AC/DC — Powerage

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4.09 | 66 ratings | 4 reviews

Album · 1978

Filed under Hard Rock
By AC/DC

Tracklist

1. Rock 'N' Roll Damnation (3:39)
2. Down Payment Blues (6:06)
3. Gimme A Bullet (3:23)
4. Riff Raff (5:14)
5. Sin City (4:46)
6. What's Next To The Moon (3:33)
7. Gone Shootin' (5:00)
8. Up To My Neck In You (4:15)
9. Kicked In The Teeth (3:53)

Total Time 39:53

Original UK LP:
1. Rock 'N' Roll Damnation (3:06)
2. Gimme A Bullet (3:20)
3. Down Payment Blues (5:40)
4. Gone Shootin' (5:22)
5. Riff Raff (5:14)
6. Sin City (4:45)
7. Up To My Neck In You (4:12)
8. What's Next To The Moon (3:42)
9. Cold Hearted Man (3:32)
10. Kicked In The Teeth (3:58)

Total Time 42:51

Line-up/Musicians

- Bon Scott / lead vocals
- Angus Young / lead and rhythm guitars
- Malcolm Young / rhythm guitar, backing vocals
- Cliff Williams / bass, backing vocals
- Phil Rudd / drums

About this release

Record label:
Albert/Atlantic

Released:
5 May 1978 (UK/EUR)
25 May 1978 (INT)
19 Jun 1978 (AUS)

The original UK LP release featured a different mix and an extra track between the last two songs of the regular version.

A remastered version was released in 2003 by Epic Records.

Thanks to graphix, Time Signature, Pekka, colt, Lynx33 for the updates

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AC/DC POWERAGE reviews

Specialists/collaborators reviews

Sinkadotentree

Well after owning the big three by AC/DC in "Back In Black" , "Highway To Hell" and "If You Want Blood" the next one i got was "Dirty Deeds" and man that was a disappointment for me. I knew from the live "If You Want Blood" that they had some amazing songs from the seventies but as an album it paled to the three i just mentioned. One day while driving around with the music cranked i spotted an old buddy and pulled over. He wanted to check out my cassettes and asked if we could swap some music for a couple of weeks. I wasn't too into it but obliged and this was one of the ones he lent me. Yes i was impressed even though it's a definite step down from the big three. At least it's melodic with those usual riffs and Bonn's great sounding vocals. Actually listening to this this morning it reminded me of seeing them in Toronto at Sars Stock where they played a lot of the seventies stuff. As i looked around almost everyone looked like a bobble-head doll with their heads bobbing up and down. Anyway this needs to be played loud and the fact my ears were ringing as i got out of my vehicle to go into work this morning testifies to that. "Riff Raff" is my favourite track but i get something out them all. This would be British bassist Cliff Williams first album with the band. A low 4 stars but i'd feel wrong giving this 3.5 stars.

more than 2 years ago
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Report #274143

UMUR

"Powerage" is the 6th full-length studio album by Australian hard rock act AC/DC. The album was released through Atlantic Records in May 1978. The release history of the early studio albums by AC/DC is often a bit confusing. As the band´s international debut full-length studio album "High Voltage (1976)" is a compilation of songs from the band´s first two Australian only releases "High Voltage (1975)" and "T.N.T. (1975)", "Powerage" is actually AC/DC´s 5th full-length studio album rather than their 6th. "Powerage" is the first album by AC/DC to be released almost simultaneously in both Australian and international markets and the first where the tracklists are almost the same on all versions and the first album to feature just one cover artwork for releases in all territories.

The music on the album is the trademark sound of 70s AC/DC. Hard pumped bluesy hard rock riffing, a solid and hard rocking rythm section and Bon Scott´s raw and attitude filled vocals on top. The quality of the material is decent throughout but besides tracks like "Rock 'n' Roll Damnation" and especially "Riff Raff" I don´t think "Powerage" features that many really high quality tracks. Let´s just say there are no "Highway to Hell", "TNT" or "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" on this album. As mentioned the material are still of a pretty high quality though and damn enjoyable too. So while "Powerage" might be AC/DC´s least memorable album from the 70s (at least IMO) a 3.5 (70%) rating is still more than deserved.

more than 2 years ago
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Report #260549

Time Signature

Rock 'n' Roll salvation...

Genre: hard rock

While "Let There Be Rock" had a metallic ende and energy to it, "Powerage" is a more melodic affair (within the boundary of what is appropriately melodic for AC/DC, of course), and it also offers less straight out boogie rock tunes than its predecessors (though "Gone Shootin'" and "Up to My Neck in You" are a bit boogie-ish).

None of the tunes on this album have reached AC/DC anthem status, but that does not mean that this is not a good album. It's actually a quite good album with some strong catchy songs on it such as "Rock 'n' Roll Damnation", "Gimme A Bullet", "Sin City", and "What's Next to the Moon" all of which, while melodic and quite different from other AC/DC tunes, are characterized by that unique chemistry of the Young brothers.

I think fans of more melodic hard rock like post-Dio era Rainbow might like this album. I for one think it's a great rock album.

more than 2 years ago
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Report #214262

Members reviews

Hagbard Celine

"Powerage" seems to have the fewest well-known songs of the Bon Scott era, and today might be seen as the lost album of '70s AC/DC. This can be a good thing, though, as not a single song on this album suffers from being overplayed on the classic rock stations that have beaten some of the band's biggest hits to death over the years. Songs like "Riff Raff," "Sin City," and "Rock N Roll Damnation" stand up to anything in the band's long list of more famous songs.

Just as the great early punk records of the late '70s represented a reaction against the excesses of arena rock and prog, disco and Eagles-style wuss rock, giving the world a much needed louder version of the essence of rock n roll's earliest days, AC/DC's "Powerage" is deeply rooted in the traditions of '50s rock n roll. "Powerage" took the revolutionary sounds of the mid to late '50s, cranked them up for the metal era, and made the music world a better place by doing so.