The Live Album Section 1978
Despite the reservations I’ve had over the year of 1978, it surely yielded some of the finest live albums of the decade and with so many on offer I’ve decided to review the best four in the genre concerned here with this diary and then another four worth checking out as well. So below in no set order of preference:
AC/DC If You Want Blood You’ve Got it 1978 (Atlantic)
Hard Rock
Let’s bring the roof down tonight!
AC/DC’s first official live album is without doubt one of the most revered live albums ever released and it was released at a time when the Bon Scott era of AC/DC were approaching the height of their popularity. This peak of couse would occur on the following year’s
Highway to Hell album, which also sadly proved to be the swansong of Bon Scott as well. One of the great aspects of the
If You Blood You’ve Got It album, is that unlike a lot of live albums from this period that were chopped from different live performances, the vast bulk of the material here actually comes from one concert, which was performed at the Apollo Theatre in Glasgow as part of their
Powerage album tour. The album from beginning to end, is simply chocca full of Angus Young’s guitar riff antics, a staunch rhythm section and Bon Scott’s whiskey-soaked yelp and his witty humourisms. The listener can hardly fault the song selection here either, as probably the best track choices cover the cream from the band’s preceeding studio albums. The album is probably one of the best produced live albums around as well, as from the album opener “Riff Raff” it sounds like the listener has a front row seat at the concert, due to both the loudness and especially the clarity of the delivery being churned out by the band here. No doubt studio enhancement has been used here, as it was so often used on live albums around this time anyway, but on
If You Want Blood You’ve Got It, the studio enhancement is simply one of the best applied and does what enhancement actually should do. The highlights of the album surely include “Bad Boy Boogie” “Whole Lotta Rosie” and “Let There Be Rock” but to be fair there’s not a bad choice on offer here anyway. The album is not only an essential live release from the decade, but it’s also one of the perfect documments from the Bon Scott era of the band and a prime example of what raw blues inspired hard rock should sound like in a live setting. Strangely enough there has never been an official dvd release of the concert, which is indeed strange considering that footage of the performance was actually recorded, but to this day it has just been available in segments. This is certainly strange considering just how famous the band are and how well remembered Bon Scott actually is!
Bon Scott- Vocals
Angus Young- Guitar
Malcolm Young- Rhythm
Cliff Williams- Bass
Phil Rudd- Drums
Production- Harry Vanda and George Young
Apollo Theatre Glasgow 1978