Unknown Soldier

Overview
Detroit’s high decibel guitarist Ted Nugent aka The Motor City Madman amongst numerous other nicknames, had built up a fervent following by the time of his third album Cat Scratch Fever, an album that is usually regarded as his strongest set which undoubtedly it is. Ted Nugent from the word go, masked his limitations as artist by presenting the music world with his testosterone no-frills brand of hard rock and raging guitars, basically what you heard is what you got! His debut album the eponymous Ted Nugent had ushered in a tight fiery approach to hard rock in general (in my 1975 albums that missed the cut section) and it was an instant commercial success. Ted Nugent and band, had formed out of the remains of his previous band the Amboy Dukes and with bassist Rob Grange following him from that band. The duo then added British drummer Cliff Davies and then most importantly adding vocalist and rhythm guitarist Derek St. Holmes. By the time of their second album Free-for-All, Derek St. Holmes had left the band during the recording sessions for that album, leaving Ted Nugent and guest vocalist the soon to be famous Meat Loaf to pick up the slack. Free-for-All was seen as a weaker album than the debut, largely due to the departure of Derek-St. Holmes, but to be fair it had a set of weaker songs than the debut anyway. Luckily by the time of their third album Cat Scratch Fever, Ted and Derek had patched up their differences and gave us one of the best workouts of the year and a studio album that the band would never match again. Ted Nugent writes the bulk of the compositions here and Tom Werman soon to be one of the busiest producers around, gives us another one of his clean productions, that often got criticised for being too clean for both hard rock and heavy metal, personally though I always kind of dug Tom Werman’s production style. As time went by, Ted Nugent’s anti-drugs and anti-drink stance would dominate his rock persona, something that certainly was anomaly in the musical community that he worked in. This was later furthered by his right-wing political stances which overshadowed aspects of his musical career, or in some cases may have actually enhanced his public profile. Whatever the outcome, Ted Nugent wasn’t one of the most gifted artists around, but he always knew how to apply himself, especially in a live environment and usually did the business for his fans.

Derek St. Holmes- Rhythm/Vocals
Ted Nugent- Guitar/Vocals
Rob Grange- Bass
Cliff Davies- Drums

Production- Tom Werman

The Album
Cat Scratch Fever- With the crunchy and scratchy heavy guitar intro with its well-known signature riff. The title track has been covered numerous times over the years and goes out on a high as well. The song is one of the great live features by the band and certainly one of their most famous as well, and the song is supposedly about hot pussy! Wang Dang Sweet Poontang- A song that relies on buoyant energy and it’s one of the faster efforts on show, overall the song is an accomplished workout that is highlighted by its dominant riff and great playing throughout. Death by Misadventure- A song about the death of Brian Jones from the Rolling Stones and I guess he would have been turning in his grave, when Ted Nugent & Co start with their guitar mashing halfway through the song. Live It Up- More subdued than the earlier tracks and at times has a tinge of the Eagles about it, before the guitar really kicks in and you know its Ted Nugent. Home Bound- One of the longer songs on the album is this instrumental and far away from the heavy guitar work that could be expected here. The song is actually highlighted by some fairly intricate melodic playing at times. Workin’ Hard, Playin’ Hard- With a galloping intro that goes onto repeat itself throughout the song, the track is one of the more underrated efforts on the album compared to some of its better known efforts and at almost 6 minutes it’s the longest track on the album as well. Sweet Sally- With its rock ‘n’ roll approach this is an upbeat track in every aspect and an example of just how strong this album is overall. A Thousand Knives- A steady and solid song, and also one of the heaviest efforts on the album, which also happens as being one of the best as well. Fist Fightin’ Son of a Gun- One of the more straightforward songs on the album and typical b-side material, but not a bad song at all. Out of Control- The album finishes up with this blustery effort, to round off a satisfying 38 minute listening experience.

Verdict
Around the time of Cat Scratch Fever, the now solo Sammy Hagar was certainly competing with Ted Nugent with this kind of rugged guitar based hard rock. Sammy Hagar may well have been the more melodic and diverse of the two, but Ted Nugent was certainly the heavier and more consistent of the pair. Ted Nugent’s early career is highlighted by sexist lyrics and throughout his early albums, Ted Nugent would feature a vocal slot here and there in place of Derek. St. Holmes. Often these vocal slots were on some of the better known tracks and he does a great job on the title track here, and as time went by he covered vocally more of his own material in a live setting. But saying this, Derek St. Holmes was able to provide a cool and an addictive vocal delivery that was essential to the Ted Nugent sound around this time and he puts in a great performance on this album in general. Ted Nugent was all about guitar playing and listening to the high-powered guitar riffs on “Cat Scratch Fever” “Wang Dang Sweet Poontang” and “Death by Misadventure” to name just three, it becomes apparent that Ted Nugent not only did this better than most out there, but he also managed to achieve this and still put out catchy and radio-friendly songs at the same time! Watching any live footage of the band around this time, also shows just how electric they were on stage. Some of the more subdued tracks on show include the melodic “Live It Up” the surprising and melodic instrumental “Homebound” which actually shows how good the band are, when they apply more depth to their sound and the song fills out its almost five minutes amiably, and then there is the heavy rock ‘n’ roll of a song like “Sweet Sally”. Then just when the listener wants some more heaviness again, we are blessed with a song like “A Thousand Knives” and also the album closer “Out of Control” which has that cool throbbing vibe, from which the album benefits heavily from. As an album, Cat Scratch Fever suffers from no real weaknesses and is a guitar riff fanatic’s paradise. The simple fact of the matter is, whether you love him or hate him Ted Nugent on Cat Scratch Fever has laid down some timeless hard rock tunes and if you only ever get to hear one Ted Nugent album, then it should be Cat Scratch Fever everytime.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Overview
In the space of several years, BOC had gone from being a highly-acclaimed but inaccessible hard rock/proto metal (whatever you prefer) band, to that of a hugely commercial giant in their native USA and a top concert draw. The brilliance of their first three albums highlighted by the sophomore Tyranny and Mutation and then the monolithic third album Secret Treaties, had now given way to a far greater commercial sheen and pop flourishes on their music for their fourth album Agents of Fortune (see reviews for all these albums). This shift had largely come about thanks to the legendary “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” single from that album and the greater prominence of keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Allen Lainier within the band. On Agents of Fortune, the band had demonstrated a shift from their early trademark murky sound, to that of a more upbeat arena rock based one, and whilst that shift had been achieved on Agents of Fortune in most people’s eyes, in my opinion the results were somewhat dubious at times to say the least (as I’ve explained on that album review). The impressively named Spectres was quite simply the successor album to Agents of Fortune and its aim was to further cement the commercial appeal of the band, and continue from where Agents of Fortune left off. Again the vocal duties within the band are shared out and after the superb vocals of Buck Dharma on “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” he now takes greater responsibility on lead vocals once again and appears on three songs here, with the Bouchard brothers Joe and Albert taking four songs between them. This now left just four songs for main vocalist Eric Bloom, whose lion’s share of the vocals had been trimmed to re-accommodate Buck Dharma in the vocal department. The album was recorded at The Record Plant New York and unsurprisingly maintained the production crew from Agents of Fortune Sandy Pearlman, Murray Krugman and David Lucas. Again the album would be punctuated with some great guitar work and the often underrated Albert Bouchard on drums really stands out as well with some technical drumming.

Eric Bloom- Guitar/Vocals
Donald ‘Buck Dharma’ Roeser- Guitar/Vocals
Allen Lainier- Rhythm/Keyboards/Vocals
Joe Bouchard- Bass/Vocals
Albert Bouchard- Drums/ Vocals

Production- Sandy Pearlman, Murray Krugman and David Lucas

The Album
Godzilla- With a great starting riff this is one of the band’s best known songs and a tongue in cheek homage to the famous movie monster of the same name. The song is both penned and sung by Buck Dharma, and was a popular single at the time. Golden Age of Leather- With its carol sounding introduction, the song then puts in some potent guitar work and across the track Eric Bloom sounds more withdrawn than normal and delivers one of his underrated classics. Death Valley Nights- Starts off as a piano based track and the now fairly recognizable Albert Bouchard sings lead here. The song is tight and flowing and is later punctuated by some staunch guitar work. Searchin’ for Seline- Written by Allen Lainier hence the punchy piano work in the song and sung by Eric Bloom, again the song is another quality cut with some thumping bass. Fireworks- Starts off with the haunting melodies of “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” and then mixes up the whole mixture with some upbeat and nostalgic sounding playing. R.U. Ready 2 Rock- One of the more straight-forward tracks on the album, which also happens to be one of the heaviest as well. Celestial the Queen- Bassist Joe Bouchard penned and sings lead here and it’s a catchy song that really captures the feel and spirit of the album. Goin’ Through the Motions- Super commercial in every aspect and probably the poorest track on the album, it was later to be covered by Bonnie Tyler and that says it all really! I Love the Night- A song true in spirit to “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper and sung by Buck Dharma. The song probably would’ve worked even better as the album closer with its layered harmonies and great touches. Nosferatu- The album closer is based around the infamous vampire and it’s a competent track, but tends to sound more like an in-album second side track than an actual album closer and could’ve swapped places with the previous track in this respect.

Verdict
BOC were always a highly and complex sounding band, so how does this multi-layered cake stand up to an inquisition? Firstly, I might be one of the few listeners to actually prefer Spectres over the more famous Agents of Fortune, largely because I find the feel and spirit of this album to be a more consistent and richer musical listen than its predecessor. Spectres is a quality album that often straddles the line between AOR and metal, and if you’re ok with the BOC sound, then you’ll be sure to dig this album! What may not be to everybody’s taste though, could well be the offbeat diverse elements that feature on the album and the lack of consistent flow from one song to another in terms of musical style and feel. This can be perfectly exemplified on the way “Godzilla” flows into the excellent “Golden Age of Leather” and then we hit the stylish and subdued “Death Valley Nights” and then the pacey funk infused “Searchin’ for Seline”. All of these songs are great cuts, but probably don’t segue together as they possibly should and could. The rest of the quality cuts on the album include the Joe Bouchard penned and sung “Celestial Queen” and the song shows that he always had a good ear for a catchy melody. Then there is the majestic and lovely sounding “I Love the Night” which shows the band truly grasping the qualities that a classic AOR cut should always have, quite simply the band could do real quality AOR when they wanted to. Not only were the band putting out a more accessible sound compared to their earlier stuff, but on a number of occasions, the band had given over to a much more humorous and easier going nature as well, this is perfectly exampled in songs like “Godzilla” which is a mixture of great humour and great riffs, and then there is the tongue-in-cheek “Nosferatu”. In essence though, Spectres captures a lot of the subject topics of old and just showcases them in a very different setting, showing just how multi-dimensional and creative this band always were. At the end of the day, Spectres is an album for BOC fans rather than the average music listener, which is an oddity in itself considering the commercial sounding nature of the band at this time, but then again BOC are possibly one of the biggest conundrums in the rock sphere. Basically Spectres is an enviable piece of work from one of the very best bands of the whole decade.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Overview
Aerosmith were down and dirty all the way, after the double barrelled shotgun blast of their two quintessential albums Toys in the Attic and Rocks, where the band had been both on top of the world and at the height of their game. But like anybody who’s at the top, there is only usually one way to go and that is down and down they went as dirty as ever! By the time of Draw the Line the druggy and excessive living style of the band members was well and truly in overdrive, and by the time of the recordings for Draw the Line, the band were well and truly exhausted and usually out of it! The history of rock has shown us that when bands are in this state of being, there are just usually two outcomes and that is either the recording of an album that hangs together somehow and is then salvaged by its stronger tracks, or we go to the other end of the extreme were the whole thing is just a total mess, just think of the Doors and The Soft Parade (thanks to Jim Morrison being more out of it than normal) and you have a great example of a load of twaddle. Aerosmith by and large fell into the former description here and somehow despite their excessive living, manage to pull off a-crank-it-up hard rock album that can still blitz out any stereo system! This is an album from a band that were totally washed out, but still sound as exciting as hell! Draw the Line also splits rock critics as well, as at the time of its release the album was slammed as a bland and unfavourable effort in some quarters, but since then it has appeared on Kerrang! Magazine’s “100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time” and a number of hardcore Aerosmith fans have stated it as their favourite album. The album cover is one of the most iconic of its time and certainly pre-dates the “Spitting Image” satirical comedy show of the 1980s and 1990s and the album cover was drawn by well-known Broadway caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. The album was recorded in an abandoned convent on the outskirts of New York amidst in-band fighting, druggy sessions and the driving of high performance sports cars around the place……… sounds like all the vital ingredients in recording a hard rock album! The album went on to sell around two million copies and would be the last album for a while with the much celebrated original line-up.

Steven Tyler-Vocals
Joe Perry-Guitar
Brad Whitford-Rhythm
Tom Hamilton-Bass
Joey Kramer- Drums

Production- Jack Douglas

The Album
Draw the Line- With an intro that most groups can only dream about, Aerosmith are out to drive their music down your throat from the word go, this is Aerosmith at their flirty and dynamic best. I Wanna Know Why- Catchy and melodic and could’ve been on any of the two previous Aerosmith albums. Critical Mass- Written with Jack Douglas and a song that draws on the band’s bluesy roots and it’s one of the best compositions on the album. Get It Up- A feel good song that is basically a filler track pilfered from any number of previous Aerosmith songs. Bright Light Fright- The first ever Joe Perry lead vocal on an Aerosmith album and it’s certainly different in every aspect to Steven Tyler’s delivery, but it still sounds as cool as hell and also pre-dates the future Joe Perry Project material. Kings and Queens- From beginning to end probably my all-time favourite Aerosmith track, what more can I say……. this is what hard rock is all about! The Hand That Feeds- A song that largely comes out of the recording sessions for the other cuts on offer here and features some nice screeching by Steven Tyler in the song. Sight for Sore Eyes- One of the best songs on the second side despite its repetitive structure and again if features writing contributions from Jack Douglas and a guest spot from David Johanson. Milk Cow Blues- A much covered version of the Kokomo Arnold song of the same name and to be fair not a bad album closer and fits the bill.

Verdict
Draw the Line is an album that is highlighted by a couple of standout tracks, these tracks are by and large a class apart from the rest of the album and show the band hanging on by their shirttails with some very underrated material on offer. Just think of Draw the Line as a beautiful woman loaded up with poorly applied make-up, because she was just too drunk to apply it properly in the first place, but she still ends up looking damn sexy anyway and that’s exactly what Draw the Line does! The standout tracks come no stronger than the title track “Draw the Line” with its punchy power, Steven Tyler’s screeching vocals and it’s pulverizing guitars, along with Steven Tyler’s abrasive screaming on the latter part of the track is quite simply legendary! Then there is the rolling brilliance and main riff of “Kings and Queens” and if this song doesn’t raise your temperature and give you an instant erection, then it’s doubtful that you’re even alive! In fact it took me a number of years to come to the above conclusions on this album, as I only ever really loved its standout tracks and saw the rest of the material as largely throwaway stuff……….. and boy I was certainly wrong in that respect, as this stands as a vital band release! Draw the Line is an album that focuses on the styles that the band had already mastered some years back, it shies away from any kind of experimentation that a group of Aerosmith’s standing at the time would’ve been prone to do. Album tracks like “I Wanna Know Why” and the even better “Critical Mass” show just how comfortable the band were when it came to writing this type of material. Friskier sounding material like “The Hand That Feeds” which despite being real b-side material, will appeal to anybody that loves Steven Tyler’s vocal style and then there is the somewhat funky sounding “Sight for Sore Eyes” which is another competent track. Draw the Line has just so much power, energy, funk and punch and for that reason alone it makes it an essential listen for anybody exploring stripped down 1970s hard rock and fans of our beloved ‘Toxic Twins’ Steven and Joe.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Urban Hat€monger ?

I don't care what anyone says I think Draw The Line is their best album.
It's raw, it's abrasive, it's bad tempered and it's funky as hell and I would pick it 100 times / 100 times over Rocks, Toys In The Attic or any other album they did.

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Unknown Soldier

That's high praise indeed, whilst I prefer both Rocks and Toys in the Attic over Draw the Line. I still recognize that it's a perfect example of a raw bad tempered slice of hard rock and its attitude makes up for some of its deficiencies, but it's still one of the best examples of its type out there.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Overview
Wow after five albums in a row by North American bands on this year’s list, there was certainly a big shift in terms of quality in favour of the North American continent, despite the fact that America was still not biting the goodies it had on offer! But the top of the pile was still firmly in the hands of the British bands and none more so than in the hands of a bunch of Brummies errrrrrrrr that’s people from Birmingham for any non-Brits reading! That band of course was Judas Priest, that would effectively be the band that took over the heavy metal baton from Black Sabbath and would soon be the vital bridge-link between the unofficial First Wave of British Heavy Metal in Black Sabbath and the just-around-the corner New Wave of British Heavy Metal effectively the second wave. Quite simply nobody at this time, was putting out metal that sounded this fast with such technical precision and vocals that sounded like an operatic wail against a background of real brute force.……well if they did they were probably not doing it as well as Judas Priest did! Sin After Sin is the second album in what is known as a troika of classic Judas Priest albums of the late 1970s, that starts with the Sad Wings of Destiny and ends with the following years Stained Class, before the band moved into a more commercial sounding direction for their fifth album Killing Machine. Also Sin After Sin saw the band ending their tenure with Gull Records and moving onto major labels, their releases in the UK were now on CBS Inc. and on Columbia for the US market. The line-up that had recorded the first two albums Rocka Rolla and the Sad Wings of Destiny, had remained intact with the exception of the drum stool duties and by Sin After Sin, the band would be on their third drummer already in Simon Phillips, who like the previous two drummers, would only stick around for just one album, Simon Phillips would of course go on to become one of the great session musicians of the 1980s and 1990s. Roger Glover now very much a producer to have, would be on production duties here for the album. If their previous album cover for Sad Wings of Destiny had provoked the fantastical aspect of metal, then Sin After Sin would surely provoke its darker and more menacing side. So when it came to metal and the right ingredients Judas Priest nearly had it all: album cover-check, menacing music-check, blitzkrieg guitars-check, acrobatic vocals-check, but image wise they were still working on that one and I guess things weren’t so bright for them either when it came to touring, as they had to play the opening slot for both Foreigner and Reo Speedwagon on their US tours that year.

Rob Halford- Vocals
K.K Downing- Guitar
Glenn Tipton- Guitar
Ian Hill- Bass
Simon Phillips- Drums

Production- Roger Glover

Album
Sinner- The 6 plus minute classic opener, that is to this album what “Victim of Changes” was to the previous album. If anything this track actually displays a harder edged brand of metal than the previous “Victim of Changes” and it’s certainly harder on the ear, but just as rewarding in every way. Diamonds & Rust- A cover of the Joan Baez song and Joan Baez was about as far from Judas Priest as you could get. The song is a well-known cut and actually does sit well on the album and was included on the behest of producer Roger Glover. The song was included at the cost of “Race with the Devil”. Starbreaker- With its bouncy and powerful thrusting feel, this is the perfect third track for the album and it has that distinctive clapping backbeat on the song. The song would be a blueprint for much of the band’s sound over the coming years as well. Last Rose of Summer- With a name like this it had to be a ballad and it always surprised me just how many heavy metal and hard rock bands were doing ballads around this time and in fairness most did them as well as a more straight-laced rock act. Let Us Prey- A brief dodgy sounding Queen effort, but the song quickly moves into …….. Call for the Priest- This aptly named song then speeds the whole thing up again, to give us a nice slab of juicy speed metal and this is a great way to kick-off the second side of the album. The guitar riffs on this album are worth the entrance fee alone! Raw Deal- Probably the most inaccessible track on the album, with its gay themes and it’s a song which certainly pre-dated Rob Halford’s more open gay tendencies that came later on. Here Come the Tears- A downcast later album effort, which despite its slow and mopey sounding start, gradually builds in some great and heavy guitar work in its later part…..before the explosion at the end of the song! Dissident Aggressor- The heavy monster of the album and Slayer later covered this song and I guess that says it all really. “Race with the Devil” one of the later released bonus songs that was originally left off the album in place of "Diamonds & Rust" on Roger Glover's suggestion. It’s nothing special but it does have a feel of vitality about it.

Verdict
In many ways Sin After Sin is often regarded as the least of the three albums in the previously mentioned troika of Judas Priest albums, for the simple reason that it deviates from the musical stance that had been laid down on the previous album Sad Wings of Destiny and also it actually dares to build on the hints of experimentation that were featured on that album. On the album Rob Halford’s vocal range was at its very best, whether it was the screaming on “Dissident Aggressor” to paint stripping on “Sinner” to the ballady tones of the “Last Rose of Summer” and the downcast feel on “Here Come the Tears” and the band may have had their best ever drummer in Simon Phillips with his precision double bass drumming! The album is littered with metal classics from the opening “Sinner” with its classic riffs and the sophisticated guitar interplay between the dream team of K.K Downing and Glenn Tipton, all full of their trademark classic twin guitar attacks. Then there is the pure speed metal overdrive of “Call for the Priest” with the blitzkrieg guitars of both K.K Downing and Glenn Tipton. The overtly gay themed “Raw Deal” is as about as macho as it all gets here and it also happens to be one of the best and most accomplished musical tracks on the album. Then of course there is the metal monster of “Dissident Aggressor” one of the heaviest songs of its time and the name sounds like the whole thing was invented for the future thrash metal movement. The energy of the band is served up on the melodic “Starbreaker” whose sound would go onto symbolize the typical Judas Priest sound over the coming years and it was this high geared, potent and distinctive sound that seemingly helped to reshape the vanguard of heavy metal. The cover of “Diamonds & Rust” turns out to be a galloping accomplished success and it’s one of those great and surprising choices by a metal band. But the biggest surprises on the album, surely have to be the ballad the “Last Rose of Summer” and the mopey sounding “Here Come the Tears” again two accomplished efforts, which might not be to everybody’s taste. In fact amongst metalheads Sin After Sin is not seen as a great album, something I whole-heartedly disagree with. Personally I view this album as a more accomplished listen than its better known and higher regarded predecessor the Sad Wings of Destiny and I find the whole experience of Sin After Sin a more overall rewarding listen. In many ways Judas Priest wouldn’t be quite this daring again, at least in terms of accomplished music diversity and song choices! Sin After Sin is one of the very best albums in the Judas Priest discography, but also one of the most underappreciated.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

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.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Urban Hat€monger ?

I recently managed to get a bootleg of Judas Priest on the Sin After Sin tour after years of looking for one just because back then they would open the show with Let Us Prey / Call For The Priest back then & I always wanted to hear them play it live.
It didn't disappoint either, shame they never bought it back.



Let There Be Rock is all about the guitar sound, It has the dirtiest sounding guitars this side of The Stooges.

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The Batlord

So that's why the production sounds so much like Machine Head. Deep Purple were a kind of stonery, laid back style of metal band, so the fuzzy production worked. Judas Priest are not a stonery, laid back metal band, so the production just makes that album sound weak and dated. I dig plenty of songs on Sinner, but as a whole it just feels obsolete by modern standards.

And "Last Rose of Summer" is ass.

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Unknown Soldier

The first thing I noticed is that "Call for the Priest" actually sounds even faster than the studio version!

I'd agree with that.

Now this is what I won't agree with or at least part of it. Whenever I've read reviews about Sin After Sin the majority are negative, BUT nearly all of those negative reviews come from staunch metalheads (you can tell they are by the way they talk on the review Whereas the more positive reviews tend to come from rock music listeners in general. Also the criticism tends to be focused around the song choices rather than the production. In hindsight Roger Glover wouldn't be the right person to produce that album and you've summed him and his laid back approach very well, but I do think his influence on the band encouraged them to branch out and for that reason it's probably the richest sounding album in the band's discography, most won't agree with me there, but there you have it. Also I think Sin After Sin is also a metal album for non-metalheads and more for a listener of rock in general.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History