I'd never heard Love Song until I scored a CD copy of the Australian High Voltage recently. Apparently Angus says this is the AC/DC song he regrets releasing the most, but I'm totally in love with it, send chills up my spine more than any other AC/DC song. Don't get me wrong, I love nearly all of heavy rocking Bon Scott era AC/DC but this is such a fab contrast, it sits beautifully on High Voltage. It's kind of a bit like Changes on Black Sabbath Vol.4, which I love too. Who's with me on this?
It's not their greatest song, but shows that they could be versatile, they chose not to explore this kind of sound permanently. I love the very tasteful guitar solo by Angus. It retains his trademark aggressive tone, but his phrasing is restrained just enough to fit the material.
Other than this, I would say that Ride On is the closest thing to a ballad that they ever released. And Ride On is a much better song.
Yes Ride On is great but quite different to Love Song, where I feel Bon shows a lot more emotion (vulnerability?) in his vocals. I'd like to know the Story behind "Jean".
I don't love Love Song, but I think it works on the album. I think we're long past due for the original Australian albums to be re-released with correct mixes, good mastering .... and perhaps bonus tracks.... they are the real albums the band released after all.
LOVE SONG (OH JENE) was on the flipside of BABY PLEASE DON'T GO, the first (single) hit for ACDC here in Sydney. It was originally supposed to be the A-side however I recall Radio stations at the time kept flipping it over and so, BPDG got all the airplay. If you want to hear the quality of Bon Scott's voice singing a "love song"... go no further than his song with the band The Valentines - JULIETTE. Re - your comment on the re-release of some original Aussie albums... there are some that have never been released on CD eg GET ROCKED by Hush, A SONG FOR TOOLEY by Headband, the 2 S.C.R.A. albums (remember ROLY POLY?). For a great selection of 60's, 70's and 80's Aussie music check out the brentjamesmusic.net.au website. Some tracks had never been on CD before until these series of CD's. A buddy of mine collated the tracks but was 'hand-tied' a bit by SONY/BMG as they wanted more than 60% of the tracks on each CD to be 'mainstream'.. obviously so that the average music listener would know the songs and buy the CD(s)... so, some of the older more obscure singles missed out.
As an Aussie, I know all too well how hard it is to get a ton of Aussie music, even the big albums... My context was that Acdc as one of the biggest bands in the world, still don't have correct releases of the original albums, particularly on cd.
It's good for what it is, and it shows that the band could have continued doing similar types of ballads well if they desired. I don't understand the thinking that it should be seen as some sort of embarrassment for the band.
It’s only been a year Let me count the ways… The UK version: It includes Cold Hearted Man. Initial pressings don’t include Rock 'n' Roll Damnation. It has a different mix overall & slightly different versions of the songs, just a few examples are: There’s no bluesy coda at the end of Down Payment Blues and the “storm drain” line is sung differently, there’s no guitar solo on What’s Next To The Moon, the backing vocals on Gimme A Bullet & Gone Shootin’ are virtually inaudible. Kicked In The Teeth starts with a guitar chord, not vocals. It has a different running order.
