AC/DC-"Play Ball" Single

Albert/Columbia
2014

"Play Ball" is the first single from AC/DC's upcoming album, "Rock or Bust". Due for release on November 28th in their home country of Australia and on December 2nd everywhere else, "Rock or Bust" will be the first "full-length" studio album from these Aussie rockers since 2008's "Black Ice". You'll no doubt notice that I put full-length in parentheses as AC/DC's new album is rumored to be under 40 minutes in length! Whether that ultimately proves to be the case or not it's worth mentioning that "Rock or Bust" will be the band's first album not to feature founding member and rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young. For health reasons Malcolm Young had to leave the band with his replacement, Stevie Young (Angus Young's nephew), having some big shoes to fill. As distinctive as Malcom's guitar playing was a single like "Play Ball" does suffer, but to be honest AC/DC really hasn't been the same band that I feel in love with for years. Of course that is just my opinion and I'm sure many will disagree with me, but "Play Ball" is another sad reminder of just how good AC/DC used to be. It's not just that the memorable hits are simply not there anymore (and by that I mean numbers that instantly ring true as rock and roll classics) it's almost as if the same drive that brought AC/DC to the top of the game has gone missing. While "Play Ball" is OK in and of itself it is hardly a song that makes for a must-download and by this point in time one does has to wonder if it is finally time for these greats to exist on a good note?

Top Of The Heap: AC/DC

Andy says-


I know that I have mentioned this numerous times in the past but the first album I ever bought was AC/DC's "Who Made Who". Prior to that though I was aware of the band and their stardom. My older brother had "Highway To Hell" on tape and I can remember more than a few times when he played this as loud as possible to get under my parents skin. Back in the day many parents placed AC/DC high at the top of their list of satanic rock and roll acts so it is funny these days to see AC/DC's logo on toddler clothing. How far we have come! While "Who Made Who" would be the first tape I ever bought by AC/DC it wouldn't be the last as my obsession with the group only grew with time. The more parents and authority lashed out against these Aussie rockers the more I was drawn in. Soon enough I had most of their music on tape and eventually LPs. For many people it is a toss up between "Highway To Hell" and "Back In Black" for AC/DC's top album. I don't plan to dive too deeply into said argument as honestly they are my two favorite albums. That said "Highway To Hell" has always been an album I turn back to time and time. Maybe it has something to do with how overplayed "Back In Black" is but this, their sixth studio album and last with Bon Scott is just perfect hard rock for me. Sadly Bon Scott would pass away after this album only for Brian Johnson to join the band right as they exploded. As the band was always blues-based there is a raw energy to be found here. In a way too I have always seen this album as Bon's way of showing the punks that he was still the top dog despite the change brought on by groups like the Sex Pistols. Bon's swagger and strut on "Highway To Hell" put Mick Jagger to shame. From the album opener which chronicles life in a rock and roll band and all of it's vices (a popular subject for AC/DC) Bon Scott and the Young brothers grab you by the balls and squeeze as hard as they can. This was the sound of bar room rock and roll. It was sweaty and filled with enough sexual tension to knock down the building! Sure the album's title number might not have spelled out what was on AC/DC's mind but the rest of side A left no doubt! . "Girls Got Rhythm", "Walk All Over You", "Touch Too Much" and "Beating Around the Bush" all find Bon Scott on the prowl with Angus right there by his side ready to pick up the scraps! The flip side of the record opens with the classic "Shot Down in Flames". Bon and company lay it out there and let us know that they have been given the old brush off as well. I've always liked the little rocker "Get It Hot" while "If You Want Blood (You've Got It)" might just be my favorite AC/DC number of all time! That drum opening from Phil Rudd is classic and when the rest of the track comes rolling in it hits you hard and fast. The band keeps ladies on their mind with "Love Hungry Man" a track that has grown on me over time. Now as far as "Night Prowler" goes and the controversy surrounding it thanks to Richard Ramírez too much ink has been spilled on that one already. No song alone is going to turn a person into a serial killer. If someone is going to kill people I firmly believe that is already in their DNA and that they were born with some screws missing. Show me someone who was a serial killer and listened to heavy metal and I'll show you someone who went to church and was supposed to be normal and killed people tons of people (I'm looking at you Mr. BTK!). Music, video games, movies, books, etc. do not drive otherwise normal people to kill. The fact that we live in a fallen world leads people to kill. But, that is another article for another time. I love how the band choose to wrap up the album. With the final words spoken by Scott, "Shazbot, na-nu na-nu", I always get a little smile thinking about watching "Mork And Mindy" as a kid. To me it just shows how much of a goof Scott was and that he left this world way too young. "Highway To Hell" is a genre classic. It is hard rocking, catchy and full of raw energy just like Bon Scott was. He left us at the top of his game.



Metal Mark says-

I love Bon Scott-era AC/DC and consider most of the Brian Johnson-era material to be forgettable. Glad I got that out of the way. To me all of the early albums are either very good or great and it is tough to choose a best album. I think it boils down to Let there be rock and Powerage and I'll go with Powerage by a hair. One of the first albums I heard by AC/DC and certainly one where I like every song. Still to this day it's an album I could listen at any time from start to finish. To me it represents the raw power of the early days of the band, but it's right before they began to polish off their rough edges. It's not their most known album due to the lack of songs that get played on the radio a lot, but it's certainly their most consistant album and to me the one that defines all that was great about this band in their early days. "Down payment blues" and "Up to my neck in you" are prime examples of the kind of odd yet humorous lyrics that this band could easily pull off. "Gimme a bullet", "Gone shootin" and "What's next to moon" demonstrated the band's ability to control the pace and get as much as they could out out of every beat and note. "Kicked in the teeth" and "Riff raff" are both tracks that get the blood pumpin' with their heavy, churning grooves. "Rock 'n' Roll Damnation" and
"Sin City" are probably the two best songs out of this great batch with just great attention to details and every band member pulling his weight. To me this is this the most solid album from this band. It's a shame that Scott died because thet were very tight. However after Scott was gone Johnson just didn't have the voice or the presence to ever replace Scott and really no one could replace him. The downfall of AC/DC wasn't all on Johnson's shoulders either. The Young brothers writing became more predictable in the 1980's and formula became the name of the game for AC/DC even through today. They would never be the same without Bon Scott, not even close. The have have been a mere shell of what they once were. However at least Scott left some great records to remember him by.

***What's your favorite AC/DC album?

Heavy Metal Thunderdome

It's time for another for another round of the Thunderdome. I pit two albums against each other and you pick the one you prefer based on the music. So it it...


AC/DC-Highway to hell

vs.


Aerosmith-Rocks

**Which album do you prefer?

Battle of the bands

Here you go.



AC/DC

VS.


KISS

***Which band do you prefer?

Battle of the bands

It is...


AC/DC

VS.


Aerosmith


***Which band do you prefer?

Underrated and overrated 70's albums

I think I did one of these lists for 80's album so now maybe I'll tackle the 70's. Here are five albums that I overrated at one time and five that I underrated.




Underrated

1-Led Zeppelin-3
This one didn't click with me for years just because it was way more mellow than I was used to. It has grown on me and I glad that it is an album with it's own personality.

2-Rush-Caress of steel
Not everyone's favorite Rush album for sure. Odd around the edges and perhaps that's why it stands out for me.

3-Aerosmith-Get your wings
This one often gets left in the shadows of album like Rocks and Toys in the attic. It's more subtle, but the grooves are solid.

4-TKO-Let it roll
Known more for their 80's output, but this 1979 release was a solid Boston inspired album that didn't work for me in the mid-80's. In recent years I came around.

5-KISS-Hotter than hell
I used to skip past this one for most of their other mid-70's albums. Now I think it's one of their 4-5 best of their long career.

Overrated
1-Deep Purple-Who do we think we are
I always put this in with their fine string of early 70's albums, but really it's a mixed bag.

2-AC/DC-High Voltage (US version)
All their other 70's efforts rock and this one has some fine songs, but some snoozers too.

3-KISS-S/T
I used to like this one just as much as the five albums after it. There is some potential there, but it's clunky too.

4-Alice Cooper-From the inside
I got really into this one for a while mainly just because I liked the concept. Then I realized the songs were not quite as good as the ideas behind them.

5-Judas Priest-Rocka Rolla
Once I saw this one a small step away from Sad wings of destiny and sin after sin. Time and repeated plays has made me realize that the distance is wider than I thought it once was. Their are some sparks here, but it's a long ways from where they would go with their other 1970's efforts.

Replacements

Nowadays pretty much any hard rock/metal band has gone through a number of line-up changes. Some more than others as bands like LA guns and Krokus have gone through more than their share of changes. However there have been times when a replacement comes in and there is perhaps a time of uncertainty. It depends on the musician and sometimes how big the shoes they have to fill are. Music critics are always quick to point to Van Halen and AC/DC changing front man and selling more albums with the replacement, but I always prefered Diamond Dave and Bon Scott. Whenever I think of replacements I also focus in on Iron Maiden. Here is a band that in 1981 were on the rise, the replace Dianno with a much different vocalist in Bruce Dickinson and to say it worked out would be a massive understatement. Years later when Bruce decided to leave Maiden and they were faced with filling the singer spot again. This time they of course the expectations from fans were higher because they were now a major player although in a somewhat turbulent time in the not so metal friendly 1990's. Rumors swirled about who they would get and again they went for a singer different from the predecessor in the form of Wolfsbane vocalist Blayze Bayley. Only this time the results were not as favorable. It wasn't all Bayley's fault as the writing suffered too. Still looking back it doesn't seem that he was the right guy for the job. Maybe that's just hindsight. Then again Maiden are back on top in recent years and Bayley's recent solo efforts have been solid. Another replacement I come to is Ripper Owens in Judas Priest. These were some huge shoes to fill. Halford was the metal vocal god. We knew Maiden without Bruce, but Priest without Rob. Priest went the opposite route of Maiden. Instead of getting a different style they went for a guy who had been in a Priest cover band. The head scratcher for me was they get a guy with the same vocal style, but then change the music to a sound that doesn't really compliment the vocals. The result was two bad albums. Then when Halford came back they came out with two more bad albums with the writing still suffering. Owens has found steady work since, but bounced around as more of a journeyman vocalist. That's the downside. On the upside a surprising one for me was Brian Robertson in Motorhead. Okay he was in Thin Lizzy and he was a solid hard rock guitarist, but a very different style and image from Motorhead. We have all heard the stories of Lemmy complaining about him taking too long in the studio and Robertson still only lasted one album. However "Another perfect day" was a real gem and too often overlooked in their long catalog. So he was a surprise in how well he worked out in the end product.

***Any replacements that you hated or loved in hard rock/metal bands?

Clash of the album covers

It is Super heroes today. We have...




AC/DC-Iron Man 2

vs.




Joe Satriani-Surfing with the alien

***Which cover do you prefer?

Clash of the album covers

It's soundtracks for two 1986 horror movies.



AC/DC-Who made who (Maximum Overdrive)

vs.



Fastway-Trick or treat soundtrack

***Which cover do you prefer?

Lesser of two evils

It's a match-up between two bombs from once good bands. Both are straight out of the 1980's. When I do this segment with veteran So it is...





AC/DC-Blow up your video (1988)

Vs.

Twisted Sister-Come out and play (1985)

Vocals

It is Brian Johnson going against Dee Snider. You have one guy (Johnson) who has never been much good doing alright material so he really sucks doing this sub-par material. AC/DC were never that creative, but for this album they were definitely on empty as far as ideas go. Johnson just stumbles hoarsely through the most tedious tripe of this band's career. Snider was always more about attitude than range in his approach. That's fine if the songs allow him to bring some aggression. The problem here is that they tried to tone down their sound on several songs and Snider sounds like a caged tiger going around in circles because he had no idea where to go with this type of song. However the sound of a caged tiger is better than the sound of a cat having it's tail stepped on so...

Point to Twisted Sister



Guitars

It is Angus and Malcom Young vs. Jay Jay French and Eddie Ojeda. There was a time when the Youngs could have outplayed these two lightweights on their worst day. Unfortunately by this point the Young brothers had gone through numerous bad days and even worse albums. The fire they showed in the 70's was about gone by this point and they had become shells of their former selves. The Twisted Sister duo struggled even in their best moments and this album was certainly not their best. It's extremely funny when a guitarist goes by the nickname "fingers" yet he can barely play. Still they hit on a few songs while the Young brothers just mailed in their performances.

Point to Twisted Sister

Rhythm section

It is drummer Simon Wright and bassist Cliff Williams of AC/DC against drummer AJ Pero and bassist Mark Mendoza for Twisted Sister. Talk about afterthoughts, neither rhythm section really stands out here. Pero and Wright are both okay but bland as can be. However Williams is alright while Mendoza is barely audible. "The Animal" probably also did help his reputation by playing the bass with a pounding closed fist on those videos from the previous year.

Point to AC/DC

Disappointment Factor

AC/DC's previous full length was "Fly on the wall" back in 1985 and is was mediocre at best. Then came "Who made who" in 1986 which had three new songs which were decent. So my expectations for this album were not that high. Twisted Sister's previous album was the excellent "Stay Hungry" in 1984. "Come out and play" had a few good songs, bit it also had mindless crap like "Leader of the pack" and "Lookin' out for #1". Before this album came out Twisted Sister were really on the brink of becoming huge. Then they went and released an album where half of the songs would not appeal to any self-respecting metal fan. I don't know if they had lost touch with their audience or if they were just arrogant enough to think they could get away with this. No matter the reason, Twisted Sister tanked their once promising career with this album.

Point to AC/DC

Who rocks more?

For a band who loved to put the words "rock" and "rock and roll" in their songs a lot AC/DC had really forgotten how to write good rock songs by this point in their career. There is maybe one or two songs that kind of rock on this album. Twisted Sister blew a golden opportunity by straying too far from the sound they had established on their previous three albums. Still there are four or five songs that rock on this album.

Point to Twisted Sister

There you have it as Twisted Sister take it 3-2. Both albums are severely flawed. AC/DC bounced back commercially on the next album. However for Twisted Sister it was the beginning of the end at least for that run of the band. AC/DC sounded old and tired on this album. Twisted Sister sounded like they were trying to incorporate pop elements into their music. Unfortunately the end results included about half an albums worth worth of stinkers.

There you go, I'll be back with another one in a few weeks.

Clash of the albums covers

Here you go.


AC/DC-Black Ice

vs.


Guns n' Roses-Chinese Democracy

***So which cover do you prefer?

AC/DC-No Bull:The Director's cut

Columbia/CMV
1996/2008

This concert was filmed on the Ballbreaker tour at a bullfighting arena in Madrid, Spain back in 1996. Now I will have to admit that I have never seen the original release of this DVD and this completely due to the fact that almost every review I read mentioned that it had poor sound quality. Apparently some people involved with the film were not entirely satisfied with the original results either as they have now re-edited the film and remixed the sound for this Director's Cut version. So the show opens with a giant wrecking ball knocking down a prop wall which results a huge wave of cheers form the crowd and the band emerges to start off with "Black in black". The set includes a few songs from the "Ballbreaker" album, but the huge majority of the material is comprised of Bon Scott-era tracks and several off of the 1980 "Back in black" album of course. Not a lot of surprises in the set list, but at this point in their career they were beyond creating anything that new so the fans were largely clamoring for greatest hits and the band obliged. The sound quality is really just okay as the band sounds a little low and the vocals can't always be heard like they should. The picture is of fairly high standard as well, although maybe a little grainy at times. I did however think that the camera worked very well in keeping up with the action, not too many really quick cuts and it contained enough scenes of the audience. Although AC/DC give us a lot of their classics and the fans are really into it, I still got the impression that the band was running a little sluggish throughout the show. Yes, I know they were not exactly spring chickens then, but they seemed far more energetic on the Stiff Upper Lip DVD that was filmed like half a decade later. Angus goes through his standard routine and is soaked in sweat before long yet the fire seems a bit subdued throughout their entire set. So really it's a fair enough DVD and die hard AC/DC fans will likely be into, but not exactly the best AC/DC DVD that I have seen.

Clash of the album covers

This time it is...



AC/DC-Powerage

vs.



David Lee Roth-Eat 'em and smile


***So which cover do you prefer?

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.