Title: Back in black
Artiste: AC/DC
Year: 1980
Chronological position: Seventh album
Previous experience of this artiste?: The singles, a few tracks and my little brother used to own
If you want blood … you’ve got it which I hated for the gory album sleeve and never listened to.
Why is this considered a classic? After the death of lead singer Bon Scott it might have been expected the band would find it hard to continue, however with the previous album, 1979’s
Highway to Hell breaking them commercially after their association with producer supremo Robert John “Mutt” Lange, who would go on to work similar magic with The Cars, Heart and Def Leppard in the eighties, AC/DC were on the cusp of greatness and so found a new vocalist. The rest is, apparently, history. Oh, and it’s the second-best selling album of all time? Find that one hard to believe, but there you go...
My thoughts
One minute (or thereabouts in) ---- Good, great, bad, meh, still waiting or other? Still waiting
One track in --- Good
Halfway through --- Good
Finished --- Good
Comments: As you’ll gather from the blurb above I have never been a fan of AC/DC. To my mind, their vocalists (either of them) screamed too much rather than sung, and I’ve always preferred my vocals with a little less histrionics. This, then, will be the first full album of theirs I’ve ever listened to. Have my decades of prejudice been justified, or has my intransigence blinded me to a band I should have checked out much sooner? Read on…
The semi-live feel as the album opens is a little confusing, as I don’t believe this could really be live. then there are Black Sabbath-style pealing bells before the opening track gets going. Trouble is, whenever I’ve heard Brian Johnson sing he’s always reminded me of Donald Duck, and here is no exception. Good rocker, but the music definitely swamps the vocal. I know “What do you do for money honey”, and I do quite like that track. It has a great hook in it and surely goes down great live. Looking into the lyrics though they’re very sexist and very limited, and that’s disappointing. I’m not exactly expecting songs about saving the whales here, but for every song to be about sexual prowess or ramroddin’ it is a little tiresome and verges into self-parody.
The title track has more faux-live feel about it, but I do like it and of course I know “You shook me all night long”, leaving us with three tracks to decide whether this album is worth it or not. Well I like the sort of bluesy feel to “Have a drink on me”, even if the lyric is no thing to shout about. Another one that surely goes down well live. “Shake a leg”’s good, but again nothing terribly different. There’s a definite sense of blues too about the closer, “Rock and roll ain’t noise pollution”, though it sounds like it’s partially based on some older song I know. Bit basic, but okay.
Favourite track(s): What do you do for money honey, Back in black, You shook me all night long, Have a drink on me
Least favourite track(s): Let me put my love into you, Given the dog a bone
Final impression --- If I had to choose one word to describe this album it would be “basic”. I hear nothing special here, nothing innovative and that may have been AC/DC and that’s fine if so, but like the Peter Tosh album just reviewed it has failed to make me think that maybe I should be checking these guys out.
Do I feel, at the end, A) I wish I had listened to this sooner
B) I'm sorry I bothered
C) I might end up liking this
D) Have to wait and see
E) Bit underwhelmed; was ok but a classic?
F) Definitely enjoyed it, but again would I consider it a classic?
G) Enjoyed this album just purely on its own merits
H) Glad I listened to it
Think this is an E
