AC/DC

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Ron The Bear said:
Bon had an edgy vocal style but was occasionally capable of hitting a sweet note, like a diamond in the rough. Brian's voice was melodic only in a very gruff sense, and IMO that's where AC/DC suffered most as a live act - the tunes carried the day while the vocals differed little from show to show and even song to song. A 1985 show sounds similar to one from 2015. Twenty years ago I owned a stack of vinyl bootlegs; I knew the quirks of the Bon shows off by heart, but some of the Brian discs barely got a run.

In his prime, Axl's voice was brittle but distinctive enough to set GnR apart. Hoping he sounds a bit more tuneful when he gets up and about. If they just wanted a shouter, they could've done better.
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I think Brian done some amazing singing on Back in Black, but it seems clear that he was pushed too far too quick after that and spent the next 3 albums screaming his guts out but without the melody or pitch, and having to replicate it live. I think I read by the time Fly on the Wall came around his voice was almost gone, which led to the heavy 80s style reverb in the production (ps, I think it sounded great!). Probably the Mutt Lange influence. In the Def Leppard movie there's a good scene where he is pushing their singer to his limits, if that is accurate to real life then we can assume the same happened with Brian.

Ironically Def Leppard's next album ditched the Brian style screaming in favour of low and raspy singing.
 
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edgie said:
I think Brian done some amazing singing on Back in Black, but it seems clear that he was pushed too far too quick after that and spent the next 3 albums screaming his guts out but without the melody or pitch, and having to replicate it live. I think I read by the time Fly on the Wall came around his voice was almost gone, which led to the heavy 80s style reverb in the production (ps, I think it sounded great!). Probably the Mutt Lange influence. In the Def Leppard movie there's a good scene where he is pushing their singer to his limits, if that is accurate to real life then we can assume the same happened with Brian.
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Agree, BiB was his best work. Later on I reckon he was most suited to the slower, bluesier tunes.
 

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edgie said:
Watching this, it is pretty clear Brian's voice was wrecked as early as 83
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Its amazing its lasted this long. He's had multiple surgeries too, whilst guys like Steve Tyler can keep going.
 
edgie said:
Watching this, it is pretty clear Brian's voice was wrecked as early as 83
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Yeah, thats bad.

And that was 83?

Wow.

How the hell did he keep going another three decades?
 
love that video

ACDC are just so no frills pure rock and roll... love it

no one quite like them

mad respect
 
This election business has led me, on a long and tedious connection, toward giving Ballbreaker a good listen through again.
Ballbreaker.jpg


There's some absolute crackers on here, but also some of their most uninspired and possible worst material, overall I think it is without a doubt the most uneven album. Given this, I was wondering what the opinion is from others?
 
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footy75 said:
Got to agree with you Edgie...Ballbreaker ain't much chop.
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The gap in quality between its best songs and its worst songs almost make it impossible to rate as a whole, to me anyway. Burnin' Alive would be my favourite 'unheard of' AC/DC song, outside the Powerage album of course.
 
edgie said:
This election business has led me, on a long and tedious connection, toward given Ballbreaker a good listen through again.
Ballbreaker.jpg


There's some absolute crackers on here, but also some of their most uninspired and possible worst material, overall I think it is without a doubt the most uneven album. Given this, I was wondering what the opinion is from others?
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Reckon The Razors Edge is the most uneven, side A & B are like chalk and cheese. This is one of the better Brian Johnson era efforts, bluesy and listenable without any classics, and has aged better than many others. That said, I haven't given any of their albums after Flick Of The Switch a hard workout.
 
Ron The Bear said:
Reckon The Razors Edge is the most uneven, side A & B are like chalk and cheese. This is one of the better Brian Johnson era efforts, bluesy and listenable without any classics, and has aged better than many others. That said, I haven't given any album a hard workout since Flick Of The Switch.
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Yeah been a fair while since I've given Razors Edge a start to finish run, you might be right there.
 
edgie said:
Burnin' Alive would be my favourite 'unheard of' AC/DC song, outside the Powerage album of course.
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Powerage is one that a lot of people have picked up on in hindsight. Plenty of muso's rate it highly. Think it was #1 on a list of "best 70's albums" in a magazine recently. Must admit I don't really share the love, apart from Riff Raff and Down Payment Blues. Always sounded "dashed off" and not quite finished to me, a bit like Chisel's Twentieth Century.
 
Ron The Bear said:
Powerage is one that a lot of people have picked up on after the fact. Plenty of muso's rate it highly. Think it was #1 on a list of "best 70's albums" in a magazine recently. Must admit I don't really share the love, apart from Riff Raff and Down Payment Blues. Always sounded "dashed off" and not quite finished to me, a bit like Chisel's Twentieth Century.
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Easily my favourite album. It's that perfect moment when they were still a hungry Aussie hard rock band on the edge with something to prove, that had just truly refined their craft of songwriting, and Bon at his lyrical peak. It is probably also the most diverse album with regard to lyrical content. Highway to Hell came next and the professionalism with Mutt at the helm, they lost something that they didn't get back, except for during an emotionally charged Back in Black which was like a 20 steps backward, 50 steps forward album.
 
The bon scott era was astounding. They had ago at everything, see what gelled.




You are not no lady but you have sure got taste in men
That head of yours has got you by time and time again
My arms and legs are aching and my head's about to blow
And your back's been breaking and I'd hate to spoil the show
 
edgie said:
Easily my favourite album. It's that perfect moment when they were still a hungry Aussie hard rock band on the edge with something to prove, that had just truly refined their craft of songwriting, and Bon at his lyrical peak. It is probably also the most diverse album with regard to lyrical content. Highway to Hell came next and the professionalism with Mutt at the helm, they lost something that they didn't get back, except for during an emotionally charged Back in Black which was like a 20 steps backward, 50 steps forward album.
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Let There Be Rock was the peak with Bon (and overall) for me; a serious, mean hard rock album. Can see the allure with Powerage, it's really raw (except for Damnation which was an attempt at a hit single) and I fully agree they did lose something after that with the way they were produced. Not a muso so I can 't explain it properly, but the drums were made to sound "bigger and boomier". Edge was sacrificed for groove.

rocker_oz33 said:
If you want blood (you got it) has grovvey riffs.........you got it.
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Love that album, like many do. Very compressed with a low, low dynamic range, yet somehow it sounds great.
 
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Ron The Bear said:
Let There Be Rock was the peak with Bon (and overall) for me; a serious, mean hard rock album. Can see the allure with Powerage, it's really raw (except for Damnation which was an attempt at a hit single) and I fully agree they did lose something after that with the way they were produced. Not a muso so I can explain it properly, but the drums were made to sound "bigger and boomier". Edge was sacrificed for groove.
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Best opening riff ever.


You simply got crank this phcker
 
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