AC/DC are back with a new album and somehow the magic of their seemly simple music and the solid rock & roll pocket that they seem to own sounds old school
and fresh all at the same time. Rock or Bust has everything you would expect from an AC/DC album, good songs, tight rhythms, vocals that feel roughed up by
the bite of whisky and the oh so wonderful guitars.
Speaking of guitars, this is the first album in the bands 40 year history without any guitar work from Malcolm, who retired from the band due to illness. I asked Angus Young about Malcolm’s replacement Stevie Young, who also happens to be their nephew. AY: He picked up a lot off Mal, you know? He is very close in years to me and Mal,
we all grew up pretty much together, we were all guitar playing fools. The Style he plays is probably closer to the way Mal used to play early in his career. For Stevie that was his favorite stuff. He really plugged into (it) – He could play that stuff backwards.”
THE FULL INTERVIEW IS POSTED ABOVE: press the little black play button under the album cover and above the Angus art work.
Angus also spoke about his brother’s unique contributions. AY: “Mal was unique, just a solid, hard guitar player, it looks simple, even with myself, I would look at the
way he played and I would try to chug along and he would say ‘Yeah, close, but not close enough.”
Rock or Bust has 11 solid songs on it, but they are all short, in fact the longest song “Emission Control” clocks in at just 3:41. My only wish…more or perhaps longer
guitar solos. On a couple of songs, just as Angus starts to soar and you expect the solo to bust into the next level, it just goes back to the song.
Bright spots:
“Dogs of War”, “Hard Times” and “Rock Away the Blues” are my personal favorites. I will be waiting with excitement for the tour announcement.