High Voltage

by AC/DC

Overview

One of the perennial complaints about AC/DC is that they've never changed -- and if that's true, High Voltage is the blueprint they've followed all their career. Comprised of highlights from their first two Australian albums -- 1975's TNT and its 1976 follow-up, also entitled High Voltage -- the album has every single one of AC/DC's archetypes. There are songs about rock & roll, slow sleazy blues, high-voltage boogie, double entendres so obvious they qualify as single entendres and, of course, the monster riffs of Angus Young, so big and bold they bruise the listener upon contact. It's those riffs -- so catchy they sound lifted when they're original, so simple they're often wrongly dismissed as easy -- that give the music its backbone, the foundation for Bon Scott to get dirty, and rockers never got quite as dirty as Bon Scott. Scott sounded as if you could catch a disease by listening to him. He sounded like the gateman at hell, somebody who never hid the notion that lurking behind the door are some bad, dangerous things, but they're also fun, too, and he made no apologies for that. But for as primal as High Voltage is, it's also a lot weirder and funnier than it's given credit for, too -- those are bagpipes that solo on "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Want to Rock & Roll)," and "She's Got Balls" is a perversely funny dirty joke. This is music so primal that it's enduring -- it feels like it existed before AC/DC got there, and it will exist long afterward. And if AC/DC did wind up bettering this blueprint in the future, there's no question that this original is still potent, even thrilling, no matter how many times they returned to the well, or how many times this record is played.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/18/2003
Label:	Sony
UPC:	0696998020122
catalogNumber:	80201
Rank:	4486

Tracks

1. It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)
2. Rock 'n' Roll Singer
3. The Jack
4. Live Wire
5. T.N.T.
6. Can I Sit Next to You Girl
7. Little Lover
8. She's Got Balls
9. High Voltage

Album Credits

Performance Credits

AC/DC   Primary Artist
Bon Scott   Vocals,Group Member
Mark Evans   Bass
Phil Rudd   Drums,Group Member
Angus Young   Guitar,Group Member
Malcolm Young   Guitar,Group Member
Mark Tufty Evans   Bass,Group Member

Technical Credits

Bon Scott   Composer
Harry Vanda   Producer
Angus Young   Composer
Michael Putland   Cover Photo
Murray Engleheart   Liner Notes
George Young   Producer