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End of story. I find "The Jack" and "She's Got Balls" highly annoying but the rest of the songs are solid and AC/DC's 3-chord attack is one of the best that rock music has ever seen. This was AC/DC's first American release, cobbling together tracks from their early Australian releases to form "High Voltage." "It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" & "Rock 'N' Roll Singer" lead off the album and are two of the best tracks AC/DC has ever recorded. Actually, two of the best rock 'n' roll songs ever recorded.
Bon Scott was the flame that led to the band's break-out fame in the early 80's. All songs are good, but stand-outs are title cut, It's a Long Way to the Top, Live Wire, and T.N.T. You won't be disappointed. This is by far THE best album by AC/DC in the earlier days of their not-yet-famous popularity. He is sorely missed by all his fans. It is more raw and has more catchy tunes than HTH. As good as Highway To Hell was, I think this one is better. If you want a great album with the Bon Scott era, you can't go wrong with their first release in the USA.
Highly recommended. This is an awesome album , it features classic's like TNT and High Voltage , another must have.
Even with the heavy dose of filler that's on this CD, there's still no way to deny the visceral force of the best songs here.There's the statement of purpose in "It's a Long Way To The Top," the rock- as-street-gang chant with "TNT" and the dirty joke as blues number when Bon Scott sneers "She got The Jack." Behind it all is Angus Young's volume blasting but deceptively dexterous guitars and one of rock's best rhythm keepers, drummer Phil Rudd. It made the standout tracks hit with such brute force that "High Voltage" was impossible to ignore."High Voltage" did suffer from the filer tracks and (like the early Kiss albums) non-beefy production.
By the time they hit Powerage, AC/DC had mastered their outrageous power and were cutting classic albums. However, the band improved past the juvenile postures fast.
The first American release from the sneering and swaggering AC/DC was a torn together pastiche of two Australian albums with a new cover, but that doesn't stop "High Voltage" from giving serious zap power. Above the fray, Scott wailed like a banshee thug, becoming one of those rare rock singers who didn't just overwhelm, he actually seemed like a true threat to the mortals of society.
And much like Kiss, AC/DC were Hell-Bent on world domination, making no bones about the fact that they were going to be rock-stars, and you'd better stay out of their way. AC/Dc had already figured out exactly what route (Highway to Hell, maybe) they were taking and began to blast their way to the top.
(Bassist Mark Evans would split by the time Let There Be Rock came out).
This album is virtually the same as the Australian version of the TNT album. The vander and young production is fantastic and they really captured the AC/DC live pub sound on this record. They`d come to their shows wanting loud and tough rock`n`roll, and AC/DC would deliver all the time. There`s nothing nice and fluffy about this album, it`s just loud guitars and loud vocals.
I don`t know why bagpipes aren`t used more in rock music. I never saw AC/DC in Australia in the seventies as i was too young but many older people here that i`ve met have told me that this album TNT/High Voltage sounds very similar to what they sounded live in Melbourne pubs. It`s only 3 chords and it works brilliantly. They sound heaps better than trumpets or saxaphones. AC/DC were the first band to chant Oi Oi Oi in this song and they were the first rock band to use bagpipes in a rock song (long way to the top), 20 years before great bands like Dropkick Murphys tried it. Around this time, 1975, AC/DC in Melbourne Australia had a very big skinhead following.
TNT is probably my favorite song on the album. This album helped introduce AC/DC to British and European audiences who loved it as much, maybe more, than Australians. That`s why, i think, this album has a very loud and tough sound. I personally think this could be their best album.
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