High Voltage was the first Bon Scott album I bought after Highway to Hell. I remember reading the collage of made up letters on the back cover. Band members were scolded by various authority figures for being juvenile delinquents, except for Bon. He of course, received a love letter from a lady friend instead.
The version of High Voltage that we got in North America is a compilation of the band’s first two Australian albums. Only two of the tracks are from their debut, which was also named High Voltage and the rest are from the T.N.T. Having fully listened to both Aussie albums I can say for certain that this compilation does represent the best of AC/DC in their formative years.
High Voltage has a raw sound to it. Guitarists Angus and Malcolm Young’s tone is much thinner when compared to their sound on Back In Black or Highway To Hell, but the album has it where it counts with plenty of hooks. This is a band that worships the guitar riff and there are some classic ones here.
Lead singer Bon Scott’s lyrics were fantastic for the most part as he chronicles his life with now iconic tunes like It’s A Long way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock and Roll) and Rock ‘N Roll Singer. (Side note: The Cult totally ripped off the riff for Rock ‘N Roll Singer with Wild Flower. Fight me on it.)
Live Wire is an underrated track with a slow build with the Mark Evan’s bass thumping away to start, then guitars, then drums. It’s a formula the AC/DC would return to often in their career. Most famously with Thunderstruck.
T.N.T kicks off side two. Muddy Water’s influence is all over this one with those iconic pauses between the chords. They still played it live at just about every show.
Little Lover is a sleazy blues number with some… cheeky lyrics:
Killed me when I saw
The wet patch on your seat
Was it Coca Cola?
Ew.
Legend has it that Bon wrote the lyrics for She’s Got Balls with an ex-girlfriend in mind.
The studio version of The Jack is the albums only real weak part. The band is fine on it, and Angus’ solo is brilliant as it is basic, but the lyrics contain too many double entendres with card playing. And their more lame than clever. The song’s real lyrics can be heard on live albums like If you Want Blood… You Got It! which is a huge improvement.
Can I Sit Next To You Girl was written before Bon Scott joined the band and it feels a little out of place, but it is fine.
High Voltage wraps up the album with is chord progression of A C D C. It does work as it is spliced together nicely with a blues rock shuffle.
I would recommend to hard core fans that they seek out AC/DC’s first two original Australian albums over this, as it is missing some key tunes. But is probably more than enough for most who only want the best from the early days.
As an AC/DC album: 4/5
Compared to everything else: 5/5
More AC/DC:
[Album Review] High Voltage (US)
[Album Review] Let There Be Rock (US)
[Album Review] Powerage
[Album Review] If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It!)
[Album Review] Highway To Hell
[Album Review] Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (INT)
[Album Review] For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)
[Album Review] Flick of the Switch
[EP Review] ’74 Jailbreak
[Album Review] Fly On The Wall
[Album Review] Who Made Who
[Album Review] Blow Up Your Video
[Album Review] The Razors Edge
[Album Review] AC/DC Live
[Album Review] Ballbreaker
[Album Review] Stiff Upper Lip
[Album Review] Black Ice
[Album Review] Iron Man 2 (Deluxe Edition)
[Album Review] Rock Or Bust
[Album Review] Live At River Plate
[Album Review] Power Up
[Album Review] High Voltage (AUS)
[Album Review] T.N.T.
[Boxset Review] Bonfire
[Boxset Review] Backtracks (Deluxe Edition)
[DVD] Review] Stiff Upper Lip Live
[DVD] Review] Family Jewels
[DVD] Review] Plug Me In
[Blu-ray Review] Live At Donington
[Blu-ray Review] No Bull | The Director’s Cut
[Blu-ray Review] Live At River Plate
[Book Review] Bon: The Last Highway | Jesse Fink
Great to have you back writing Kevin!
High Voltage is a great simple rock album!
No Frills Angus snot n roll the beginnings of AC/DC …
Cool writeup and love the Angus 18 Wheeler!
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Thanks Deke! It felt good to write again. Life has been crazy lately but I’ll try to post something when I can.
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Meant to add that I love the gang like backing vocals on those early DC albums!
Case in point…
Driving home today listening to Boneyard on XM Satellite and Big Balls came on and i cranked it…Told the Boss(my Wife Sue ) that I love the backing vocals at the end of this tune….
‘BallSucker/BallSucker/BallSucker!” I chanted! HAHAHA…I think at that point she wished there was a eject button for her seat in the vehicle!
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Ha ha! They could blur that line between raunchy rock and novelty song so well. Thankfully Sarah thinks they are hilarious so I’m allowed to crank them in the car!
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Definitely any ACDC is great. I’d probably invest in vinyl and a record player just to get some ACDC the way is was ment, and this sounds like it could be a great album to start off with
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Thanks for reading Kyle! You won’t regret it if you do! Good times.
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Woah! I was surprised to read the final score. For me this would be a 5/5.
Good observation on the Cult. Never really noticed that before. Now it makes sense.
I’m jealous of your truck.
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Yeah, I got a wee bit of crap for that on twitter too. It is only a 3.5 for an AC/DC album and I need to leave headroom for what comes later. 7.5/5 compared to everything else.
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Ah I see. Well my favourite two AC/DC are Dirty Deeds at #1 and High Voltage at #2, so I would already have hit my peak pretty quickly!
After that, don’t ask me to even try ranking! Aside from a couple duds there is a lot in the 4-5 range…
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You have an ear for the raw sound of the earlier stuff, nothing wrong with that! I’m going to attempt to go through them all. I listened to them enough times, might as well write about them!
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I really do love the early raw stuff. It had more jangle and I always love jangle in my rock. Stiff Upper Lip is like that for me.
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FLICK OF THE SWITCH AND POWERAGE for this old sack of Bones!
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“Weird to hear Bon politely ask a lady if it is OK for him to take up some space next to her after shouting “Stick this in your fuse box” two songs previous.” That’s a tremendous lyric choice to make your point.
Anyhoo, I don’t know this one. Haven’t gotten to it yet and I’ve yet to be convinced that AC/DC are as good as some would have you believe!
… anyhoo, I’m away to listen to Nirvana. 😉
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Ha..Gotta love MR J…..
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Ha ha, to each their own! AC/DC is my favorite band and I don’t need anyone to believe they are good.
I know I picked on Nirvana a bit, sorry! I like a few of their tunes and have mad respect for what they accomplished, but for the most part, they’re just not my bag, baby!
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I have a few pals who have the same feelings as you about AC/DC (probably Nirvana, too) and they finally got me to listen to AC/DC a few years ago. The Bon stuff and Back In Black stuck, but after that I just switched off. Certainly some great albums and songs, though.
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Post Back In Black was hit and miss, for sure.
For me they are one of those bands that have a certain sound that speaks to me. But I can see how it isn’t for everyone.
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Nice point about separate ratings for within the catalogue vs. compared to others – and Happy birthday! Hope your day was Dyno-mite!
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It was! Thanks! For me, AC/DC is just better than everything else. Even the weakest albums is still better than Bieber or something. So the only way I can be objective is to evaluate with the rest of their work.
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Nice to read you again.
I love every nanosecond of this album.
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Thanks! It is great, isn’t it?
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