Bon Scott-The early years

IMV Blueline
20008

About a month before he joined AC/DC, Bon Scott recorded 3 songs, which were "Carey Gully", "Round and Round" and "To Know You Is To Love You". Those songs were never released back then, but now producer Ted Yanni has devoted almost two years to bringing Bon back to life via three previously unheard songs. There are also track on this release are of Bon Scott with the band Fraternity. Talk about humble beginnings indeed, this collection may capture Bon's voice on recordings of varying quality. Yet anyone who appreciated Bon knew that he wasn't great because of an overwhelmingly powerful voice. His range and power were merely decent, but it was his style and swagger that made him so likable and helped to establish AC/DC during his all too short time with the band. Most of the tracks here have me believing that either Bon needed a certain kind of music to excel at or that he had not yet really developed the style we would know him for. The first few tracks have me envisioning Bon Scott singing at some picnic, town gathering or something like that as the material is very sedate and quite honestly not very intriguing. Although track two "Round and round" has a few moments where you can hear Bon using his voice and showing a few pale signs of what he would be just a few a years later. Most of the other songs have me thinking of Spinal Tap doing "(Listen to the) Flower people". Okay, perhaps it's not that bad yet it's very similar in my mind as it's this slightly familiar voice singing to very standard and dated 1960's pop music. The last song "Sooky sooky" is spirited enough to give Bon a chance to charge ahead a little and show a bit of his potential. I have no idea how much if any say that he had in writing of this material so I don't know if that's a factor or not. Really this is just a collection of songs that even the most devoted Bon Scott fan would be hard pushed to really want to own. The sound quality is hit and miss and the material itself is spotty with only a few real sparks of any interest. Fortunately Bon moved beyond this and made his mark with AC/DC and helped to define that band as well as establish himself as one of the better hard rock front men of his time.