  loved it   love me some Aero too, and Uncle Ted

[TAC]

[jammindude]

Thank you. This really brought a smile to my face. I had planned to do if you want blood before I went on vacation but then I got involved in packing.

My son got married today so it was just an obnoxious kind of day. But tomorrow is going to be the first day of absolutely no plans since I got here. Then Disney World next week. So tomorrow I’m planning on just relaxing and maybe I will do a write up just for the joy of it.

It’s good to know that people are enjoying these. I do really enjoy doing them too.

I know these older albums so well they’re practically a part of me.

[TAC]

Are you at Disney now? Are you staying there or outside? Does your son live in Florida?

[jjrock88]

Bottom line.....Bon 

[jammindude]

Are you at Disney now? Are you staying there or outside? Does your son live in Florida?

I’m in a resort hotel in Kissimmee just a couple of miles from Disney World. They offer shuttle service.

My sons fiancé lived in Washington for a couple of years, and that is how they met. They dated for several months before she decided that she needed to move back to her home state of Florida to be closer to her family during this difficult time. He eventually decided he couldn’t live without her, and proposed over the phone and decided to move down here. They are going to be living in Daytona Beach. We just flew down for the ceremony and taking a Disney World vacation on the side. Week number one is for family and wedding, week number two is for us.

[Cool Chris]

I do not know what kind of relationship you have with your son, and though mine are not of the marrying (or even dating!) age yet, I cannot imagine hearing my daughter tell me she was going to move 3k miles away. I know there is more to the story, but I bet we would all rather discuss the awesomeness of ACDC than your familial life. Reading that just hit me harder than I would have anticipated.

[Lowdz]

Whoops, I completely missed this thread until today. AC/DC were one of my early favourite bands. Let's face it, in the very early 80s there weren't that many hard rock bands around.
I have all the albums up to Flick, with only the Live album after that as I just outgrew them and didn't really like Brian's voice. The Bon years were where it was at for me.

I remember ringing the phone number from DDDDC to see if anyone answered (from an old phone box. Remember them old dudes?)

Live From Atlantic Studios was one of those mythical albums at the time as it was so hard to get hold of, but I remember a mate doing a copy for me.

I thought Angus was a great player, still do.

Of the albums discussed so far, Dirty Deeds and Powerage are my favourites. I don't play much AC/DC nowadays, and we haven't got to my go to albums yet.

[jingle.boy]

Things were busy over the holidays that I didn't have a chance to sit down for a proper listen of this.  Just fantastic.  It's been years (maybe decades) since I listened to any of these.  All killer and no filler.  Excellent writeup.  Not sure where I'd rate it overall, or even in the Bon-era, but it's an excellent spin from start to finish.

[jammindude]

If You Want Blood (You've Got It)

Released Oct 13th 1978

Side 1:
1. Riff Raff
2. Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be
3. Bad Boy Boogie
4. The Jack
5. Problem Child

Side 2:
1. Whole Lotta Rosie
2. Rock 'n' Roll Damnation
3. High Voltage
4. Let There Be Rock
5. Rocker

AC/DC was at the top of their game and now that they had a bigger following, the record company wanted a greatest hits package.   But of course, the band was very much against that idea and managed to sell the idea of a live album instead.    While most live albums of the day tended to be double or even triple sets, AC/DC opted to keep things short and to the point.   If the original setlist (a show in Glasgow, Scotland on April 30th 1978) is to be believed, it's probably for the best anyway, as they seemed to play extremely short sets back then.   The only omissions are a performance of Dog Eat Dog, and an extended version of Rocker (edited for its inclusion on the record) with "Fling Thing" ( which itself is actually just an electrified and souped up version of the famous Scottish folk song "The Bonny Banks o' Loch Lomand"...and performed again as simply "Bonny" on the 1991 Live album) as an intro.    All in all, the entire set appears to be about an hour with a 7 minute encore.  Extremely short by today's standards, but I gather that it was fairly typical back then.     But at the end of the day, it appears that about 90% of the show fit on a single record, so you're getting the bulk of it.     The concert was filmed, and portions have been included on Family Jewels and the full encore was released on Backtracks, but the entire concert film has never been released and that seems a darn shame.   It aired on Dutch TV at the time, but no one is really certain that the full film even still exists. 

It's funny that when I was a kid, I actually put off buying this for a long time.   I bought mostly cassettes (for convenience) and the cassette didn't clarify anywhere that it was a live album.   So I looked at the track listing and just thought it was a greatest hits collection of things I already had....with the exception of Rocker.   But when I finally bought it and stuck it in my deck, I think my face actually melted off my skull.   This is one of the most amazing and energetic live albums ever recorded.   I do wish there there had been a slightly longer set and a double album, because the band is simply ON FIRE.   But I suppose in some ways it does benefit from being a very short but sweet punch in the eye.    It's extremely high impact, and I can't think of a single song that isn't improved over the original.  And Angus' extended solos over BBB and LTBR are just a treat. 

This is definitely in my top 5 live albums of all time, and it's refreshing to hear it again. 

Here's the original setlist according to Wikipedia, along with a clip of the full length encore Fling Thing/Rocker.  The song order is a bit different, and I may try to make a play list out of it at some point.

1. Riff Raff
2. Problem Child
3. Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be
4. Rock 'n' Roll Damnation
5. Bad Boy Boogie
6. Dog Eat Dog
7. The Jack
8. High Voltage
9. Whole Lotta Rosie
10. Let There Be Rock
11. Fling Thing/Rocker

Fling Thing/Rocker

https://youtu.be/ASJy3c4ACiU

[jjrock88]

Excellent live album 

It's quite amazing that AC/DC hasn't released a legit best of album yet, I guess same thing with Metallica.  I think I remember reading somewhere that they did release a best of cassette at some point but it was pulled from the shelves quickly.  Maybe Jdude will touch on that.

[Stadler]

I have the original order on my iPod; I also edited in Dog Eat Dog.

I agree that most of the songs are better here - Problem Child! - but The Jack still is not a great tune. 

[jammindude]

I have the original order on my iPod; I also edited in Dog Eat Dog.

I agree that most of the songs are better here - Problem Child! - but The Jack still is not a great tune.

First....awesome. I wish we could get absolute confirmation that this was the entire set list. That seems so short so as to be almost unrealistic.

Second... I always thought the Jack was more clever than most people did. But Bon’s live delivery is just so signature of him. I said it before this thread, but Bon absolutely owns this live version. This version almost makes it seem like it’s improved on the spot. Though I know it probably isn’t. Brian‘s version is just a copy of Bon and it comes across as hokey and terrible. Brian should either sing the original or they should just retire it completely.

One more thing I want to bring out is that I’m extremely disappointed at the lack of representation of Powerage  on what was supposed to be the Powerage tour. Literally their greatest album up to this point and there are only two songs from the album. One of which was the single. Which we’ve already established was a bit of an afterthought, and added to the album after the initial recording was finished.

SOOOOO much of their greatest material is under-represented with Bon live. I’m happy that Brian likes the album so much. It made it so that we get the occasional inclusion in modern set lists.

[Stadler]

There's a fair amount of discrepancy on the setlist.    Apparently there are a number of bootlegs that have additional songs, most commonly "Gimme A Bullet". Setlist.fm includes "GAB" after Fling Thing/Rocker, but that's not widely accepted as fact.   The best guess is that "GAB" was done at soundcheck, but even that doesn't really jive because they rarely did that (i.e., jammed songs at soundcheck that they weren't doing in the set).  They reportedly recorded a couple shows and took the best, but there is some discrepancy about that too, since some of the shows most popularly mooted were geographically adjacent to Glasgow, but were sometimes months apart. 

The night before - Aberdeen - and the night after - Middlesborough, England - were the same setlist, except it added Down Payment Blues after Dog Eat Dog.  Later shows on the tour often dropped a song here and there; sometimes it was Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be, other times it was Dog Eat Dog.

[jingle.boy]

I honestly don't remember whether I'd come across this back when I was exploring and getting in to AC/DC in the 80s, so when I spun this a few weeks back...    Fucking fantastic.  Gonna drop the (digital) needle on this after my upcoming call with my boss.

[TAC]

I bought If You Want Blood on a hockey trip to Quebec. Back In Black was out but I hadn't bought it yet. I remember being at a mall with my host family and I had IWWB, Highway To Hell, and Back In Black in my hands. I'm not even sure I knew BiB had a different singer. Anyway, I grabbed IYWB mainly because of it being a live album, plus I saw the title of Let There Be Rock, and I really wanted to hear that.


Live albums in the 70's had a way of transporting you right to the show. How is it that live album productions were far superior over 40 years ago?

Riff Raff blows the roof off from the jump. Every song is great. I've never...ever..been a fan of The Jack. Fucking awful if you ask me.

I also want to give props to High Voltage, which comes across as a totally different tune than the underproduced studio version.

[Stadler]

I bought If You Want Blood on a hockey trip to Quebec. Back In Black was out but I hadn't bought it yet. I remember being at a mall with my host family and I had IWWB, Highway To Hell, and Back In Black in my hands. I'm not even sure I knew BiB had a different singer. Anyway, I grabbed IYWB mainly because of it being a live album, plus I saw the title of Let There Be Rock, and I really wanted to hear that.


Live albums in the 70's had a way of transporting you right to the show. How is it that live album productions were far superior over 40 years ago?

Riff Raff blows the roof off from the jump. Every song is great. I've never...ever..been a fan of The Jack. Fucking awful if you ask me.

I also want to give props to High Voltage, which comes across as a totally different tune than the underproduced studio version.

WORD!!!!    IYWB.  Alive!.   Strangers In The Night.  Frampton Comes Alive.   

[EPICVIEW]

like all ac dc I love it.   wore it out

[jammindude]

Highway to Hell

Released July 27, 1979

Side 1:
Highway to Hell
Girls Got Rhythm
Walk All Over You
Touch Too Much
Beating Around the Bush

Side 2:
Shot Down in Flames
Get It Hot
If You Want Blood (You've Got It)
Love Hungry Man
Night Prowler


In spite of resistance from the US branch of Atlantic, even they had to notice that AC/DC was gaining a following.   Live shows were selling well, and Let There Be Rock, Powerage, and If You Want Blood had all charted oversees.    But before they would give them a big push in the states, the record company demanded an outside producer.    Angus and Malcolm were absolutely against this from the start.   Not only did they not want to put an unknown outsider into the mix, but George Young was their older brother and they felt like that would be a betrayal.   Still...the company won out and the band begrudgingly started to work with...

...not Mutt Lange...

That's right.   Atlantic originally set them up with Eddie Kramer.   But what happened next was apparently the reason they would never work together again.     The band hated Eddie.   Malcolm called their manager Michael Browning and called Kramer a "prat" and said he wanted AC/DC to do a cover of "Gimmie Some Lovin" or "I'm a Man" by the Spencer Davis Group.   So Browning got in touch with Robert John "Mutt" Lange who had just produced a big #1 UK hit for the Boomtown Rats, and asked if he would be interested in working with the band.   

According to an interview with Bon in 1979:   "Three weeks in Miami and we hadn't written a thing with Kramer. So one day we told him we were going to have a day off and not to bother coming in. This was Saturday, and we snuck into the studio and on that one day we put down six songs, sent the tape to Lange and said, 'Will you work with us?'"

So Kramer was out, Lange was in, and (for reasons I've not been able to nail down) Browning was also fired as the bands manager. 

Many reports state that recording sessions were initially intense at times.   AC/DC was not used to Mutt's attention to detail.   Recording went on for 3 months of 15 hour days, while most previous albums required only a few weeks of actual recording sessions.   But the band eventually became very impressed with Mutt's work ethic.     And while Mutt has ALWAYS had the reputation of sometimes spending an entire days JUST to get a certain snare to sound exactly right, the band has admitted that it did have a lot of payoff in making the album sound much bigger and tighter than previous efforts.   

It's true that this album has a HUGE change in the AC/DC sound.   This is the album that would define the band moving forward.   For better or for worse, everything was streamlined, songs got right to the point, solos were kept much shorter, and everything sounded BIG and HUGE and in your face. 

Apparently Mutt, who was a trained singer, helped Bon become a better technical singer by teaching him more breath control when he was having trouble on the song If You Want Blood.   Tour manager, Ian Jeffery, who was present during recordings recalled:

"Mutt took them through so many changes. I remember one day Bon coming in with his lyrics to If You Want Blood. He starts doing it and he’s struggling, you know? There’s more fucking breath than voice coming out. Mutt says to him, 'Listen, you’ve got to co-ordinate your breathing'. Bon was like, 'You’re so fucking good, cunt, you do it!’. Mutt sat in his seat and did it without standing up! That was when they all went, 'What the fucking hell we dealing with here?"

I know most people consider this album iconic, and it does have its extremely high highs, but I mostly consider this a very mid-tier album.    My personal favorite from the entire album is easily Walk All Over You.  But Girls Got Rhythm, Beating Around the Bush, Shot Down in Flames, and Night Prowler are all amazing tracks as well.    Touch Too Much, Get It Hot, and If You Want Blood are also pretty good.   The title track was nice the first 10 times I heard it, a little less nice the next 1000 times I heard it, and now I find it pretty skippable....and Love Hungry Man is just kindof there.  (apparently Angus hates LHM as well, once stating "I must have written after a night of bad pizza – you can blame me for that.")

Bon's humorous "Shazbot! Na nu na nu!" both makes me giggle, and maybe a bit sad.   The younger crowd might not realize that this was a reference to Mork and Mindy, which was WILDLY popular at the time.   Every show ended with Mork (Robin Williams) communicating with "Orson" back on Ork about what he had learned that week on Earth...and would always end his transmission by signing off with "Na-nu Na-nu".     "Shazbot!" was also an exclamation from the show...basically an Orkan curse word when something went wrong.   But nothing could have been more fitting for Bon's final words on a recorded album.   

I'm glad we got at least one decent recording of the tour that followed before Bon passed.  Not sure if I will talk about the Let There Be Rock Motion Picture, or Back in Black next.   So stay tuned. 

EDIT - And YES, I am listening to these as I go.  In fact I spent precisely the last 41 minutes and 42 seconds typing and putting together all of the above....finishing up just as Bon gave his sign off. 

[Stadler]

I like this album, and I like the fullness of the sound.  Mutt did a great job of putting his spin on things without really fucking too much with Malcolm's personal sound (Lange is no dummy).   They did something right because Lange produced the next two.

I think the title track is my least favorite song on the record, by far; not that it sucks, but it's got a vibe that I found weird.  It didn't seem "fun" or "tongue in cheek" like a lot of Bon's work.  It had a darker vibe to it that made me feel funny (for a while, it was the only song from my CD collection I didn't put on my iPod).

[jingle.boy]

I'll never tire of the title track.  God tier song as far as I'm concerned.  You're both daft.

And yeah, this album is way tighter than any of the previous releases.  Sounds clean and crisp, from start to finish.

[jingle.boy]

Yeah, that listen was hot.  I've got a new found (or regained) appreciation for the Bon era.  I don't think there's a single dud in there at all, and re-listening got me to purchase the three I didn't have in my library already (HV, Powerage, IFYB).

Shall be interesting if I feel the same when we get to the BJ era.  When I had my CD collection stolen, I never re-purchased For Those About to Rock, Flick, or Fly - so my memory on those albums is a little fuzzy.  It's been 30 years since I listened to any of those start-to-finish.

[TAC]

Highway To Hell is a great album.

Walk All Over You is probably my favorite song here. Bon sounds amazing on it.

The title track is great. I never felt uncomfortable by it. It felt right at home with AC/DC.


I realize this was a Mutt Lange production, but there's something about it that saps AC/DC's energy. The record sounds too clean.