AC\DC - Highway To Hell

There are very few albums that I will say shaped my life, but AC\DC's Highway To Hell is one.

The very first time I heard this entire album was after I "borrowed" my uncle Matt's cassette the summer going into grade eight. This album just blew my mind. End of story. This album is pure musical delight for me. It is THEE AC/DC album.

When they did the digitally remastered re-releases in 2003 I made sure to pick up certain albums, and clearly this was one of them. My son was promptly given my old CD copy, and so the right of passage came to be. For him they are third behind Iron Maiden and Rammstein. (Fuck yeah! I did something right.) For me there they're tied for fourth with G'N'R, but behind Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath and Metallica. They are one of those bands that I have to take Ryan to go see, but sadly neither of us will ever get to see Bon Scott perform these greats nowdays.

Instead we'll just have to share this album, and what an album it is.

Let me start with discussing the remastering. The production now has much fuller sound, not the thin deadness of the original CD release, which is awesome. But it doesn't have the warmth of vinyl, and it doesn't matter. The sound is amazing, it's so rich and full.

We all know and love the album's title track, and if you don't may God bitch slap you with an SG. This song is everything that Rock N' Roll is about. Now, rock on! Girls Got Rhythm is pure AC/DC sexual musicfunkation. It's thick, heavy, has some major boogie, and shakes that nice round bottom with a whole lot of excitement. I'm sure this song has played in many teenage boys fantasies.

Now it's on to more serious music. Big thundering chords, a couple short drum fills, and then it's on to some top notch rapid fire riffing. Walk All Over You has the speed, and the balls, but it has something much more important. It has guitars that know how to breath. They menace you with long controlled breaths, and then Angus comes flying out like the little guitar scrapper that he is. Then when you look at the lyrics that make up the second verse through the end of the song you get such thoughts running through you mind. "Reflections on the bedroom wall / And there you thought you'd see it all / We're rising, falling like the sea / You're looking so good under me / I'm gonna walk all over you / I'm gonna walk all over you / Do anything you want me to do to you / I'm gonna walk all over you...Ill walk all over / (Roaming roaming stayin' alive / So gimme the stage, I'm gonna steal the show / Leave off the LACE and turn off the light / Tonight is gonna be the night / I'm gonna walk all over you / I'm gonna walk all over you / Do anything you want me to / I'm gonna walk all over / You ow. / I'm gonna walk all over you". I know the feminists and uptight housewives of North America will pitch a bitch, but they can kiss my ass, because they need a good walk over too.

Touch Too Much is clearly still all sex, but this time it's all about the woman controlling the man. That's why the last song is so hot, because when a woman asks for it, and I mean that literally, it's so naughty. But when the woman has the touch too much, it will drive you insane. This song also just has so much groove to it. This album is so sexual, and it has nothing to do with the teenage boy porn fantasy lyrics, which are awesome, but everything to do with the music.

Beating Around The Bush is Bon Scott calling the ladies out. But forget that. The Blues riffing of Angus and Malcom Young, mixed with the fills, and soloing, are so bad ass. Sure it's simplicity, but who the fuck cares? It sounds awesome. It feels awesome. It makes you wanna get up and boogie, and that's enough. Now go bang your head.

Did you know that sound you hear coming up through the middle of Shot Down In Flames is in fact bassist Cliff Williams? Sorry, felt the need to be a bit of a smart ass there. The poor man gets a bit of a bad rap, for being a basic bassist, but his job is just to hold down the rhythm and he's cool with that. However, it's great to hear it so well in the mix here. You could always hear it, but now you can clearly hear it. As for the lyrics, well the title covers it.

The weakest song on this album is Get It Hot, it's the only track I would call a filler, but don't you dare skip it. Grab your woman, and get it hot. If need be fire off a couple knuckle rockets and look at girly pics. This song will still do the trick for you. Sorry I'm picturing a sceen starring Jason Biggs' character in American Pie, if it took place in 1978.

If You Want Blood (You've Got It) is bad ass. "It's criminal / there ought to be a law / criminal / there ought to be a whole lot more / you get a nothin' for nothin' / tell me who can you trust / we got what ya want / and you got the lust / If you want blood (YOU GOT IT) / If you want blood (YOU GOT IT) / BLOOD on the streets / BLOOD on the rocks/ BLOOD in the gutter, EVERY LAST DROP, YOU WANT BLOOD / you got it / yes you have / It's animal / livin' in a human zoo / animal / the shit that they toss to you / feelin' like a Christian / locked in a cage / thrown to the lions / on a seconds rage / If you want blood (YOU GOT IT) / If you want blood (YOU GOT IT) / BLOOD on the streets / BLOOD on the rocks/ BLOOD in the gutter, EVERY LAST DROP, YOU WANT BLOOD / you got it / O Positive / Blood on the rocks / Blood on the streets / Blood in the sky / Blood on the sheets / If you want blood / you got it / Want you to bleed for me." Then it just repeats the "If you want blood, you got it", until the end of the song. Plus there's the music which sounds like a bar room brawl in the works, all on it's own.

The album finishes with the one AC/DC song I couldn't live without, Night Prowler. Let me start with the sharp breath at the start of the song, followed by the slithering solo, with the creepy chords and slow rhythm, and that's before the song even gets rolling. "Somewhere a clock strikes midnight / And there's a full moon in the sky / You hear a dog bark in the distance / You hear someone's baby cry / A rat runs down the alley / And a chill runs down your spine / Someone walks across your grave / And you wish the sun would shine / No one's gonna warn you / And no one's gonna yell 'Attack' / And you don't feel the steel / Till it's hanging out your back". That is poetry. "I'm your Night Prowler, asleep in the day / I'm your Night Prowler, get out of my way / Look out for the Night Prowler, watch you tonight / I'm the Night Prowler, when you turn out the light ..." And that is bad ass Rock N' Roll. Then it's all "Too scared to turn your light out / 'Cos there's something on your mind / Was that a noise outside your window? / What's that shadow on the blind? / As you lie there naked / Like a body in a tomb / Suspended animation / As I slip into your room". And if you aren't horney yet, you don't have an ounce of Rock in you.

That's followed up by another chorus and then a very slow violent and seductive solo and oh how the sex drips from the knife like blood, before it's on to "I'm your Night Prowler, break down your door / I'm your Night Prowler, crawling 'cross your floor / I'm your Night Prowler, make a mess of you, yes I will / Night Prowler, and I am telling this to you / There ain't nothing you can do". This doesn't include all of Bon's adlibs.

Then the album ends in the most beautiful way I can think. And as the hopeless Rock romantic, I always picture Bon taking a bow and uttering the perfect good bye. "Shazbot Nanu Nanu". Maybe it's just because I loved Mork & Mindy so much. This album is just pure recorded naughtiness. Many would call it dirty, and filthy, and sinful, and wrong. But those people are on their own highway to hell.

Also, just so it's mentioned. Phil Rudd was the drummer on this album.

9/10 - content

10/10 - production

10/10 - personal bias