UMUR
"'74 Jailbreak" is en EP release by Australian heavy/hard rock act AC/DC. The EP was released through Atlantic Records in October 1984. The material on the EP were however recorded in 1974 - 1976 and wwere originally featured on the Australian versions of "High Voltage (1974)" and "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (1976)". "Jailbreak" from the latter and the rest of the tracks from the former. None of the tracks were featured on the worldwide versions of those albums, hence the premise for the release of this EP.
Stylistically there are no surprises as this is early AC/DC as we know them. Hard rocking rhythms, blues based hard rock riffs and solos, and Bon Scott´s tongue-in-cheek lyrics and flippant vocals in front. The material on the 5 track, 24:16 minutes long EP are not their most memorable nor strongest though. It´s definitely not of a bad quality either, but I´d generally say there was a reason why these tracks were left of the worldwide versions of their respective albums, and replaced by other more catchy tracks (maybe except for the title track, which is pretty strong). This is AC/DC though and even outtakes and relatively standard quality material from their hand, is still quality material compared to most other hard rock artists, so "'74 Jailbreak" is still a worthwhile release.
The playing is as usual of a high quality and the sound production is also raw, powerful, and organic, suiting the music well. So despite not being the most necessary release in the band´s discography it´s still a pretty good release if you enjoy the early part of AC/DC´s output and a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) is warranted.