Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: AC/DC
Label: Columbia Records
Release date: December 1, 2014
Running time: 35:00
Rating: 3.5/5
There isn’t much to say about this album. It’s simply the one that belongs to AC/DC. It’s just what you wanted and expected, and just what only a garrison of inimitable Australian rock’n’ roll electricians can put together. AC/DC are a band whose years show quite nicely. But thankfully not in the musical sense! Over the last few years of a long-lived career stretching well past 41 years, a juicy statement about the band calling it quits has more than once trickled out. Johnson’s damaged vocals, Malcolm’s dementia, which actually forced him into retirement, and the nasty misdeeds of the »bad boy in the background« Phil Rudd. A heap of omens that time was running out mercilessly for AC/DC. And right in the middle of all that, the stubbornness and defiance that the eternal schoolboy Angus, still full of it in his golden years, evidently hasn’t lost beat back every last black cloud gathering over this crew of inimitable, pioneering rock icons. Even if, for the first time in their career, it’s without his brother.
»Rock or Bust« is a document that shows, much like »Black Ice« did in 2008, the fresh character and unspoiled potency of a band that chases away every fear of witnessing the wheezing of overworked old nags. AC/DC don’t give up and remain eternal winners. All it takes is plugging into the favorite amp and Angus’s magic touch, and the enchanted rock’n’ roll potion starts pouring out through the shine of those famous riffs, which his inseparable Gibson SG buddy so faithfully churns out again and again. Blues erotica once more seethes limitlessly through Angus’s guitar phrases, and ACDC are digging in, basking in their famous glory.
»Rock or Bust« picks up the story from the excellent predecessor »Black Ice«, which means the memory of the softer »Stiff Upper Lip« (2001) has finally faded for good. »Rock or Bust« feels even more compact than its predecessor, which had too many tracks overall (a whopping 15). Brian Johnson doesn’t allow himself any vocal excursions toward clean mid-range singing, and is once again 100% focused on the screeching aimed at the upper registers, which otherwise defines the bulk of the band’s discography. It’s clear that AC/DC are serving up tried-and-tested packaging, because that’s what they understand, know and master best. That the band, in a time when individual members were plagued by troubles and the hardships of everyday life, needed »rock« more than ever before in their lives is shown by the mere fact that five songs carry the word »rock« right in the title. That makes the album title »Rock or Bust« all the more meaningful. The lyrics once again have a heap of teasing innuendo aimed at the fairer sex, jabs at the merciless cogs of capitalism that keep cooking up new alibis for starting wars, and the classic excuses for getting cozy with alcoholic beverages. Tried and tested. And once more, tried-and-tested effective. From the first second to the last.
You’ve heard every guitar phrase on the new AC/DC album somewhere, sometime, a long time ago, and the feeling of hearing them again and again is exhilarating. Much like the one that Motörhead regularly deliver with their albums in their golden years. It simply can’t and mustn’t be any other way. In that, AC/DC really remain a unique phenomenon! And they know that all too well and cling to it, tried and tested.
A sacred simplicity, an almost bizarre rock’n’ roll minimalism that bares the point of its primal essence right at the core of the elemental playing, keeps the band’s name untarnished and preserves its great pedigree of pioneering and rock’n’roll teaching. »Rock Or Bust« is a document that brims with hooligan arrogance and debauched rebellion. The band never runs out of vitality. That’s just how it is when the creator is the one handling the magic formula of rock’n’roll.
Line-up
Brian Johnson – vocals
Angus Young – guitar, backing vocals on “Dogs of War” and “Sweet Candy”
Stevie Young – guitar, backing vocals
Cliff Williams – bass guitar, backing vocals
Phil Rudd – drums
Production
Brendan O’Brien
Track list
1. Rock or Bust (3:04)
2. Play Ball (2:47)
3. Rock the Blues Away (3:24)
4. Miss Adventure (2:57)
5. Dogs of War (3:35)
6. Got Some Rock & Roll Thunder (3:22)
7. Hard Times (2:44)
8. Baptism by Fire (3:30)
9. Rock the House (2:42)
10. Sweet Candy (3:09)
11. Emission Control (3:41)
