Up on the Chopping Block is AC/DC and they’re a band that I’ve been meaning to review for quite some time now. Now the question is are they beyond their hits?? We shall see. This review is for the American albums and not the international versions. I am aware of them but I’m not dealing with the back and forth between Spotify and YouTube. With that, let’s take a look…..
High Voltage- yes I’m aware that this is the international version and yes I’m aware that this has songs from the two Australia versions of High Voltage and T.N.T. Now about this album… it’s considered a classic for a reason. This is one of those bands that came out the gate swinging. They definitely have their sound very early on with this record and I’m giving it 8/10
Standouts: She’s Got Balls, Little Lover, Live Wire
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap- again yes I am aware of the Australian versions but for the purposes of this review, I’m doing the U.S. issued versions. Now with this album, it was released in 1976 however, it wasn’t released in the U.S. until 1981 one year after the death of original singer Bon Scott. Again another album that has some of their most famous hits such as the title track. But beyond those songs, the rest of the album is quite good. Again this is a classic record for a reason and I’m giving it 8/10
Standouts: Problem Child, Ride On, Squealer
Let There Be Rock- again another classic AC/DC record. There isn’t a huge difference sound wise from the last record and this one but what we have is an album full of great rock songs. In fact because their record label didn’t like the last record very much, they almost were dropped. In fact bass player Mark Evans said this “There was always a siege mentality about that band. But once we all found out that Atlantic had knocked us back the attitude was: ‘Fuck them! Who the fuck do they think they are?’ So from that point onwards it was: ‘Fuck, we’ll show them!’ We were seriously fucking pissed off about it. It didn’t need to be discussed. We were going to go in and make that album and shove it up their arse!” I’ll give this one another 9/10
Standouts: Go Down, Problem Child, Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be
Powerage- of the albums during this time period, I’d say this might be their least popular. It’s not that it’s a bad record or anything but it feels just slightly uneven. Sound wise, this sounds like AC/DC but it feels a tad uneven. Like it goes from slower paced songs to more uptempo songs. Still it’s good and I’ll give it 8/10
Standouts: Riff Raff, Up To My Neck In You, Down Payment Blues
Highway To Hell- I’m noticing that these guys have a sound that they re sticking with. Again musically it’s not that far from what they’ve done before and this album is another example of that. Now I will say this is their best sounding album so far and that’s because they got Mutt Lange to produce this one. His credits include The Cars, Huey Lewis And The News, and Muse among so many others. As I keep saying, another one of their classic albums and this one is considered to be their second best selling album. Sadly this would be the last record with Bon Scott. I’ll give this one 8/10
Standouts: Girls Got Rhythm, Get It Hot, Night Prowler
Back In Black- the one that everybody knows just simply from the title track alone!! Also the first with new singer Brian Johnson. I have to say for a band that had to replace an iconic voice like Bon Scott, they did a pretty good job. Now they had thought about breaking up but it was decided that they should carry on as that’s what Bon would’ve wanted. Now this one arguably has their biggest hits one of them being the title track but how is the rest of the album?? Well it’s actually pretty good and worthy of the praise that it gets. Aside from the songs everyone already knows, this is a very good album. I’ll give it 7.5/10
Standouts: Givin The Dog A Bone, Shake A Leg, Have A Drink On Me
For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)- I do remember reading that after the touring cycle for Back In Black, the band took some time to focus and regroup for this album. This would be the last album with Mutt Lange as producer as the band was starting to grow tired of his perfectionism. I’ll give this one 8/10
Standouts: Snowballed, C.O.D., Spellbound
Flick Of The Switch- this is one of those albums that I had really only heard of so I was curious about how it would compare to the rest. I actually think it’s underrated for this band. There are actually some pretty decent tracks and this is one of those albums that should get mentioned more. For this one they decided to self produce as a way to get back to basics. Engineer Tony Platt had this to say “There was a genuine desire to get back to the basics with Flick of the Switch. There was a general kind of consensus that we needed to find some way of moving on a little bit. You know the Johnny Winter version of Muddy Waters’ ‘Mannish Boy?’ Where they’re all shouting in the background? Basically what Mal had said was that he wanted to try and get that feeling of being in a room with it all happening. I don’t think it really worked entirely.” I’ll give this one 7/10
Standouts: Guns For Hire, Badlands, Landslide
Fly On The Wall- this was one of those albums I wanted to like more. Again it was another album that I was curious about. This was also produced by the band themselves as a way to get back to the rawness that was their earlier music. I think had this not come out during the glam metal era, it might’ve been better received. I’ll give it 6.5/10
Standouts: Fly On The Wall, Danger, Stand Up
Blow Up Your Video- I will say, it seems like they’re teasing that ballad-y line a bit here. Much like the last album, there are some slightly mid-tempo songs but again, this doesn’t really stray that far from their overall sound. When it comes to the record title, Angus Young said “We were probably a band that’s best seen in a live situation and that’s how the title came about… ‘Cause everything’s automatic these days. A kid can flick on the button on a TV, he’s got a remote control and he can zoom through everything and get it coming in from all over the world. You can turn on your radio and get rock coming in from America. For us, the best thing as a band it was always we were great onstage.” I’ll give this one 7/10
Standouts: Heatseeker, Mean Streak, Nick Of Time
The Razors Edge- to me this sounds like the album that should’ve come out after Back In Black. It seems to pick up where that one left off. Now this is the album that gave us the song “Thunderstruck” and for that beginning picking part, Angus Young has said “I was just fiddling with my left hand when I came up with that riff; I played it more by accident than anything. I thought, ‘not bad,’ and put it on a tape. That’s how me and Malcolm generally work. We put our ideas down on tape and play them for one another.” I’ll give this one 8/10
Standouts: Fire Your Guns, Are You Ready, The Razors Edge
Ballbreaker- this was another one of those albums where I had really only seen the album in stores and heard of it. Overall, it’s not bad and I feel as if this is another one that tends to get overlooked. One notable thing about this album is that the songs “Hail Caesar” and “The Furor” are about social issues and when asked about them Angus Young said “I think: stand up and be counted. If there’s anyone that takes it like we want to promote a Nazi regime or something, these people are usually the ones that want to promote a total Christian regime. I don’t like this politically correct thing on the planet at the moment, to be honest with you. I don’t mind it if it doesn’t interfere with you on the street, but the day they screw around with your cigarettes and everything else – and there’s a lot of cigarettes smoked in AC/DC in all that music you hear – it might not be the same if it was all gone. I just don’t like being told what to do, basically like anyone.” I’ll give this album 7/10
Standouts: The Honey Roll, Hard As A Rock, Whiskey On The Rocks
Stiff Upper Lip- one thing that I did notice about this is that it’s actually more blues sounding. The result is a cleaner sounding record which is a nice change of pace. Yes overall, it’s still more of the same however, it also feels different. And when it came to the record title and what it means, Angus Young has said that he came up with the name while stuck in traffic. There was a bit of that and also with us there’s always been a bit of humour, too. Even when we started, I used to always say, “I’ve got bigger lips than Jagger and I’ve got bigger lips than Presley when I stick them out.” Actually, if you look on the Highway to Hell album, there’s my lip stuck up there like this [curls his lip]. I remember when I was a kid I saw an early black-and-white movie of Brigitte Bardot and she had those pouting lips and you go, “Well, yeah! I like what she’s serving!” I’ll give this one 8/10
Standouts: Stiff Upper Lip, Hold Me Back, Safe In New York City
Black Ice- I remember when this album came out. This was during the MySpace days and people were making a huge deal about it. I had friends who were really excited to see them on the Black Ice Tour and hearing songs on the bands MySpace page. I remember thinking that the songs sounded slower and there was ‘ore “crooning” going on with Brian Johnson and all these years later, and thinking that this one sounds slower. And listening to it now, it still sounds the same to me however, I enjoyed more this time around. Between this album and the last album, there was an 8 year gap and that was dues to several factors. First there was the switching of record labels followed by bassist Cliff Williams suffering a hand injury. This would be the final album with Malcolm Young who left in 2014 and then passed a way in 2017. I’ll give it 7.5/10
Standouts: Anything Goes, Rock N Roll Train, Wheels
Rock Or Bust- the first album without founding member and brother Malcolm Young and the first with Stevie Young (Malcolm Young’s nephew). I mean, I’ll be honest. It is very fitting that he replaced his uncle. That said again, they didn’t lose their sound but rather pick up where they left off. This was an interesting time because bassist Cliff Williams “retired” after the previous tour, drummer Phil Rudd was battling legal troubles (and was replaced with previous drummer Chris Slade), and singer Brian Johnson suffered hearing problems and was replaced by Axl Rose during the albums touring cycle. Honestly, if you haven’t seen the videos of Axl Rose then you need to go look those up because he does a fantastic job and it wouldn’t have been a bad thing he had he been a permanent member. Since then all three members have returned but it was an interesting time. I’ll give this album 7/10
Standouts: Rock Of Bust, Dogs Of War, Hard Times
Power Up- so while the last album was the first to be released without Malcom, this is the first to be released since his passing however, he did receive posthumous writing credits. Again though this album like all of their albums sounds the SAME. While promoting the album, Angus expressed difficulties with writing due to his brother’s death. If they do put out another album, it’ll mark another long gap between albums but this could be the last record. I’ll give this another 7/10
Standouts: Witch’s Spell, Realize, Code Red
The people that say that bands like Slayer wrote the same album over and over clearly haven’t listened to AC/DC. You could say that they’ve basically written the same 2 songs over the span of 16 albums!!! If there was ever a greatest hits band, this is definitely one of them!! But all that said, they are legends for a reason but you can honestly be fine with their greatest hits. When it comes to which singer Bon Scott or Brian Johnson, I’d say my preference would be Bon Scott.
Final Grade: C-/C
Album Rankings:
- Let There Be Rock
- Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
- Highway To Hell
- High Voltage
- Stiff Upper Lip
- Powerade
- Razors Edge
- For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)
- Black Ice
- Back In Black
- Blow Up Your Video
- Rock Or Bust
- Flick Of The Switch
- Ballbreaker
- Power Up
- Fly On The Wall
