Sound Advice: CD Reviews - AC/DC (For Those About to Rock (We Salute You))

CD Review:
Starting with Highway to Hell, the greater audiences of the world came to appreciate this band as much as their hometown Australians did. Thanks to massive tours and the intestinal fortitude of founding members, brothers Malcolm and Angus Young, AC/DC has become one of the greats in rock history.

With Bon Scott's (vocals) death in '79 you would have figured the band would be in a tail spin but finding Brian Johnson, a man with a similar screeching voice, the band came back with Back in Black, their greatest album and one of the best in rock history.

Although For Those About to Rock was supposed to follow up with the energy and power of Back in Black the band couldn't duplicate it. As it is a truth that sales do not necessarily reflect talent, this album sold in the millions. But it wasn't so much for what was on it as much as it was a reward for the popularity and greatness of Back in Black. Fans who jumped around to "Back In Black" and "Hell's Bells" ran out and grabbed For Those About to Rock hoping for the same experience. The sales for the album stalled as word got around that the album was a yawner.

The only memorable song (and one of the best in their catalogue) is the title song. The first time you listen to it you rub your hands together as you think you are in for quite a ride. But just like an excited teenager who has all the energy and attention at the start of a sexual encounter and then ejaculates prematurely, the band gets limp dick syndrome after the opener. You listen to the rest of the album waiting for it to grab you again but it finishes without even a touch.

For Those About to Rock begins the downward spiral that all bands face in the musical history. It is in full fruition with the public's passing en masse with Fly on the Wall. They did receive a reprieve, in a way, in the '90s with The Razor's Edge and the Rick Rubin produced Ballbreaker but it wasn't the same as their hey days back in the '70s.

Full Spectrum Staff