AC/DC Back In Black (CD, Epic, 1980) ***
Genre: Australian pop/rock
Places I remember: The Warehouse
Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Hells Bells
Gear costume: You Shook Me All Night Long
Active compensatory factors: After Bon Scott's death the band ploughed on. That's what AC/DC do.
I remember Brian Johnson from Geordie, a British glam/pop band of the seventies and I'm a Bon Scott fan so it took me a loooong while before I actually bought this CD.
When I did, my suspicions were confirmed. Truth is a lot of the material here is sub standard AC/DC. There are only two really good tunes and a few nearly make the grade (Shake A Leg and Shoot To Thrill), but overall it doesn't have the heft of Let There Be Rock or Powerage.
And I'm not a fan of Johnson's vocals. But having said that, Angus makes up for that on this record. Actually he is AC/DC! Can't imagine the band ever being the same without him. But they have coped well with others falling away and being replaced. Although Malcolm Young's death seems to have put the band into hibernation for now.
Anyway, this album: it's slick and heavy but it's not the beast that If You Want Blood is.
The sexual double entendre is by this point pretty tired and stoopid too. And at times, plain nasty (Givin The Dog A Bone is exhibit one). Grown men strutting around saying let me put my love into you babe is a worry.
Where do they all belong? That's it for AC/DC - I haven't bothered with any of the post BIB albums. Three reasons: Brian Johnson, mid tempo songs and (therefore), Phil Rudd's ponderous drumming. Cold Chisel are up next for the Aussie battler genre.
So, that's 400 albums done and dusted in the collection. A few thousand to go!
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