AC/DC — High Voltage (review)

AC/DC — High Voltage album cover Album · 1975 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
UMUR
"High Voltage" is the debut full-length studio album by Australian hard/heavy rock band AC/DC, released only in Australia, on the 17th February 1975 through Albert Productions. The album was recorded in November 1974 and produced by George Young and Harry Vanda. The former is the older brother of guitarists Malcolm Young and Angus Young. AC/DC´s first two albums were only released in Australia, but in 1976 they released their international debut album, which is also titled "High Voltage". The whole title thing is a bit confusing, but this Australian version of "High Voltage" features an almost completely different tracklist to the tracklist on the 1976 international version of "High Voltage". It´s actually only "She's Got Balls" and "Little Lover" which would also be featured on the international version of the album.

The remaining tracks from the 8 tracks, 39:51 minutes long album, were for many years only available on the original Australian version of "High Voltage". "Baby Please Don't Go", "Soul Stripper", "You Ain't Got a Hold On Me" and "Show Business" were later released on the 1984 "'74 Jailbreak" EP. "Stick Around" and "Love Song" weren´t available until 2009, when they were included on the "Backtracks" compilation.

"High Voltage" is quite the interesting release in AC/DC´s discography as it shows a very young band still working on establishing their own sound, and therefore it´s not the most stylistically consistent release. "Love Song" is even a ballad type track, which is a first (and last) in the band´s discography. There´s a slight glam rock influence on some tracks too, which is something the band got rid of very fast after this release, but overall "High Voltage" is still unmistakably the sound of AC/DC with Bon Scott´s raw snarling vocals in front, the steady hard rocking beat, the blues rock rhythm guitar riffs, and the energetic guitar solos. Malcolm Young even plays some solos in this release, which would also soon be a thing of the past as Angus Young would become to sole lead guitarist in AC/DC.

"High Voltage" features a well sounding production. It´s powerful and has the right organic qualities to it, to suits the material well. Upon conclusion "High Voltage" is a promising debut album by AC/DC, which immediately showed the world that the band had something to offer. The inconsistency of the material does mean that it´s hard to establish exactly what they had to offer, but the promise is certainly there. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.
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