03. AC/DC Let There Be Rock 1977 (Albert)
Hard Rock
In the beginning, were riffs, more riffs & even more riffs!
Overview
Well they’ve been a long time coming to this journal, but here they finally are! First off AC/DC have never done that much for me and I’ve never quite been able to nail down the exact reason why, so I’m not going to attempt to try and do it now!
Let There Be Rock though, was quite simply the greatest expression of the band up to the date of its release back in 1977. The band had issued their debut and sophomore sets
High Voltage and
T.N.T both back in 1975 and both had been Australia only releases, a combination of both these albums under the name of just
High Voltage was released internationally the following year. In 1976 the band made an international breakthrough on the strength of this album and their third album proper
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.
The High Voltage compilation certainly received mixed reviews at the time of its release, ranging from being seen as an album of competent boogie rock with great monster riffs, to being an absolute all time low for the hard rock genre, my own opinion probably fits somewhere between these two estimations. The band from the beginning were essentially ‘bad boys’ with a gimmick and they were fronted by Angus Young with his bowel quaking riffs and his gimmick being a school uniform look of cap, shorts and bare knees, whilst contorting his body to comply with his powerful riffs! Vocalist Bon Scott soon to become synonymous with everything that represented the hard rock genre, had a powerful bellow of voice, that had a tint of whiskey soaked madness and real evil about it (all very tongue in cheek though and always plenty of fun). It was around this time in 1976, that the band re-located to London at the birth of punk and they briefly like so many other bands, were associated with that movement for a short while. But once their brand of no-frills hard rock hit the airwaves, it was obvious that this was no punk band, but a full on hard rock outfit, heavily inspired and based around the more primal instincts of Led Zeppelin. Their 1976 release
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap is often seen as their major breakthrough, personally I think it’s one of the most overrated albums the genre has ever seen and is largely an exercise in band excessiveness to try and demonstrate just how nasty and the mean the band were, but it ultimately fails where it matters and that’s with the music. Much of that album’s fame, actually comes from the fact that it sold by the bucketload after Bon Scott’s untimely death in 1980 and I think that says it all really as to why it became so revered. The following year’s album
Let There Be Rock was an altogether different fish from
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap and here’s why………….
Bon Scott- Vocals
Angus Young- Guitar
Malcolm Young- Rhythm
Mark Evans- Bass
Phil Rudd- Drums
Production- Harry Vanda and George Young
Album (international order)
Go Down- With a brief number opening countdown, we quickly get into what would become standard band fare and that was a heavy blues riff, with lyrics centred around wholesome women and a catchy chorus.
Dog Eat Dog- No let up with the musical energy here and there are some really evil sounding lyrics here as well, and the song is as propulsive and as catchy as hell.
Let There Be Rock- The somewhat well-known title track that is influenced by the Book of Genesis and again perfectly captures the vocals of Bon Scott and the guitar interplay of Angus Young, a true delight.
Bad Boy Boogie- A four minute blast of the band’s very own brand of boogie rock, that always came across as extremely high powered compared to the more laid back ZZ Top version at this time.
Problem Child- One of the early band favourites and was actually featured on the previous
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap album.
Overdose- Another song about tales of the road and you realize that we are at the back end of the album and so far every song has been a killer!
Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be- Another tight boogie rock inspired number and another great album track.
Whole Lotta Rosie- The pivotal song on the whole album about a fat and wholesome woman from Tasmania called Rosie, the song is also a nod to Led Zep’s “Whole Lotta Love”.
Verdict
Let There Be Rock is quite simply a mean, dirty and nasty record that’s all centred around the vocals of Bon Scott and the propulsive bluesy riffs of Angus Young. The album contains eight tight intense tracks that do the business in around forty minutes. The album firmly established that this ex-pat Aussie band were here to stay and were certainly not going to fall by the wayside like previous heavy Aussie merchants Buffalo just a few years earlier. The eight album tracks from the opener “Go Down” to the album closer on “Whole Lotta Rosie” are an intense and often crazy journey through the hard rock meanderings of the band and are without doubt the perfect hangover cure! The highlights of the record are probably the title cut “Let There Be Rock” “Problem Child” and the unforgettable “Whole Lotta Rosie”. One of the great elements of AC/DC and hardly an unknown statement either, were the vocals of Bon Scott on the album, who over the course of this album and the next couple of albums
Powerage, the live
If You Want Blood You’ve Got it and
Highway to Hell, would establish himself as one of the most revered and most loved hard rock/metal vocalists ever, and of course dying young as per usual further enhanced that reputation! The other half of the deadly duo was certainly Angus Young and to actually attempt to pick out and highlight his best riffs on the album, is fairly nigh on near impossible really, as his riffs dominate every song here and the whole album just comes across as one big gigantic riff anyway. If Angus Young was the visual face of the band, then brother Malcolm Young on rhythm was certainly the brains of the outfit and was largely responsible for the band’s overall sound. AC/DC were certainly one of the most repetitive bands around and never veered too far from their basic primal instincts, and surely this is one of the reasons why I never ever really warmed to them. But equally this static approach to their trade, is without doubt why millions around the world both adore and swear by them to this day! To their credit the band always stuck to their guns and made little compromise as far as both their music and image went.
Let there Be Rock might well be the best example of this no compromise approach and certainly wasn’t willing to take any prisoners either.