CD Odyssey Disc 1422: ACDC

Who knew that sitting outside could get old so quickly? Either winter has to go or this COVID thing does, because the combination is decidedly unfunny. I guess I should be thankful I don’t live in Toronto. Anyway, here’s some music from a place where it is currently springtime!

Disc 1422 is…. ’74 Jailbreak

Artist: AC/DC

Year of Release: 1984 in North America, but featuring music from 1975-1976

What’s up with the Cover? Angus plays guitar. If you are seeing more than one Angus, you may want to lay off the LSD.

How I Came To Know It: ’74 Jailbreak was a classic party and driving song of my youth, but I didn’t own it until 2003 when it was re-released and remastered. Remastering isn’t always the best thing for an album, but the ACDC remasters are excellent.

How It Stacks Up: I have just recently added to my ACDC collection and now have 10 albums. “’74 Jailbreak” is really more of an EP, but I’m going to count it anyway, and put it in at #7. That sounds low, but there are a lot of good ACDC records, my friends.

Ratings: 4 stars

“74 Jailbreak” is a short (5-song EP) featuring songs that were left off of the North American releases of their first two albums. Listening to this collection you will be moved to ask, “what were you thinking, North America?”

The record is a combination of four songs that are on the Australian version of the band’s 1975 debut, “High Voltage” (Disc 856) and their 1976 follow up “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” (Disc 619) but not released into North America until 1984. I often advocate on this blog for albums to be a few songs shorter, but the five songs on “74 Jailbreak” are every much the equal of the ones that were exported from Down Under back in the mid-seventies.

The whole thing starts off with “’Jailbreak,” one of hard rock’s all-time classics and slated for the “Dirty Deeds” record, where it would have fit perfectly. The song features singer Bon Scott at his greasy best, half-talking his way through the tale of a failed jailbreak. When you are 14 years old this song speaks to every bit of rebellion in your hormone-infused body. Sure the guy in the song is escaping jail under gunfire, and you just want to hang out at the mall a little longer, but the desire for freedom? That shit is universal.

“Jailbreak” also has one of rock and roll’s most enduring and classic guitar riffs, and while that middle section where Angus uses his guitar to represent spotlights, sirens and rifles is awesome, it is the riff that carries the tune. RIP Malcom Young.

The record has some of the best musicianship in the band’s career. I’ve always felt Angus Young’s guitar solos are a little overrated (if only because we all enjoy watching him skip across the stage, crouched over his guitar) but the songs on this record showcase him at his best. This is particularly evident on “Soul Stripper,” where he delivers some blues licks that are exceptional. Angus’ opening solo on this album may not be as celebrated as some others, but it is one of rock’s great moments.

Much more surprising, are the nuanced (for them) lyrics on “Soul Stripper.” ACDC is not known for their subtlety (I see their writing as a series of “non-tendres” because when a double entendre is this obvious, it ceases to be one). They also love to talk about sex and booze, so on a song like “Soul Stripper” you’d expect them to focus on the stripper side of the equation. But no, they surprise you. This is a song about a woman who digs into your psyche and tears down your emotional defences. And not in a romantic or sexy way. She hollows out the narrator and leaves him psychologically naked. But there’s no certainty anyone actually gets naked. In fact, beyond an early hand on a lap, I don’t think this song has any sex at all.

The album ends with a cover of the Big Joe Williams’ blues classic, “Baby, Please Don’t Go” which may be my favourite version of this song. Again, the guitar work is brilliant, and Bon Scott’s natural growl was born to make the blues as dirty as they can be.

The biggest problem I had with “74 Jailbreak” is it was too short, which is a weak criticism when you’re talking about an EP. I don’t know what marketing, distribution, or legal considerations when into taking these songs off their original LPs, but I’m glad in 1984 everyone came to their senses and let us North Americans join in on the fun.

Best tracks: ’74 Jailbreak, You Ain’t Got a Hold On Me, Soul Stripper

CD Odyssey Disc 1364: ACDC

Welcome back to the CD Odyssey! This next album is an old favourite.

Disc 1364 is…. Highway to Hell

Artist: AC/DC

Year of Release: 1979

What’s up with the Cover? Malcom glowers, Angus sneers and Bon flashes a grin while he sports a pentagram necklace sure to trouble your mom when she finally notices it. You know deep down you wanted her to.

How I Came To Know It: I have no idea. I’ve known and loved this album since the day it came out. I never owned it on vinyl, so I assume either my brother or friends did. Probably both. It was the first AC/DC album I bought on CD, but it was so long ago I can’t remember when.

How It Stacks Up:  I have nine ACDC albums and this is the best of them all - #1.

Ratings: 5 stars

Nowadays, throwing up the devil horns at a concert is so commonplace you’ll sometimes see it at an indie folk show. It’s weird, and it’s out of place, but you’ll see it. It might even be me doing it. Old habits are hard to break.

When I was a little kid back in 1979 throwing up the horns at all felt quite risky. Like at any moment the devil himself might notice and come calling. While albums like Iron Maiden’s “Number of the Beast” seemed to tempt the very edges of fate, AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” was a safer way to celebrate sin and fast living. A bit more party, and a bit less Satan, if you will. I’d give it even odds this album was the first I ever honoured with that greatest of rock and roll salutes; head bowed, and devil horn-hands raised high.

If so, I couldn’t have done better than “Highway to Hell,” which is one of the greatest hard rock albums ever made. 41 minutes of screaming guitar riffs, thumping drums and Bon Scott – one of hard rock’s finest vocalists – screeching away with rebellious celebration. This is everything AC/DC does, done to perfection. The songs are 4/4 time, driven at every step by Malcolm Young’s incredible guitar. The album sports a song called “Girls Got Rhythm” but it is Malcolm Young that has rhythm, and plenty of it.

In a way, all the songs sound the same, but chiefly that’s because they all sound great. Everything is played with a relaxed precision that sits down in the pocket and stays a while. You’re going to get a bunch of verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus repeat, and you are going to fucking like it. Angus Young’s solos are nothing complicated, but they perfectly fit into each song, giving you a little sideways glance at the tune, before you are safely returned to Malcolm’s reliable groove.

Lyrically, this is also AC/DC at their best. And by “at their best” I don’t mean that they are dropping Leonard Cohen-style insights on the universe or the nature of the universe. These are songs about partying, chasing girls and generally acting like a miscreant. Bon Scott is a naturally over-the-top singer, and the more ridiculous his lines get, the more he revels in them. Some of the best are on “Touch Too Much”:

“She had the face of an angel, smiling with sin

The body of Venus, with arms.”

Um…yeah! Also:

“She wanted it hard, wanted it fast

She liked it done medium rare.”

I expect this is supposed to be a sexual metaphor, although I’m not sure for what. I prefer to think that in the throes of passion this goddess of a woman (with arms, no less!) put in a call for room service.

I also love this line from “Shot Down In Flames” which is basically a song about young men on the prowl, behaving badly:

“Singles bar, got my eye on a honey
Hanging out everywhere”

Is she hanging out at all the bars, or just not wearing very much? The answer to this question is ‘yes’.

While I am poking fun here, both “Touch Too Much” and “Shot Down in Flames” are rock and roll classics, with instantly recognizable guitar riffs that can be heard a thousand times and never grow tiresome. Every song on the album is like this, launching with a furious and undeniable energy over and over again.

This blog often reviews very obscure records, but this is not one of them. This album was everywhere from when I was a kid until I graduated high school. It literally never left the house party playlist for the better part of a decade, merely shifting format (vinyl, cassette, CD) with the times as required.

But that’s not all it is good for. “Highway to Hell” is also the perfect companion for a highway cruise, or a drunken daytime walk (ideally while wearing a pair of cut-off jeans). You can even take this to work. I’ve worked many a blue-collar job, and what got put in the ghetto blaster for the day’s soundtrack was important, and potentially contentious. “Highway to Hell” was never questioned. This is green chain music, construction site music, and bottle depot music rolled into one. It belongs anywhere and everywhere you have to wear steel-toed boots.

This is the band’s best record, combining the driving hard thump of later records with Brian Johnson, with the lascivious blues groove of earlier efforts with Bon Scott. It is also the “gateway” album for anyone unlucky enough not to know AC/DC. It is both accessible and brilliant in equal measure.

So if I’ve waxed poetic, I hope you’ll forgive me. It is just that when it comes to “Highway to Hell” we are talking about a beauty as profound as the goddess of love herself. Only imagine she has arms, and at the end of those arms are hands. And those hands are throwing up the devil horns.

Best tracks: all tracks

CD Odyssey Disc 1017: ACDC

Observant readers will note that I’ve changed my profile photo. Gone is that short-haired excitable fellow in the Bruins jersey, replaced with this photo of me looking like I fell out of a Richard Linklater movie.

Disc 1017 is…Back in Black

Artist: ACDC

Year of Release: 1980

What’s up with the Cover? This may be simple, but it is one of rock and roll’s most iconic album covers ever. Its coolness has stood the test of time and then some.

How I Came To Know It: I have known this album since I was a kid. Everyone had it, and everyone loved it where I came from, at least everyone who mattered.

How It Stacks Up:  I have nine ACDC albums. Many regard “Back in Black” as the best, and in many ways it is a three way tie for top spot, but I didn’t create this section of the blog to equivocate. I’m going to put “Back in Black” in at a respectable third best, behind only “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” (reviewed back at Disc 619), and “Highway to Hell” (not yet reviewed).

Ratings: 4 stars

There aren’t many bands that can lose their iconic lead singer and then immediately follow that loss up with one of their best records. Really the only two that come to mind are Black Sabbath’s “Heaven and Hell” and “Back in Black” and both were released in 1980. There must’ve been something in the water that year: something awesome.

“Back in Black” is balls-to-the-wall rock and roll that takes no prisoners. The record begins with the iconic echoing of four bells that announces “Hells Bells.” It is the album’s only long deep breath, and the last chance for the listener to take one, because within a couple of bars “Hells Bells” has launched into the quintessential riff-driven hurricane that is ACDC. For the next forty minutes “Back in Black” will pin you in your chair and rock you from the lower spine up to the cerebellum. Don’t worry about the frontal lobes; they are of limited value here.

“Back in Black” came out in the wake of tragedy, shortly after the band’s long-time frontman Bon Scott’s untimely death earlier the same year. New vocalist Brian Johnson’s singing style couldn’t be more different than the man he would replace. Johnson is rough, straightforward and solid in pocket, a straight rod of steel compared to the sleazy, lascivious and serpentine style of Scott.

I fully admit that overall I prefer Scott’s vocals, and I can’t help but wonder what the songs on “Back in Black” would sound like with him at the helm; presumably quite a bit different, though equally awesome. However, Brian Johnson brings something fresh and wonderful to the band. His pounding style makes this ACDC’s heaviest record to date, and the way he rides high on the beat gives the music another level of urgency and intensity. I miss Scott when I’m thinking about the album, but it is impossible to deny the glory of Johnson when I’m listening to it.

This album was huge when I was in high school. Even though it was released three years before I got there, “Back in Black” had staying power. From Grade 8 through Grade 12 you could hear this record at every house party, and in every passing muscle car. In fact, one of my fondest memories was listening to the title track in the 1973 Malibu that belonged to my friend Rob’s older brother, Tom.

Tom had modified the Malibu with a blower on the motor so big that he had to remove the car’s hood to fit it on. That was cool enough, but he’d also modified the back of the interior to fit in two home stereo tower speakers, mounted into a piece of plywood. I was relegated to the back seat with the little brother, and when that tell-tale “chk chk chk chk” of the title track’s guitar came on I would feel the hairs on the back of my neck rise with anticipation. When the signature riff kicked in Rob and I would be literally lifted out of our seats with the thump. It was sublime.

That was a magical experience, driving down the town’s only main road, “Back in Black” pounding away, and the sun streaming in on us as girls turned their heads (admittedly to look at Rob’s brother, but whatever). The visceral power of that song – as perfect now as the day I first heard it – recaptures that feeling every time.

If you’re looking for lyrical significance, this album is not for you, but that doesn’t mean the lyrics aren’t deliciously ridiculous. These are songs about rockin’ hard, drinkin’ hard and chasin’ girls with the time in between. Their most romantic gesture is “Let Me Put My Love Into You” and their subtlest metaphor is “Given the Dog a Bone.” The latter song doesn’t even use the right “given”.

On “You Shook Me All Night Long” you will learn about ACDC’s vision of female beauty:

“She was a fast machine

She kept her motor clean

She was the best damn woman I had ever seen

She had the sightless eyes

Telling me no lies

Knockin' me out with those American thighs”

I’ve never been sure what “American thighs” are all about, but it sounded good back in the day. Less so, “the sightless eyes” but maybe those were the awe-filled stares of all those pretty girls checking out Tom’s ’73 Malibu. Or maybe the song is actually about a car - that seems just as likely.

The closest the album comes to deep thinking is the final track, the slower and bluesy “Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution” where Johnson rasps out:

“Cause rock 'n' roll ain't no riddle man

To me it makes good, good sense”

Indeed it does, Brian, indeed it does. Coming at the end of the record, “Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution” is a reminder that you just listened to some kick ass rock music and you shouldn’t overthink it. If anything, you should just play it again, only louder.

Best tracks: Hells Bells, What Do You Do For Money Honey, Back in Black, You Shook Me All Night Long, Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution

CD Odyssey Disc 856: ACDC

After a couple of lighter albums I found myself craving something with a bit more bite to it. Although the CD Odyssey is random, the universe must have heard me and granted my wish.

Disc 856 is….High Voltage

Artist: ACDC

Year of Release: 1976

What’s up with the Cover? Angus Young introduces North America to his school boy gone bad aesthetic with ACDC’s first North American release. Also a lightning bolt because…rock and roll!

How I Came To Know It: This album was part of the landscape in the small working class town I grew up in. ACDC is in my DNA.

How It Stacks Up:  I have nine ACDC albums and unlike my recent experience with Neil Young, I like them all. “High Voltage” ranks sixth best out of nine but is still awesome.

Ratings: 4 stars

“High Voltage” is ballsy, raw and at times a little rough, but that’s exactly how I want my ACDC to sound.

The record is their first release in North America and is an amalgam of two earlier albums released in the band’s native Australia the year before. It doesn’t feel glued together like North American hybrid releases can, but instead has a natural flow throughout.

The album launches with a bang, with “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll).” ACDC is known for their rhythm guitar riffs, so it is fitting that the first song on their first album has such a memorable one. This song manages to combine the grind of proto-metal with the aggressive twang of Chuck Berry. Best of all, the song features frickin’ bagpipes. When the guitar and the pipes start answering one another in riff after riff it is bombastic, ridiculously over the top, and exactly what the is needed to hit the next level.

Later in the album, “T.N.T.” delivers another unforgettable riff, this time complete with the band loudly chanting “Oy! Oy! Oy!” When you hear this song, whether you are at a high school dance, at a friend’s house or just out driving there is no resisting joining in the chant.

“Rock ‘n’ Roll Singer” is almost as powerful, and introduces the band’s other main weapon; the lascivious voice of Bon Scott. I will always stand up for Bon Scott being ACDC’s greatest vocalist, and while “High Voltage” doesn’t have him quite as dirty and grimy as he achieves on “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” he still leaves you wanting to shower after every verse. “Rock ‘n’ Roll Singer” also has some pretty sweet guitar soloing from Angus Young.

Scott delivers suggestive lyrics throughout the album. “The Jack” is a song where a card game is a metaphor for catching a venereal disease. Later, songs feature Scott asking women if he can sit next to them (I imagine they look away uncomfortably but he sits beside them anyway). On “Little Lover” he sings:

“Saw you in the front row

Moving to the beat

Just movin' and groovin'

Killed me when I saw

The wet patch on your seat

Was it Coca Cola?

Oh baby I hope you liked the show

When the band said goodnight

I had to say hello”

Scott isn’t a leading man or a teen idol, he’s an oversexed creep who clearly revels in being inappropriate.

The great rhythm guitar work of Malcolm Young is on full display throughout. ACDC songs live and die on how well they sit in the pocket, and Malcom is the master of keeping the song strong in the groove. Even at this early stage of the band’s career, he is already the glue that holds everything else together. This gives lead guitar Angus and vocalist Bon the freedom they need to add flavour to each song.

Despite these high points, the album is uneven in places and a lot of riffs are similar to those used on later records to better effect. While both “The Jack” and “She’s Got Balls” are devilish good fun, both songs drag a bit through the middle.

Fortunately, the album recovers at the end with the title track which is a simple yet effective celebration of rock music.

I struggled with whether this album deserves 4 stars or fell just short at 3. I was about to say 3 but the gratuitous use of bagpipes and Aussie chants alone put it over the top.

Best tracks:  It’s A Long Way To the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll), Rock ‘N’ Roll Singer, T.N.T., High Voltage 

CD Odyssey Disc 619: ACDC

A quiet weekend is what I needed, and a quiet weekend is what I’ve given myself. Today will be music day, starting with this review and then moving on to some guitar practice.

Disc 619 is…. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

Artist: ACDC

Year of Release: 1976

What’s up with the Cover? It’s the band, posing as regular folks, along with two young attractive women and an old lady – all with their eyes blacked out. I am guessing the idea is that although they are blending in with the crowd, they are actually dangerous criminal types. The whole scene looks lifted from a Tarantino movie.

How I Came To Know It:  I’ve known this album since I was a kid, but my love for it was rekindled in the early nineties by my buddy Greg, who owned it on tape. We used to crank “Problem Child” in his car over and over again

How It Stacks Up:  I have nine ACDC albums, and “Dirty Deeds” is one of the best. I’ll put it second. If you’re wondering what’s first, you’ll have to wait until I roll it.

Rating:  4 stars

“Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” has everything you look for in an ACDC album; driving power chords, relentless energy and even a little humour. At a time when the future of ACDC is in doubt, it is fitting that I rolled an album that helped launch their international career.

“Dirty Deeds” is not a complicated record, but that isn’t what ACDC is about. If you are after creative time signatures and innovative song construction go look elsewhere – maybe in the jazz section. If you are looking for power rock that gets your head banging, and your hands inadvertently playing air guitar in public, then “Dirty Deeds” will serve you well.

The record opens with the title track. Decades after its release, “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” is still an instantly recognizable rock anthem. The song is told from the perspective of a hit man, offering his services to kill your girlfriend or your high school head (principal). The opening guitar riff sets the scene for such dark deeds, low and crunchy with a predatory menace.

The whole album is a clinic in how the rhythm guitar drives a great rock song. On “Ain’t No Fun (Waiting Round to be a Millionaire).” An amateur guitar player will tend to increase the speed of his playing by accident, but “Ain’t No Fun” incorporates a deliberate, perfectly measured increase to the tempo that slowly builds the urgency and impatience of waiting for fame.

Only a few weeks ago it was discovered that rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young has a serious illness and may never perform again.  As lead guitar, Angus Young gets the majority of the glory in ACDC, cavorting about the stage in his school uniform, and he is a lot of fun to watch. “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” reminds me that Malcolm is the glue holding this band together. Sad as it would be if he never performs again, this record is a fitting legacy to his talents.

Meanwhile, lead singer Bon Scott brings his lascivious, dirty vocals to every song. On the title track he is simmering with violence, and on “Squealer” he is sexually disturbing. And while it isn’t my favourite song on the record, Scott is positively hilarious on “Big Balls.” “Big Balls” is one long double entendre in which Scott is ‘itching to tell us’ about his big balls, by which he means parties. Oh, and also his testicles.

“Big Balls” was a favourite in my high school, and to this day I get a juvenile thrill out of quoting lyrics from the song. My current favourite section is near the end of the song, where Bon Scott begins discussing some of the things at his big balls, including ‘seafood cocktail, crabs, crayfish.’ I’m not sure how crayfish fit into the scene, but I know that when Bon Scott sings it, it is dirty.

While the title track and “Big Balls” are the albums best known songs, my two favourites are “Problem Child” and “Ride On.”

“Problem Child” has the perfect combination of Malcolm laying down an amazing rock riff, Angus delivering a kick ass solo and Scott singing about how badass he is. The lyrics are simple, direct and decidedly anti-social:

“I’m hot

And when I’m not

I’m cold as ice

See me comin’

Step aside

Or pay the price

What I want I take

What I don’t I break

And I don’t want you.”

Not exactly Alfred Lord Tennyson, but it gets the point across.

My other favourite, “Ride On”, is the emotional opposite; a slow bluesy number about depression and loneliness. “Ride On” shows Bon Scott’s softer side, and reminds me of just how tragic it was that he would be dead less than five years after recording it. The whole song smells of road dust and musty cheap hotel rooms:

“It’s another lonely evening

And another lonely town

But I ain’t too young to worry

And I ain’t too old to cry

When a woman gets me down.

“Got another empty bottle

And another empty bed

Ain’t too young to admit it

And I’m not too old to lie

I’m just another empty head.”

This is the confused youth of Alice Cooper’s “Eighteen” ten years later, with the burden of the world weighing him down, but still without answers. “Ride On” is a song for late night drinking, when you’ve switched to whisky when you should’ve switched to water.

“Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” is a ballsy blast of rock enthusiasm from a band that knew it was going to be famous and was ready to pay whatever price came with that. Its message may not be complicated, but it is delivered with confidence and authority and still fresh nearly forty years after its release.

Best tracks: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Problem Child, Ain’t No Fun (Waiting Round to be a Millionaire), Ride On. 

CD Odyssey Disc 248: ACDC

After a very long stay with Lou Reed, it was enjoyable to roll a very compact album from the days when vinyl dictated it had to be thus.

Disc 248 is...For Those About To Rock
Artist: ACDC

Year of Release: 1981

What’s Up With The Cover?: One of the most iconic rock and roll album covers of all time. Band name, album title and a cannon. Frankly, I'd settle for the cannon.

How I Came To Know It: I have known ACDC since I was a kid - they were a big deal in the small town I grew up in, and I've always liked them as well. I first heard this album when it came out in 1981, although I never owned it until fairly recently when I bought a remastered edition about five years ago.

How It Stacks Up: I don't have close to all of ACDC albums, but I've got a few - eight in fact. Sadly, of the eight albums, I must put "For Those About to Rock" last or 8th. I fully expect it is better than some of the ones I don't have, but the Odyssey doesn't work that way, and so it will have to be satisfied being 8th out of a strong field.

Rating: 3 stars.

There isn't a lot to say about "For Those About To Rock". It is their second album with new lead singer Brian Johnson. I am admittedly more of a Bon Scott guy, but I respect what Johnson brings to the band, and have three albums from that period (but more on the others when I roll them).

Johnson's vocals are strong on the record, and the band is as tight as ever (which is to say, very). The problem with the album are there just aren't enough stand out songs to carry it.

The album starts very strong, with the title track "For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)" one of the great eighties rock songs. This song hasn't stayed as popular as it has over the past thirty years by accident. The signature riff is excellent, and it is a song that shows Johnson at his best. Also, it features cannons being fired in honour of rock and roll, and who doesn't love that? In fact, I'm going to say this is the second greatest use of cannons in music - only after Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.

After this things fall off substantially. The riffs that open each song are still ACDC staples. Driving, blues driven guitar converted to a rock aesthetic and then delivered in a way designed to drag you around the room by your crotch. So that part is still working. The problem is more that these riffs aren't followed up with anything particular memorable. The other elements added to the songs don't build on the riffs, or support them in the way that makes so many ACDC songs go from good to great.

I was going to give this album a friendly 2 stars, but I may be being overly harsh simply by comparing them to their other albums. ACDC has some of the great rock albums ever made, and so they shouldn't be overly faulted for delivering one that is simply 'good'. "For Those About To Rock" is good, and I enjoyed listening to it. I wouldn't start here, though - there are at least seven albums I'd put you on to first.

Best tracks: For Those About to Rock, Let's Get It Up, C.O.D.