If one were to chart the trajectory of AC/DC’s career path to date, it would suddenly become noticeable that it flows together about like a gear-head’s Cinderella story. Beginning in Australia, the brothers Young, along with Phil Rudd on drums and Mark Evans on bass turned over the ignition and immediately got the engine firing on all cylinders (High Voltage, T.N.T.) before dropping into gear and cruising to the line (the North American release of High Voltage was actually a compilation of the strongest tracks from the Australian releases of both High Voltage and T.N.T.) and then slamming hard into overdrive (Highway To Hell), hitting the wall equally hard less than a year later (the death of singer Bon Scott) before limping to the pit for some re-tooling and then charging back with even more muscle (Back In Black found the band – now fronted by Brian Johnson – going ten laps and re-taking the lead)and burst back out to everyone’s surprise and become the unparalleled champion – even if they were running a little dirtier.
Obviously, after thirty-three years, there are more twists and turns in the track than that, but it is a fairly accurate Cliff’s Notes summary of the story of one of the hardest suffering survivors of rock. It’s also a text that ends up on the curriculum year after year; as they come of age, young men (there aren’t a tremendous number of young women that enjoy being objectified in the manner to which AC/DC is accustomed) are introduced to AC/DC by their older siblings or cousins and the learning curve begins again. Released this year though, Epic has assembled an abridged tome that will wet the appetites of the uninitiated and, because unleashed three representative albums in a small crate and, because all good boxes need filling, included enough space to assemble the rest of the chapters in this band’s debauched tale. This is a great sort of introduction for those unfamiliar with AC/DC; start here, then get ready to go back for more.
AC/DC
High Voltage
(ATCO, 1976; EMI, 1998; WEA, 2000; Epic, 2003)
It’s every guy’s dream to go a few rounds with two saucy numbers at once, and AC/DC set themselves up for a career of infamy that also had young men saying thank you when they gift wrapped the best cuts from their first two Australian releases in one tidy parcel. The compiled tracks on this edition of High Voltage are a great and fairly thorough introduction to the band in their early career; cutesy, campy, funny and horny, High Voltage balances singer Bon Scott’s unwavering love of (and remarkable gift for) innuendo with lead guitarist Angus Young’s incendiary, Chuck-Berry-after-a-fifth-of-whisky licks with fantastic results that set the standard by which everything the band did after would be judged. From the opening bagpipe wheeze of “It’s A Long Way To The Top” through the snarling, spitting “T.N.T.” and the uncharacteristically coy (probably because it’s the only song on the record that Scott didn’t have a hand in writing) “Can I Sit Next To You Girl,” the band is ready for a fight, a drink or a shag at the drop of a hat and is always wound to pound any opponents that step up. What listeners a little familiar with the band will notice here is that, unlike anything the band would do with “replacement singer” Brian Johnson, the other side of the coin does get its due here as well. In this early going, Scott does occasionally pay the price for his evil ways – either by getting the clap (or maybe crabs, but either way cleaned up for radio as “The Jack” with a fantastic extended metaphor) or laying the hard side to the high life on the line in “It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock N’ Roll)” – and that downside, set out with laden blues riffs, is a fantastic foil that later, consequence-free offerings (this has been a problem since Brian Johnson joined)don’t muster, but did endear the band to both those few women brave enough in the band’s potential fan base swoon and the guys not so hot on chest thumping. In these early songs, there are consequences, but that makes the highs even more fun.
AC/DC
Highway To Hell
(ATCO, 1979; EMI, 1998; WEA, 2000; Epic, 2003)
For every great moment they’ve ever had in their thirty-three years and no matter what might happen from here on out, the members of AC/DC can rest assured that they will forever merit more than just a footnote in rock n’ roll history just for the fact that Highway To Hell exists. At the time of its release, the album very neatly and beautifully encapsulated what kids had been waiting for in a beer-drinking party record. Every staple tenet that makes AC/DC great – the boozing, the balling, the brawling, the hedonism and the “live for tonight because we might be dead by morning” attitude – is here and fully in force. Unlike the band’s previous records, this time there is no mention of consequences either; there is no possibility of catching “The Jack,” no remorseful “Ride On,” no “Rock N’ Roll Damnation” – in short, no apologies – this time it’s all about fun.
As if that statement needed proof, the band removes all doubt in the opening blast of “Highway To Hell” that would be AC/DC’s calling card forevermore: “Living easy, living free – season ticket on a one-way ride… Goin’ down, party time, my friends are gonna be there too…”
“I’m on a highway to hell.”
After such a career-defining, all-encompassing and completely representative statement for this band, the rest could simply have been gravy – but they’re just warming up. Hot on the heels of “Highway To Hell,” the hits keep on coming with “Girls Got Rhythm,” “Touch Too Much,” “Shot Down In Flames” and “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)” that remove all doubt about the fact that, while each member of the band is laughing his ass off as they go, not one of them doesn’t mean business. While it’s true that AC/DC was always airtight in their blues rock riffing, somehow here then-untested producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange figured out how to wind them even tighter and harder with a presence that deserved to fill arenas. What sets this sound apart from the band’s prior output isn’t exactly obvious or easy to define (maybe it has something to do with the fact that this time the band only slows down to give listeners the creeps in “Night Prowler” rather than slowing down to show their conscience as they have previously with tracks like “Ride On”) but they do not ease up here and, while Bon Scott always has an incredibly infectious scream, in “Shot Down In Flames,” “Highway To Hell,” “If You Want Blood…” and “Night Prowler there is no sense of self-preservation either; Bon Scott’s got it to give and gives every inch of what he’s got – there is no holding back.
…And that would be the enduring memory of Bon Scott. Less than a year after Highway To Hell`s release, the singer would be found dead on the back seat of a car. While the details remain hazy on what actually happened, the gist of the story is that Scott laid down for a nap after a hard-partying good night, rolled over just wrong and asphyxiated. While the band was riding high in North America, Scott`s passing once again very much threw their future back into question. For virtually any band, the absence of a key member would amount to a mortal blow and particularly with a voice as unique as Scott`s, there weren`t many people not wondering if and how AC/DC would survive.
AC/DC
The Razor`s Edge
(ATCO, 1990; EMI, 1998; WEA, 2000; Epic, 2003)
Now, at this juncture, there isn’t a soul wondering what happened to the continuity of this soliloquy. To fill in the gaps, obviously AC/DC endured the loss of lead singer Bon Scott, recruited a very similar-sounding Scot, Brian Johnson, to fill his shoes and carried on releasing a series of very well-received albums, but most notably Back In Black, For Those About To Rock, We Salute You, Blow Up Your Video and The Razor’s Edge. Back In Black was the heralded return that AC/DC released just one year after Scott’s passing and which yielded six singles; thus giving the band a new lease on life.
So the obvious question becomes, ‘If Sony BMG was trying to present a sort of truncated storyline about AC/DC, why not include Back In Black here? The answer is simple: Back In Black was a great record that showed AC/DC as able to overcome staggering adversity, but it also shows how earnestly they were trying to bounce back. That would be one way to tell the story, but look at it this way: High Voltage shows a band hungry to make it and making a crack with some great songs; Highway To Hell finds the band winning the day and taking over the world; finally, The Razor’s Edge shows the band settling in at the top of the heap with the battlefield command of established veterans.
As this record makes plain in the late playing, by 1990 AC/DC had everyone within earshot by the balls and, by then, they knew exactly what to do to play the crowd and have them drop to their knees. The first three tracks say it all; Angus Young’s tenuous and light night fast SG assault that opens “Thunderstruck” gets the adrenaline up before “Fire Your Guns” smashes listeners into submission with a single, decisive blow. With the ‘wham’ and ‘bam’ taken care of, “Moneytalks” puts the band’s collective hand out to collect what’s owed and wait for you to say, ‘thank you sirs.’
It’s so simple, so easy and so smooth here that it will make you cry because it’s the kind of one-two punch that every band in the world hopes to fall ass-backwards into, but almost never land. Thing is though, AC/DC’s danced this dance before so they know the moves; here, they step up confidently and knock all the pins down in one shot. They do it with a confident grim too.
After the title track lays down an uncharacteristically macabre drone, the band falls in and marches through the motions of carefree carousing (“Mistress For Christmas,” “Shot Of Love”) and fierce fisticuffs (“Goodbye And Good Riddance To Bad Luck”) but this time with a few differences; by 1990, AC/DC were the biggest bad boys on the block and those that wanted a shot had to come to them – the downside to that is that there isn’t as much humor on The Razor’s Edge as there had been on every record previously, in fact there’s none at all.
As “If You Dare” fades, the mould has certainly been broken; while AC/DC always had a cocksure swagger, by The Razor’s Edge it was deserved and the band knows it. Maybe that’s why the innuendo and bravado that the band has always been famous for doesn’t factor in here so much – by The Razor’s Edge, AC/DC was exactly where they wanted to be and, no matter what they said, it was respected without question.
…As with any good kung fu story, the legend continues…
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