So here it is folks, a special one on a special occasion. One of the best hard rock LPs of all time, bearer of three of my favourite songs by my favourite ever band – Let There Be Rock.
AC/DC said Let There Be Rock and lo, all the lands of man were filled with a nasty, sweaty, grinding boogie. The men of all tribes did convulse and verily did they elevate and plunge their heads down in time to the beat of Phil of the land of the Ruddites. The womenfolk and even the livestock in the fields did glance around themselves nervously.
A tentative run across the strings, a second more forceful go, you can hear the amps hum in anticipation, then a cymbal, a drummer feeling his way into the mix, the run becomes a riff when Malcolm falls in behind the action and we’re up and away into the band’s best track*. I can barely hold myself together in that bit just before Bon starts to sing, the riff in its purest, most primal form; this is why humanity needed electricity.
I never smoked me no cigarettes I never drank much booze But I'm only a man doncha understand A man can sometimes lose
‘Overdose’ opens Side 2, but, hey, it’s the best. Bon’s rawest lyric and vocals on the album, he’s not being macho, flirty or knowing, there’s some proper feeling in those words**. ‘Overdose’ has one of the greatest, most to-the-point solos on it from Angus but the sheer utter joy of it lies in that sound, the sound of a band that’s more than (even) the sum of its’ parts just hitting their straps. Hard.
Flip it on back to Let There Be Rock‘s opening tune, ‘Go Down’ another ultimate favourite of mine. It may be about sex, possibly. AC/DC’s greatest boogie I reckon, I can remember duck walking down a deserted country road to this one at two in the morning on my walk home from work when I was a mere sapling^. Sorry to overuse the word but the guitar solo, my very favourite Angus one ever, is absolutely electrifying – maybe there’s a reason they have that lightning bolt in their logo; the logo premiered on Let There be Rock incidentally and painstakingly carved onto a negazillion school desks by me over the years*^.
Then there’s the large song about a certain big-boned Tasmanian chick.
‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ is one of those songs, especially following its’ live iteration in If You Want Blood, You’ve Got it, that is almost too big to hear. When Troy at school taped Let There Be Rock for me he told me it was the famous song on the album. I listened closely to it today for what felt like the first time in years; I mean I’d heard it plenty of times but not really listened. It’s just perfect – knowing, brutish and filthy everything I was and am far too shy and genteel to be. Still it was great to borrow Bon’s strides for 5 minutes and walk around in them imagining what it must be like to get taken to Valhalla and back by a woman, any woman, let alone Rosie. Let alone to the sound of this diamond hard boogie, played with total commitment and surprising nimbleness, AC/DC don’t bludgeon as much as I remembered on this one, the rhythm sidles up to you with a bit of a leer.
If that wasn’t enough there are another five great cuts on Let There Be Rock. I have never had much time for ‘Dog Eat Dog’, I think it has to do with the ‘fish eat frog’ line, but it is still a good track, the bass and drums are really good here, so simple. I also like it when Bon barks.
The title track is another funny one for me. It is an absolute tower of a song, a million feet high and carved out of granite, I tend to skip all live versions of it they just go on too long, but I have come to realise again just how potent the studio version is. Just listen to the engine on this band! I love the way Mark Evans’ bass growls away underneath Bon’s voice during the verses and Malcolm’s rhythm guitar just sounds like distant explosions all the way through. It is both supremely silly and a real tour de force, just as rock should be. Never mind the ‘fifteen million fingers learning how to play‘ surely Angus would need that many to keep up the playing at that rate.
The sheer tone and menace of ‘Bad Boy Boogie’ is absolutely spot on. I just love how determinedly mean Let There Be Rock is, no radio play in 1977? no problem, no compromise! God bless ’em.
Deemed too blue to be included on the LP in some backwoods territories, ‘Crabsody In Blue’ was, appalling title pun aside, a bit of a retread of ‘The Jack’ albeit with some fine, fine bluesy playing. That’s what happens when you’ve done the bad boy boogie with one too many Rosie’s, I guess.
In some ways I see the slightly lighter sounding ‘Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To be’ as a foreshadowing of the Mutt years, it’s sparser, less frenzied than its kin here. I have always admired the lyrics to this one and I just love the staccato riff, the excellent guitar solo doesn’t hurt matters any too.
Let There Be Rock was made against the background of Atlantic Records rejecting Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap and debating dropping the band; in the words of Mark Evans, they ‘were going to go in and make that album and shove it up their arse!’. Straight up, it went.
The siege mentality, self belief and anger at the situation is palpable in the grooves of the LP, which was knocked out in two weeks flat. The production of Vanda and Young stepped up a notch on this LP, they captured the meat of AC/DC’s sound, raw and bleeding out of the speakers.
Let There Be Rock is simply a triumph.
I have always wanted, but never quite got around to buying the Aussie version of Let There Be Rock with the b+w cover; it’s on the list. The concert picture that was doctored for the internationally released version was taken at the total and utter capital of rock and roll, Southend’s Kursaal Ballroom.
1000 down! Now give us a smile Bon.
PS: not saying I’m a superstar with a seven year itch, but that is pretty much as long as it has taken me to get to 1000 records reviewed. At this rate only another 3 years and I’ll be free!!
*today; ‘Up To My Neck In You’ may steal the title back again tomorrow.
**I don’t give much credence to the drug reference, it’s just a handy metaphor.
^rather than the mighty oak you see before you today. Grrr!^^
^^I know trees don’t, as a rule, growl but I just wanted to sound a bit more macho.
*^although not in recent years. That would be a bit creepy.
Excellent write up! So jelly how your territory got Crabsody in Blue while we got an edited version of Problem Child. The Aussie version of this and Dirty Deeds are my top two most wanted discs.
I have the Aussie Dirty Deeds with the cartoon cover, that’s a good one too. Nothing was totally standardised by them at this point.
Nice pitchfork. Befitting the 1000th notch.
Cheers Danica, every bad boy needs one.
Happy 1000th! Great review, as ever. Thanks for keeping us entertained in trenches! You’re like Dame Vera Lynn with Churchill’s head grafted on.
Sad to hear about Dave Greenfield being taken out by Covid. Another soldiers goes down, perhaps a memorial from the vinyl master is in order?
Cheers my good fella. 1000 blooming LP reviews, that’s taken some sodding willpower at times.
I know poor Dave, Rattus is my mum’s favourite ever LP – one of mine too. I’m on it.
I told this was one my least listened to Bon album so I’ve stuck it in just now, in honour of your 1000st post! Can’t believe you got so far with doing any of your Haddaway albums. Suppose you’re saving those for last?
Anyhoo, this is hitting the spot. Overdose is awesome like you say. Should listen to it more really.
Cheers Scott. I’m saving the Haddaway for 153-7, although I may cover some of the early bootlegs, acetates and demos I have, a bit earlier.
Overdose is a winner – good enough to be on Powerage. And that is the highest accolade there can be.
In their discography, it is right up there with Back in Black and Highway to Hell as far as I am concerned. Awesome choice!
Cheers matt. You ok? how locked down are you over there?
I am doing fine. I have been locked down for over two months, and there is no end in sight so far, the number of cases just keeps growing every day, sadly. With music and games, I have been managing the quarantine well, though. =D
And how are you over there?
Good stuff Matt. When I can forget about why we’re locked down I have really enjoyed it, we’re pretty self-contained as a family – but reality keeps intruding.
It’s impossible to run away from reality, I guess. I am glad things have been fine over there! =D
“The womenfolk and even the livestock in the fields did glance around themselves nervously”. What a great image. Just plop CB in the middle and it might even be better.
“Nasty, sweaty,grinding boogie”. Yup. I like that and this record.
Cheers CB. A bit of nasty helps sometimes.
You have tom be careful with “nasty” because sometimes things are just too “Nasty!”
1000!
I know, freedom for me in 3 years at this rate.
So your aim is to get to 1537? Is that when your Lego pieces noticeably degrade?
It is, I started with 1537 LPs back in 2013 and I promised I’d chug my way through them all -mostly to make sure I’d given them all a fair listening.
Congrats on the milestone! And what a rocking’ album to hit it on.
Cheers, it is a cracker this one.
Excellent choice for the milestone post, Joe – congrats on hitting quadruple digits!
Thanks Geoff. I went big with this post.
I didn’t know about this black & white cover. Tracklisting is the same?
Yup, but some of the song timings are seconds different. Highway To Hell was their first totally standardized studio release.
It’s expensive the b+w cover. Didn’t used to be of course!
Ha. Wait til you see what I have posted for this SATURDAY! Great twisted minds think alike!
We will be able to compare my Canadian issue to yours meaning you have Crabsody In Blue and I have Problem Child.
Great writeup. I was able to pick up 7 used AC/DC records a few weeks back for a good price and this was one of em.
This is the anti album to everything in 1977 and beyond.
7 used AC/DCs wow. They’re pricey over here, for half decent condition ones.
I love this one. They went even better next time out too, but I’m scared to write about it because I love it so much!
Powerage is a beauty. That opening riff to Down Payment Blues wow, and how it builds up. So good.
The first twenty seconds of let there be rock are all you need, actually it should go on for twenty minutes and I would be happy.
You ever catch them live?
No they always got away
I know folk who saw them at the Royal Court and in Warrington too.
I saw them at a few festivals in the UK and again in the USA on a mega stadium tour with Alice Cooper as support.
If it’s not Warrington it doesn’t count. Sorry, but that’s the credo I live by.
I saw the inimitable Dumpys Rusty Nuts in Warrington not AC/DC but just as authentic, and maybe my favorite metal band that never made it:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tKO3m_M4dQ&w=560&h=315%5D
DRN ruled, I never saw them but I used to read about them in Kerrang! all the time.
Great write up of a great album. I agree with what you say about the title cut, the studio version is better than any live one.
Cheers fella. Can’t beat a bit of Bon.