Produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange
Released: 1980
Where do you even start to review an album that is by mass of sales alone the greatest rock album ever made? Perhaps an anecdote might be a way to begin to explain the enduring qualities of Back in Black that has kept it at the forefront of rock since it first appeared.
During my late teens I went on a camping trip with some friends. Where we went and when isn't important. What is important is that the only music was had for the trip was Back in Black and the Blue Brothers soundtrack. That both got played endlessly and that we never got tired of either is a testament to the greatness of them. Back in Black was only about seven years old then, but even now it sounds as timeless.
As their tribute to their fallen comrade, AC/DC could have done no better. In making one of rock's defining moments they succeeded almost without peer. Back in Black has it all. Killer songs, ferocious guitar, some of the greatest riffs ever and the sheer power and caustic urgency of Brian Johnston, surely one of the world's most unique vocalists. The opening is simply ominous, as if announcing that this is the truly great piece of work it turned out to be. The slow tolling bell gives way to a simply evil-sounding intro; "Hell's Bells" is genius with Johnson's voice splitting eardrums the same way he tells us his flashing white light is splitting the night. The title track features one of the ultimate riffs of all time and a dirty blues vibe permeates through "Rock N Roll Ain't Noise Pollution". Everything is executed perfectly, even if Johnston's attempts at Bon Scott-like craftiness come occasionally unstuck. There is, for example, something quite disturbing about lines like "Don't you struggle, don't you fight/Don't you worry coz it's your turn tonight" from "Let Me Put My Love Into You", but in the impossibly catchy "You Shook Me All Night Long" he gets the metaphors so right that he and the band were fighting off allegations that Bon actually wrote it for well over a decade.
There really isn't any need to go on. Everyone is so familiar with Back in Black it defies being written about any more. Only a few other albums have come even remotely close to its greatness.
- Hell's Bells
- Shoot to Thrill
- What Do You Do For Money Honey
- Given the Dog a Bone
- Let Me Put My Love Into You
- Back in Black
- You Shook Me All Night Long
- Have a Drink On Me
- Shake a Leg
- Rock n Roll Ain't Noise Pollution
Rating: 100%
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