Interesting. When it comes to Pink Floyd their first two are the ones I like best. Shoot, I'm going off topic as usual, I'd better get back on before I get the boot.
I was lucky to see AC/DC on the Powerage tour 8/10/78. An awful venue but the show was great. Cheap Trick and Nantucket opened. We missed Cheap Trick unfortunately. Saw them again much later when Chris Slade was the drummer. He kept rushing the tempos and we left halfway through. AC/DC is all about the groove. Phil Rudd rules.
Last off topic comment: I love Saucerful but do not like Piper at all (well, two songs are good). Ahem, back to AC/DC.
My father once recounted getting an import copy of Dirty Deeds as a teenager and requesting "Jailbreak" from a local radio station. They played the Thin Lizzy song. He called back explaining he meant a different song called "Jailbreak" by AC/DC. They said, "There's no band named AC/DC", and hung up on him.
I don't remember if he said, but it had to be between AC/DC and Thin Lizzy's 1976 releases and no later than 1979, if the American Midwest DJ didn't know who they were. He would have been 11-14 in that timeframe, so if he was a teenager it was either '78 or '79. He could also have been totally BS'ing.
As album experiences I prefer the original TNT and DDDDC over their respective international counterparts by quite a margin. Especially DDDDC is A LOT stronger, imo.
‘74 Jailbreak is a pretty useless attempt to mop up some early material. A typical cash-grab put together with as little interest as possible by cynical record company execs.
That 8 track was a godsend as a kid though. I remember putting it in a cassette adapter thingy and making my own tape of it lol
It’s a pretty tentative effort with the band still finding their feet on much of it. I suspect the band especially got cold feet about Love Song which is as untypical of the band’s leitmotiv as you can imagine. I also think Mark Evans and Phil Rudd weren’t part of the line-up yet. Although I do think it should be standardized in their catalogue it’s generally far from their best work.
I only have the international versions, I'm happy with them since they're all I've known. High Voltage is incredible. AC/DC guitar tones and bagpipes in the first song I'm happy with '74 Jailbreak as well.
They could have made bank on expensive vinyl reissues of those versions. Nearly every other band has done multiple such runs by now. The Beatles had entire US versions and Mono Versions box sets. ACDC physical product has never stopped selling.
In 2004 they did reissues of the Aussie albums... but it must have been a small print run, because they were super expensive and ran out really fast. I was going to get them, but on the shelf in Perth it was forty bucks for a single cd. Labelled 30th anniversary
They should issue those again. The US/International versions from that 2004 press still sell like hotcakes.
It is a remarkable collection while it plays. I remember getting the original cd at the tail end of my high school years, around my graduation back in 1991, so it does have some sentimental value for me. But ultimately it could’ve been realized a lot better with reissuing all of the catalogue being the most satisfying option.
They had some great 12 inch releases they should reissue as well. I used to have a killer 12 inch of Lets Get It Up with great live versions of Back In Black and TNT on side B
Anyway.... High Voltage (original): A debut that shows a lot of promise. Their cover of Big Joe Williams’ Baby Please Don’t Go kills, there cannot be any doubt about that. Other than that things are a bit more dicey. Songs like Little Lover, Stick Around or She’s Got Balls sound like dry runs of ideas they will improve on on future releases. You Ain’t Got A Hold On Me sounds like a dressed up 70’s pop song and Soul Stripper and (especially) Love Song sound quite proggy(!), the last of which sounding quite unlike anything else the band ever recorded. Overall, a solid debut album, but things will get quite a bit better with the next album, which is...
TNT (original): Might as well cover this one too as it will wrap up all the content of the international High Voltage compilation that’s being the point of discussion. This is the sound of the band stepping up their game, sounding a lot more self-assured and ready to take on the world. They will have to wait for a couple more albums to get that accomplished, but it’s here that they really start to sound as AC/DC as we know them. Mark Evans and Phil Rudd make their entrance here and the songs sound more aggressive and carefree this time around. They improved upon their songcraft, being leaner by shedding some of the meandering qualities that were the weak link on the debut. In other words, they refined their attack and it works wonders here.
High Voltage (international): Of the two international releases of HV and DDDDC I prefer this configuration by a long shot. Cherry-picking from the first two albums results in a mighty fine collection with a vibe of it’s own. The tracklist is intelligently compiled with some of the songs from the debut serving a better function inbetween the thunder of the TNT album. That said, The Jack will never be a favourite of mine, neither here or on TNT, but that’s just a minor gripe.
