The Razors Edge, or how I learned to stop being an idiot and love the album
Part 1.




It´s been 14 years since TRE was released. 14 years!! Think about it, by the time TRE came out, only 10 years had passed between the mighty Back in Black and this album. The thing is, Back in Black can easily be dated as an early 80´s album. Now, go ahead and date The Razors Edge... this guy sounds like it was recorded yesterday!!. It is timeless, not as in Powerage timeless, but timeless in the actual meaning of the word.

Now, some people can´t stand TRE. It has become, somehow, an "in" thing to do. Despising TRE is the "cool" thing to do among some AC/DC socalled fans. Usually, people that think this way are, to my surprise, older fans. Younger folks are -for the most part- capable of keeping up with the times, and -also for the most part- don´t make a big deal out of anything. Thank God.

Older people couldn´t stand Bruce Fairbairn´s exceptional production. They thought (and still do) it made the album sound "unlike AC/DC" , without realising what a stupid thing to say that is. You know, I could understand a given tribute band not being capable of making an album that would actually sound like AC/DC. That´s hard stuff! Only AC/DC can sound like AC/DC. Well, DOH, right? These people can´t understand that anything the band records will sound as AC/DC no matter what. Why? Well, because they are AC/DC . Easy as fuck.

Nobody knows better than the Youngs how AC/DC sounds like, and specially HOW AC/DC should sound like. The Razors Edge didn´t alter the way AC/DC sounded, all of their three chords were there, the simplistic drum beat was there, the minimal bass rhythm was there. Brian´s screaming were there.
What the fuck is the problem, then?
As an incredible way of showing off their stupidity, they blamed the "failure" on this man:

I bet good old Chris would freak out if he knew he gets all that shit for his work on TRE. I bet he doesn´t know he had such POWER over AC/DC. I mean, the guy kept the now famous 4x4 AC/DC drum beat, and added a few little touches here and there. To some people, that ruined the album. Talk about making a big deal out of nothing! Even the Youngs liked what he did, but once again...it seems like some fans know better than AC/DC< themselves. Quite odd!

Now, knowing that they couldn´t blame everything on poor good old Chris, who was left? Obviously, the Youngs were free of any fault, because they´re the Youngs, right? So...let´s see, let´s see......oh, yeah, here´s another guy declared "guilty" for making AC/DC sound timeless one more time:



Bruce Fairbairn didn´t change a thing, he didn´t add a ballad, he didn´t add pianos...he didn´t even add Women choruses (I always thought that would had worked cool in "MoneyTalks!". Just kidding). All he did was, and rightly so I´d say, add a few samplers here and there. THAT´S ALL. You can hear a few samplers during the tittle song, another few in "If You Dare"...I mean, no big deal. And the eerie voices in TRE tittle song, are awesome. Open your mind, people. Just relax.

yet, this very same people don´t seem to have a problem with a bell toll or even a fucking cannon blast. That can be included in any AC/DC album, no problem, but if Bruce includes a few laughs at the beginning of "If You Dare"...then it is the end of the world. There´s a name for that, it´s called hypocresy or not having a clue about anything.


Other than the infamous samplers, I might understand "Thunderstruck" was a little overproduced, but hell, that song was ASKING for it. And sorry, but "MoneyTalks" does NOT sound more "poppy" than...let´s say "You Shook Me".

But now I´m getting into the songs themselves, and that´s another story that will be told some other time.