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Album Rating: 3.0
Here's all my AC/DC ratings/rankings:
5/5
1. Back in Black
2. Highway to Hell
4.5/5
3. Powerage
4. Let There Be Rock
4/5
5. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
3.5/5
6. The Razor's Edge
7. For Those About to Rock
8. High Voltage
9. Rock or Bust
10. Flick of the Switch
3/5
11. Blow Up Your Video
12. Stiff Upper Lip
13. Power Up
14. Ballbreaker
2.5/10
15. Black Ice
16. Fly on the Wall
I honestly don't see how RoB is any more "AC/DC by the numbers" than pretty much anything else they've released post-TRE. I may do another discog run for them soon since Power Up has me interested to hear more. Every time I get into AC/DC I always want to go pick up my guitar, crank my amp, and hit some power chords until my ears bleed.
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5/5
High Voltage
4.5/5
Highway To Hell
4/5
'74 Jailbreak
Let There Be Rock
Back in Black
The Razors Edge
Flick of the Switch
Stiff Upper Lip
3.5/5
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Powerage
3/5
Ballbreaker
Power Up
2.5/5
Fly On The Wall
Black Ice
FTATR...WSY
2/5
Blow Up Your Video
Rock Or Bust
Depending on my mood Black Ice could be a 3 and Video could be a 2.5, but that's pretty much it otherwise.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
Strange to see Back in Black so low. That album single-handedly inspired me to pick up guitar when I was 13. I got Highway to Hell not long after that and just played the shit out of both of them for like a straight year. This was even before I had a PC or used Amazon so it wasn't easy finding the rest of their discog back then. I also remember getting Stiff Upper Lip when it came out, and buying the rest of their discog not long after that. Good times.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
Back in Black is that low for one reason and one reason only: as amazing as the Big Five are (and they definitely are, You Shook Me is Top 5 AC/DC for me), have you listened to the rest of the album? Shake A Leg? Given The Dog A Bone? Those are AWFUL songs. Let Me Put My Love Into You, Money Honey and Have A Drink On Me are a little better, but still just album filler, and nowhere near on a par with the actual smash hits.
Same logic applies to Fly. As a 5-song EP (with Fly, Shake Your Foundations, Sink The Pink, Danger and Stand Up) it would be fantastic. The problem is, there's five other songs on the album, and they're all pretty poor. If you switched First Blood around with Stand Up, it would literally become an album of two halves - and the second half could pretty much be done away with.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
I think calling the other songs "awful" is a real stretch. Hell, I think Money Honey stands up with the best on the album. Those downbeat drums against that offbeat riff is killer, and it's one of Bryan's best vocal performances on the album, especially those verse hooks are great. Shake a Leg has one of the more interesting structures of any AC/DC with that long intro that rather menacing intro that takes a while to lead up to the main riff, which is just good boogie rock. Agreed that Given, LMPMLIY, and Have a Drink on Me are weaker, but I don't think any of them are terrible. Even at that you have 5 all-time classic rock songs, two (IMO) excellent songs, and the rest are (at worst) filler. Many classic albums would kill for that ratio.
Personally, I don't even care for those 5 songs on Fly, though my biggest problem with that album remains the production, which sounds like it was all recorded from the building next door. I think what happened was they tried to turn AC/DC into a hair/arena rock band and that sound just did not fit them at all. Flick and Blow had similar issues, though not nearly to the same extent.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
'Shake A Leg? Given The Dog A Bone? Those are AWFUL songs. Let Me Put My Love Into You, Money Honey and Have A Drink On Me are a little better, but still just album filler, and nowhere near on a par with the actual smash hits.'
Are you kidding me? That's an awful take dude, with all due respect.
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Let me clarify: the only songs I was saying were awful were Shake a Leg and Given the Dog a Bone. I never cared for them at all. LMPMLIY, Money Honey and Have A Drink On Me I find pretty good, but pretty middle-of-the-road as well. Which leaves us with a 3.5/5.
Also, 'Flick and Blow' *snicker*.
@Titan feel free to say your piece, man. There's a reason I've never dropped a Back In Black review in 15 years. I need to prepare myself for the mob lynching xD
I like discussing things with you guys like this, actually.
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yeah bro i'm just breakin em......gotta rally with the few ACDC fans we still have on here
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
Actually, you know what, guys? Yeah, BiB is probably a 4. It's still overhyped as 'the best AC/DC album' (that's either High Voltage or Highway) but yeah, 5 stone cold classics, 3 strong backups and 2 actively poor tracks does add up to more than a 3.5.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
The riff in Shake A Leg is worth the price of admission alone. And Given The Dog A Bone rocks dude cmon. Plus, the production on that record is flawless. You're saying it has 5 classics, 3 great songs, and only 2 that are 'poor'. I think you're being a bit harsh there, but your opinion is your opinion.
Easy 5 for me, even if it is so overplayed.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
Compared to my clear-cut 4/5's (Let There Be Rock, Flick of the Switch, Razors Edge, Stiff Upper Lip) it has stronger standouts than any of them, but it's also less consistent, so it evens out. Highway and Voltage have standouts just as good AND are stronger overall.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Both of those dip as well, but are fantastic nonetheless. Also, love your high regard for Flick Of The Switch. I find that record to be extremely underrated. I know the band themselves aren't crazy for it either.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
IMHO the one weak song on Voltage (every DC album has one) is She's Got Balls. That's it. No other track on that album is anything less than stellar.
Highway has Get It Hot, then Beating Around The Bush and Love Hungry Man which are about on a level with Honey and Have A Drink from BiB.
Flick has Bedlam in Belgium and Brain Shake.
Razor has Rock Your Heart Out as the weak track, Goodbye and Good Riddance and If You Dare as the forgettable ones.
Stiff Upper Lip has Give It Up, then Can't Stop R'n'R / Satellite Blues / All Screwed Up a notch above that.
Jailbreak doesn't really count, but I'd say Soul Stripper was the one weak track on there.
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"Soul Stripper was the one weak track on there"
I must comment and say that I'm hyperventilating and about to faint
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
I don't know, I have not listened to Jailbreak in A WHILE to say the least, but as a kid that's the one I always skipped. It doesn't help that it comes directly after one of my very favourite AC/DC songs (Show Business.)
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
With 5 "classic" tracks I don't see how an album could ever be less than a 4/5 even if all the other tracks are mediocre. I also think BiB is the best produced AC/DC album. Early albums were all extremely dry and pretty rough-sounding. Mutt added just enough reverb and other production tricks to enlarge/enhance their sound without making it sound unnatural or overproduced. The other 80s albums mostly went too far with that, surprisingly so since they were produced by AC/DC themselves and (later) the same producers of their early albums. I also don't think any AC/DC is free of weak tracks. On High Voltage I don't care for The Jack (I know it's beloved and a concert staple, but I don't get its appeal: it's just a really repetitive, generic blues riff), Little Lover, or She's Got Balls. I think their two most consistent albums are LTBR and Powerage. I don't think either has a legit weak track, but I also don't their best there matches the best of HTH/BIB either.
Here's a hot take: I think This Means War (final track from Blow) is probably their most underrated song. That main riff is one of their best and "might get laid by a hand grenade" may be the best lyric Bryan ever wrote.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Back In Black might be the best produced album I've ever heard for the reasons that solrage mentions above. It sounds INCREDIBLE at very high volumes. I have a pretty good audiophile-ish setup at my home, and when people come over and want to hear it, I usually put Hells Bells on and let it rip....
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"I don't know, I have not listened to Jailbreak in A WHILE to say the least, but as a kid that's the one I always skipped. It doesn't help that it comes directly after one of my very favourite AC/DC songs (Show Business.)"
It's a great EP yes, but Soul Stripper in particular has always been one of my, like, top 10 AC/DC songs? It's so unconventional for them, the percussions, the extended soloing, the loose structure. And that bass.
I honestly think the original High Voltage 1975 is much better than the international one, as it is basically the Jailbreak EP (minus Jailbreak) plus other very underrated cuts like Love Song (so refined for them! another one in my top 10) and Little Lover.
"Back In Black might be the best produced album I've ever heard for the reasons that solrage mentions above. It sounds INCREDIBLE at very high volumes. I have a pretty good audiophile-ish setup at my home, and when people come over and want to hear it, I usually put Hells Bells on and let it rip...."
All the albums up to Razors Edge sound great on first presses, some are rougher or overproduced, but still with healthy dynamic mastering that gives them an audiophile edge. Then they sadly adapted to the industry and started to gradually up the compression and even remastered the old ones squashing the life out of them (especially avoid at all costs remasters published from the 2000s)
"Here's a hot take: I think This Means War (final track from Blow) is probably their most underrated song. That main riff is one of their best and "might get laid by a hand grenade" may be the best lyric Bryan ever wrote."
Haven't listen to Blow in forever but it has its songs, like Nick of Time and Two's Up.
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"Back In Black might be the best produced album I've ever heard for the reasons that solrage mentions above. It sounds INCREDIBLE at very high volumes. I have a pretty good audiophile-ish setup at my home, and when people come over and want to hear it, I usually put Hells Bells on and let it rip...."
Where do you live, Titan? When Lockdown 2: The Electric Boogaloo is over I'm gonna come visit and test out your sound system.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Yeah bro come on through. We'll listen to Hells Bells!
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