I got it today on CD. I gave it a solid three listens now total (including the first listen I had in .mp3 format).

It is pretty decent. Nothing earth shattering, nothing horrid. I can describe it best as neither good nor bad but as "enjoyable to listen to" <<...maybe because they have not done anything in eight long years? Not sure on that one.

It has a bit of a "poppy lace" to it. Yes, a slight bit of a poppy glaze over top of many of the tunes (Waaaaay to much on Anything Goes ...Geeze...). On almost all of the songs it isn't bad thing though. It actually gives it a bit of a fresher sounding AC/DC for right now.

There are no total AC/DC Rock anthems like "Highway To Hell" or "For Those About to Rock" present but
there are a solid handfull of songs you can classify as good AC/DC songs. In relation to that there is a handfull of simply fair songs. The only true clunker is "Decibel".

There is some funkieness to some songs we haven't heard to this degree from them and it's a notable change. The guitar solo's are junky and purposefully kind-of "garage sounding" which is cool. No smoothness to the solos. The drums, have a ride symbol over top of the kick and snare and out in front on the production. This seems to keep this album sounding fresher than some AC/DC new releases and it also keeps things moving right along as it plays.

There are some definite song structure changes from what normal AC/DC song writing consists of. They do try some new approaches to writing in a few songs which is commendable (such as The Who influenced Rock N Roll Dream...neat tune).

My favorite track is "Wheels". Good AC/DC tune with Chuck Berry influenced guitar and a good old basic Rock n Roll theme to the song with a likable momentum.

The recording/production is pretty upfront sounding. No thick underlying riffs. No muddy guitar sounds. No murkyness anywhere for the most part. Everything instrument is easily accessible to your ears. However, and surprisingly nothing is way too in your face. There is no huge "bassyness" to the albums sound. It is mostly mid, or slightly higher end frequencies that Producer Brenden Obrien keeps a steady style with on this release. All the instruments are there, just not 100% crammed down your throat which is a nice touch and departure from their normal production/recording style. The traditional back drop of several vocal tracks combined to make a big sounding chorus is there on a few songs as we like from that AC/DC style. However once again, even that aspect is there on some songs but Producer Brenden Obrien doesn't go 110% with it so it doesn't seem like the same old blah-blah-blah from them. Good move.

The album is slightly conservative in production, even if there is a bit poppyness to it, yet the most experimental album in song writing and song structure from AC/DC since perhaps Dirty Deeds. That makes perfect sense to my ears for a 2008 AC/DC.

I give it an 85%.


Ian

I give you 69%

In the world according to AC/DC, sex, money, politics and other trappings of adulthood are a sick joke — but rock is sacred. No one this side of Chuck Berry has written so many great rock & roll songs about rock & roll, and no band short of the Ramones has so militantly refused to reach beyond the basics of the form. AC/DC offer a vision of the Stones if Keith had won every argument: no concept albums, no keyboards, no disco, no ballads, no gospel choirs. And Black Ice is their best argument in years — maybe decades — that evolution is for suckers.

Keeping your sound static places all the pressure on your songwriting. And for the first time since 1990's The Razor's Edge reached Generation Beavis, guitarists Malcolm and Angus Young have written tunes worthy of their musical muscle — though not enough to fill an album. With radio-savvy producer Brendan O'Brien on board, the best stuff nearly lives up to their career peaks, especially "Rock N Roll Train," where the brothers Young toss fat, slashing chords at each other like knife jugglers. Drummer Phil Rudd swings beneath with inhumanly restrained beats — he's so reluctant to play a fill that he makes Charlie Watts sound like Dave Grohl.

Similarly, bassist Cliff Williams seems content to play pumping eighth notes on every AC/DC song ever — except the funky walking line he lays down on the excellent "She Likes Rock N Roll." Another instant classic, "Big Jack," has the swagger of a long-lost Back in Black track. Even songs that rely on well-worn tricks — the two-string high-note riffing on "Anything Goes" recalls "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" — have enough verve to get over.

AC/DC avoid the cheerful sexism of the past (see the oral-sex ode "Givin the Dog a Bone"). Otherwise, the words haven't changed much, aside from a new preoccupation with apocalyptic meteorology ("Skies on Fire," "Stormy May Day," "Black Ice"). The title of "War Machine" is ominously topical, but the lyrics are vague enough ("call of the wild...that thing gone wild") to suggest that the "machine" is just another phallic metaphor. Phew.

Unlike original frontman Bon Scott, a born shrieker, Brian Johnson is a natural baritone, delivering tortured-weasel high notes through sheer force of will. Recently, he's sounded more wheezy than menacing at the top of his range, but O'Brien has him hitting his notes again here – and the band emphasizes the choruses by returning to the rich backup vocals that enlivened its greatest hits.

For a group of guys who are so convinced they're an "album band" that they refuse to sell their songs individually online, AC/DC have had trouble making consistent albums since 1981's For Those About to Rock. While Black Ice pulls away from that trend, it doesn't reverse it: The album feels longer than its 55 minutes, thanks to a stretch of throwaway rockers including the mindless "Spoilin' for a Fight" and the generic-even-by-their-standards "Wheels."

But there's something almost elegiac about Black Ice's multiple odes to rock — "Rocking All the Way," "Rock N Roll Dream," etc. These guys are true believers, fighting a war no one told them ended long ago. "We're gonna rock 'round...the town/We're gonna make it right/We're gonna make it rock all night," Johnson yelps at one point — making it clear that his band still finds resonance in words that were clichéd by 1956. And for that, you've got to salute them.

from Rolling Stone

Sorry..
I have really TRIED to like this album, after all it is old time rock 'n roll!  Now I don't hate it, but to me that high pitched squealing voice sounds the same on every song, except maybe Spoilin for a Fight( my favorite on the album).  After about 20 minutes, it just grates on my last nerve and I have to listen to something else.

Guess I just must be getting old... ;)

From Rolling Stone Magazine:

"the two-string high-note riffing on "Anything Goes" recalls "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)"


------------------------------------------------

Really??? What a classic, and all too typical example of a critic who obviously should really know his stuff, making crazy comparisons the rest of the world would just not hear.

How on earth does he deduce "For Those About To Rock" from "Anything Goes"???

In an AC/DC world the songs are at completley different ends of their spectrum.


Ian

PartyDoll MEG wrote on Oct 25^th, 2008 at 12:22pm:

Sorry.. I have really TRIED to like this album, after all it is old time rock 'n roll!  Now I don't hate it, but to me that high pitched squealing voice sounds the same on every song, except maybe Spoilin for a Fight( my favorite on the album).  After about 20 minutes, it just grates on my last nerve and I have to listen to something else. Guess I just must be getting old... ;)

Brian joihnsons voice has always done this to me as well... Bon never did.

i am so fucking sick of ac/dc right now.  ever since their new song has come on the radio and the announcement of their world tour every 2nd song on wpdh has been an ac fucking dc song.

what a fucking stupid band they are...............i mean really.......can anyone really take these assholes seriously?

:pullanolte

bring on the new gunners cd

everybody say ow.

:whydontcha

Pdog wrote on Oct 25^th, 2008 at 5:47pm:

PartyDoll MEG wrote on Oct 25th, 2008 at 12:22pm: Sorry.. I have really TRIED to like this album, after all it is old time rock 'n roll!  Now I don't hate it, but to me that high pitched squealing voice sounds the same on every song, except maybe Spoilin for a Fight( my favorite on the album).  After about 20 minutes, it just grates on my last nerve and I have to listen to something else. Guess I just must be getting old... ;) Brian joihnsons voice has always done this to me as well... Bon never did.

Oddly enough, its the opposite for me. When I was a kid, I kinda liked Geordie, who were Johnson's band in the mid 70's. So I was always used to Brian's voice. Bon's style of singing always grated on me - although in the last few years I've maybe warmed to it a bit more.

Gazza Wrote:

"Oddly enough, its the opposite for me. When I was a kid, I kinda liked Geordie, who were Johnson's band in the mid 70's. So I was always used to Brian's voice. Bon's style of singing always grated on me - although in the last few years I've maybe warmed to it a bit more."

_______________________________


Forget about the 70's stuff for a sec. Mr. Man. What about your take on their (AC/DC's that is) new album??
How does it rate with you and how does it rate with their other albums? We are all curious by now what you think. Have you heard the whole thing yet?

Ian

http://rocksoff.org/messageboard/YaBB.pl?num=1221143065/50#50

I'm not much of an authority on their albums as my interest down the years has been limited to the occasional song. So, I'm the wrong person to ask when it comes to comparing it to their other stuff. However, judged purely on its own merits, I like this one...been listening to it quite a lot over the last few days.

Gazza wrote on Oct 26^th, 2008 at 12:00pm:

http://rocksoff.org/messageboard/YaBB.pl?num=1221143065/50#50 I'm not much of an authority on their albums as my interest down the years has been limited to the occasional song. So, I'm the wrong person to ask when it comes to comparing it to their other stuff. However, judged purely on its own merits, I like this one...been listening to it quite a lot over the last few days.

______________________

Gotcha. Didn't see that earlier. I am not a huge AC/DC nut but I will listen to them like the next Rock n Roll fan. Dirty Deeds was always my favorite album by them. That's sort of a classic in a sense I suppose you can say.

Ian

The lyrics of "Big Jack" are quite clearly an ode to the functional ability of the writer's "member".

Big Jack is a catchy tune..have found myself playin it in my head this week.The new album is actually pretty good but have to play it 3-4 tunes at a time or the voice gets me put off.

gimmekeef wrote on Oct 26^th, 2008 at 1:16pm:

Big Jack is a catchy tune..have found myself playin it in my head this week.The new album is actually pretty good but have to play it 3-4 tunes at a time or the voice gets me put off.

Ha Ha Ha

You too??!!

keef- Are we getting old??!! ;)

Gazza wrote on Oct 26^th, 2008 at 12:23pm:

The lyrics of "Big Jack" are quite clearly an ode to the functional ability of the writer's "member".

The steam is a burning,
Workin’ up and down the line,
The pot is getting ready,
He’s been working it so hard,
When it comes to lovin’,
Big jack is on his way,
Wink of satisfaction,
His time is going on,
I’m like a bad defender,
Smoking holy Joe,
He’s a big pretender, look out for jack,
He’s on his way,

Big Jack, Big Jack,
You know it’s only natural, he gets you up to scratch,
Big Jack, Big Jack,
You’ve got a reputation you really got the knack,
Big Jack, Big Jack,
He said that he’s the only one who got a full sack,
Big Jack, look out Jack, he’s always at your back.

You never leave a dollar,
Racking up the balls,
You like to get it on fast,
Back there standing tall,
When he hears the siren,
He’s gonna put you on the racks,
He’s got a bad reputation, climbing all over the bars
Gonna press the flesh,
Rockin’ rollin’ soldier,
He’s the last of them all,
Well tell jack, he’s on his way,

Big Jack, Big Jack,
You know it’s only natural to get you up to scratch,
Big Jack, Big Jack,
Always in trouble got to turn the other way,
Big Jack, Big Jack,
Always like to party and he likes the girls to play,
Big Jack, look out Jack, he’s always at your back,

Big Jack, Big Jack,
You know it’s only natural to get you up to scratch,
Big Jack, Big Jack, you’ve got a reputation, really got the knack,
Big Jack, Big Jack, he said he ain’t the only one who got a big sack,
Big Jack, lookout Jack, ain’t no need to worry, he’s always at your back

I see 'em on November 9th--2 weeks!!  Listening to the album for the first time as I type this!

PartyDoll MEG wrote on Oct 26^th, 2008 at 1:36pm:

gimmekeef wrote on Oct 26th, 2008 at 1:16pm: Big Jack is a catchy tune..have found myself playin it in my head this week.The new album is actually pretty good but have to play it 3-4 tunes at a time or the voice gets me put off. Ha Ha Ha You too??!! keef- Are we getting old??!! ;)

Meg my dear yes..but ever so gracefully and still rockin!..Big Jack!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It may also depend on which system you listen to your music on..... I have the CD player connected to a Soundcraft compact 10 project studio mixer, which is connected to 2 Yamaha HD80SM  studio monitors.... good flat response with not too much added colour..... so what I am hearing is reasonably close to how it would have sounded on similar monitors in the studios where it was mixed, recorded and mastered.

Re: Brians voice.... mercifully mixed low. Re: AC/DC's music.... it's just balls out 2 guitars, bass and drums rock'n'roll without any frills. Probably the best example of this kind of thing in my opinion.

If I want high end creativitiy I still think I can't go past saxophonist John Coltrane. Fantastic. Also Ravi Shankar at his peak.... creative and technical brilliance. But if I want an alternative listening experience in the hard rock genre to either the Stones or The Who, then I think I can do a lot worse than Black Ice.

They ain't perfect, but nothing ever will be. I give Black Ice, for what it is, about 90%