High Voltage (AC/DC, 1976)

Here we have the very beginning of the AC/DC catalog, outside of Australia anyway. Last time AC/DC showed up around here I was pretty ho-hum about it, mainly because I've never warmed much to anything since Back in Black. The chronology is a little twisted since until 1978's Powerage, there was no consistency between Australian releases and the rest of the world. Therefore the Australian High Voltage and this album only share a few tracks.

The moment of pure genius on this album is "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)", which features quite possibly the most clever use of bagpipes in rock history. Ironically, Bon Scott had never actually played bagpipes before. Producers George Young and Harry Vanda (ex-Easybeats, the former the brother of Angus and Malcolm) got their wires crossed and just assumed that Scott's involvement with a bagpipe band involved him playing the instrument, when, in fact, he was the drummer for that outfit. Nevertheless, it adds a soaring quality to the song you just wouldn't otherwise get. Since bagpipes are a risky addition to any music, it remains the sole AC/DC song to feature them, which is probably for the best, just to go out on top and not beat it to death or turn it into a gimmick.

The rest of the album is pretty straightforward 1970's-era AC/DC. It doesn't have a lot of flash, but plenty of raunch. For the mid-1970's, when many bands were sporting sophisticated instrumentation, elaborate solos, or complicated arrangements, it was a bold statement. That's what they were going for, and it's a common theme across all of the band's albums.

Incidentally the only common personnel thread left between this album and AC/DC today is poster-child Angus Young himself. Original bassist Mark Evans is long gone, Bon Scott's story is well-known, and more recently Malcolm Young has retired due to dementia, while drummer Phil Rudd, never the most permanent aspect of the band, has had some...ahem...legal problems keeping him busy. I suppose the fact they are even still around releasing albums is nothing short of a minor miracle.