Seeing as how AC/DC are still as secretive as ever, and we really know nothing about the new album (other than it´s coming out in 2003, right Brian?), I figured I´d bring here an old topic I posted at risingpower.net some time ago. It deals with the new record and how the old contract with Elektra might be slowing things down.
As it turned out, this post is still current (most of it, actually. It doesn´t seem like the band will be working with Mutt again anytime soon, but who knows?)

a rock and a hard place

Every source says AC/DC still has one album left for Elektra before they can release new stuff under Epic/Sony. I´ve been told the following. Hope you find it interesting:

One of the reasons for the album delay might be the band not being happy about still having to deliver that one album for their ALREADY old record company. Reasons? As stupid as it may sound, Elektra might not be willing to promote the new album as they should, forcing it to underperform.

Hey, It HAPPENED to Alice Cooper when he left Epic and had "The Last Tempation" being released by them. He couldn´t even tour to support that album.

So AC/DC are now stuck between a rock and hard place because they feel and KNOW the next one needs to be BIG. But they wish they could release it already under Sony, because looks like the japanese record company is giving the band the "charm" and "love" and "good vibes" Elektra didn´t.
Also, if the new album were to be released by Sony, all chances are they´d put the big money on the table to bring Mutt Lange back. Remeber Lange must be one of the most expensive producers around. And in case you didn´t know, it´s the record company who pays for the production, producer and studio time needed.

I can already see the marketing machine going on. Sony + AC/DC + Mutt Lange back after a 23 year gap.

Lastly, my newly found but totally reliable source says the band management is trying to get Elektra to either:
A) Get to an economic arrangement with Elektra and move on. (This is what Elektra supposesly likes more.) OR...

B) Release some live stuff. (This is what the band wants, but they kinda feel they´ve overdone the market with live stuff in the recent years).

This is what I´ve been told about what´s going on. Third option is having Elektra release it with George or some other low-medium profile guy producing, get it done fast. Believe it or pass on it, but I´m just letting you know.

The original post and the interesting replies can be seen here:
http://www.acdcpower.net/phorum/phorum/read.php?f=1&i=28209&t=27954

The Razors Edge, or how I learned to stop being and idiot and love the album
Part 2.



The Razors Edge rocks. It rocks hard. Harder than a rock, harder than a stone.

It´s probably one of the best Brian albums, after the mighty Back In Black, Flick of the Switch and a third one I´ll leave to your choice.
It sounds powerful, raw at times, polished at some other times, fast and furious for the most part, a little catchy in a few spots, original and specially, ALIVE.
The way I see it, the band wanted to go back to the old straight-to-the-face kind of songs, specially after Blow Up Your Video. Blow had some true genious moments and a bunch of good ideas. But most of the songs seem to go nowhere, as if the Youngs didn´t know what to do with them. And forget about the production, Blow must have the worst production for a rock album EVER. Good job, George.

But anyway, all of that is missing in The Razors Edge. “Thunderstruck” is probably the last true anthem the band has recorded. When the album came out, we (well, some of us, the rest couldn´t see beyond their noses, see Part 1) were in awe seeing how this incredible band was still able to amaze and surprise audiences. The old AC/DC formula was well and alive, thank you. It was showing no age. “Thunderstruck” is the perfect example of how the Youngs can still write good AC/DC songs (sticking to the formula), and sound fresh and contemporary at the same time.




The problem with this song is, it was way overplayed. My advise to you is: forget about the song for a few months and then give it a listen, full blast. You´ll fall on your knees.
Another “problem” this song has, is the way it originated. “Thunderstruck” was written to open live gigs with, period. Just in the same way “For Those” was written to end them. It does not work in the middle of the set, it never will. Malcolm, man, when are you gonna realize it? Use it at the beginning or simply drop it. Go all the way, man. Do not try to please everyone, because that´s impossible.

But those good old “Thunder! Thunder!” ain´t all The Razors Edge has to offer. “Fire Your Guns” is pure, 100% AC/DC. I´ll never be able to understand how could anyone think otherwise. It is also one of the fastest, rawer and harder AC/DC songs. Think of it as “Whole Lotta Rosie” on steroids. And Brian sounds so powerful on this song, it´s just unbelievable. Just listen to this: “She got eyes of blue, body curves, and legs that´ll shake the EAAAAAAAARTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I mean it, pick the album right now and listen to that particular moment. Listen to that “earth!”. That´s Brian giving it all, man. Taking no prisioners. Holding his balls hard and screaming his lungs out like there´s no tomorrow. I kinda miss that.



“MoneyTalks”.
“MoneyTalks” is TRE´s radio friendly song. Make no mistake, each post-1978 AC/DC album has at least one, so try to be fair with this one. People seem to have trouble listening beyond the chorus. Yeah, the chorus can get a little annoying once in a while, but hey, a chorus on its own does not make a song. There are other things worth of some consideration, y´know? One thing stands out from this song, and that´s the solo. Angus was specially inspired on this one. It´s one of Angus´s best solos……and I obviously mean “recent” solos (I consider TRE a recent album), because now they tend to be shorter and shorter. I wish Angus would go back to those cool and long solos, as in “Riff Raff”, but I digress. Anyway, this is a fun song, and the lyrics are great.

“The Razors Edge” is, I believe, the closest to heavy metal AC/DC have ever got. It is still far from being metal, actually, but the song structure is reminiscent of some metal clichés. AC/DC fans are, for the most part, classic rock fans, so I can understand why this song doesn´t get the credit it surely deserves. Me, being also a heavy metal listener, consider this song one of this album´s highlights. It might not be a great song, but I like it if only for being a little bit different and original. Angus goes wild in the solo.

“Mistress for Christmas”. This is the band fooling around. Nothing to die for, but fun once in a while. Not my favorite song on the album. Let´s move on…

to… “Rock Your Heart Out”. These two last songs prevent the SIDE ONE of this album from scoring an “A”. It reminds me of “Blow” in the way they had a great riff, but somehow the song does not find its core. Actually, the song is a true rocker until it gets to the “bridge”. Those long “roooooooooooock, rooooooooock” are weird, man. Something´s wrong in there, specially when they do it twice before the chorus kicks off the second time. It just doesn´t sound right to me. Not my piece of cake. But as in “MoneyTalks”, there are cool little parts you can enjoy if you want.. I like how the song ends, with Brian singing the line on his own and stuff. Also, it was cool to hear AC/DC sing about the good old Devil once again ;)



I didn´t want to write a full review, mostly because you´ve already read a hundred of them. So I´ll skip a couple of songs, and go straight to one of my all time back-to-back faves: “Shot of Love” and “Let´s Make It”. I think these two, specially the first one, are the truly gems on this album. Once again, all the “flaws” this album is supposed to have, are nowhere to be found. Fairbairn´s production is not even noticeable (apart from the drums, I mean), the riffs are great, the vocal melodies very cool, and the solos great. “Let´s Make It” gets a bit repetitive near the end, but that´s about it.

As I said, what I like the most about this great album is how FRESH it sounds. It´s still the same AC/DC we all love, but with a few details here and there that made it very, very contemporary. Somehow, that spontaneity was lost 5 years later in “BallBreaker”, and the band sounds tired and unexpired in “Stiff Upper Sleep” (sorry Cali!). But that´s another story that should be told….oh, you know the drill.

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.

Seems like the new album is finally coming out in 2005.
Oh, wait...that seems a lot like yet another 5 year gap!
 
But...didn´t they say they´d do it faster this time around? Didn´t they say 5 years between albums is a little too much? A touch too much? Actually, a couple of years too many.
 
Will it be STIFF UPPER SLEEP part 2? Stay tuned.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? First of all, I didn´t place those links, which are everywhere in the blog. And of course I´m not getting paid for them. I didn´t even get any notification from Blogger.com.
DO NOT CLICK ON THEM!!!!
I´m gonna find out what´s going on. Hey, maybe I´m getting shitloads of hits and I didn´t even know it LoL

THE AC/DC CONSPIRACY, by an asshole called Robb Wagner

I'm not going to make any friends by writing this. all i can assure you, intrepid reader, is before all this is over, there will be a large portion of the music listening public screaming for my blood. that's alright though, because i feel that it's my duty as an american to blow the cover off this whole scam called AC/DC. trust me, this is for your own good.
I'll just lay it out flat for you; AC/DC sucks. Period. Yes, you read that right. Now before you start rifling off that hate mail that is already composing itself in your mind, just wait a second and hear me out. I actually have a good argument, and upon reflection, i'm confident you'll come to agree with it. Or you'll want to string me up by my balls in public, but we'll see. You people are so fickle.

I'll start with the most flagrant abuse that AC/DC has perpertrated. The songwriting department over at the AC/DC factory has pulled off the scam of the century. They've written exactly four songs total and have managed to market them over and over. AC/DC's put out like thirteen (million) albums, right? They've all sold millions. I can't fathom why. A person really only needs one AC/DC album. Then he has all four songs. Why spend your hard earned money to repeatedly buy the same album?

You're probably asking your self about exactly what are those infamous four songs right about now. Let me explain. Here is the list:
1. The fast song about sex. (i.e. "You Shook Me All Night")
2. The slow song about sex. (i.e. "Let Me Put My Love Into You")
3. The fast song about being naughty. (i.e."T.N.T.")
4. The slow song about being naughty. (i.e. "Hells Bells")

There you go. It's out there in print. Now can you deny it? I didn't think so.

If you are still sceptical about the four song theory, take a listen to "Who Made Who". Now, as soon as that song is over, play "Thunderstruck". It sounds like you just accidently hit the rewind button, doesn't it? You know, the repetitive hammer on run, the slowly fading in of a basic rythem, ad naseum. " Oh my god," you say," this is the same song," as the newfound enlightenment hits you full in the face. Don't feel bad. You weren't the only one who was fooled.

The next musical crime that i formally accuse AC/DC of is passing on the insidious disease, horribledrummeritis. This crime should be considered a class A felony. Horribledrummeritis is very contagious. It could spread into an epidemic of lousy, remedial timekeeping. Ideas like syncopation and polyrythem could become extinct. I shudder to think of the consequenses of not nipping this outbreak in the bud.

It appears, that AC/DC only ever recorded one drum track. Apparently, at their first rehearsal, the drummer, fresh out of his first ever drum lesson, was recorded playing the most rudimentary drum beat possible. You know the one, bass, snare, bass, snare. As generically 4/4 as one could possibly get. Then, over the years, the band simply took the track and speeded it up or slowed it down to fit the tempo of the rest of the song. I'm convinced that the drumtrack for "Stiff Upper Lip", released in 2000, was recorded in 1973.

Moving along, we come to the rest of the musianship. There isn't much to be said of Malcolm's playing. In fact, the only word I can find to describe it is "boring". He doesn't have enough prescence to be even annoying. The bass guitarist, whoever the fuck he is, is actually even more invisible than Malc, so we'll ignore him also. This leads us to good old Angus.

Angus Young, guitar god to many a disenfranchised youth. An over-grown schoolboy with a guitar. What I want to know is, how the fuck did this man become revered by so many guitarists around the world? I just don't see this whole "god" thing. I might be wrong, but I always thought that a guitar god would have to be original, talented, technically proficient, and creative. I didn't realize that copping the most generic rock-n-roll licks that have been played since the creation of rock-n-roll licks constituted godhood. I wasn't aware that the only keys possible on a guitar were a and sometimes e. It also was foreign to me that running around like a spastic mongoloid child on crystal meth was the true sign of one's guitar playing prowess. I guess i have a lot to learn.

Now all this being said, i would like to point out that AC/DC is the only band that I hate that I can also listen to with no complaint. I guess it is comforting to have some good standbys in life, kind of like the nerdy best friend you've had since kindergarten. You know they'll always be home on a saturday night when the girl you asked out stands you up.

I hope this expose will help the world recognize a scam when it rears its ugly head. this has gone on long enough, and it must be addressed. Please refer all death threats on my person to www.bushmado.com. I'll be hiding out in my bombshelter.

What do you people think? This can be found at http://www.bushmado.com/acdc.html

If Angus were to read this stupid essay he would say: "You know, he´s right for the most part, but we haven´t recordered the same 4 songs over and over again...it´s only ONE song!"

A kickass hard rocking song, I might add.

But that´s AC/DC and that´s how we like them. We´ll leave the experimentation to Nine Inch Nails and stuff like that. We just wanna our AC/DC!

WHAT? YOU MEAN...BON LIKED TO DRINK?

There´s been some discussion going on at risingpower about Bon´s drinking. I was surprised to see certain people´s reaction. Seems like Bon liking his booze is some kind of a "romantical concept", to fit the legend or something.
Well...no.
Bon liked to drink, and Bon liked to do drugs. Which is completely fine to me. And that means there musted had been A LOT of times when Bon was stinking from booze, a lot of times when the Youngs had to cope with a hunged-over Bon, a drunk and happy Bon, a depressed Bon...whatever. That´s what alcohol does to you, among other things.
Smiler brought up some interview on which Malcolm is supposed to say Bon flatted out after singing one verse. He passed out, huh? Problem is? Some guys just can´t face the facts. So what´s the big fucking deal if Bon was drunk when he recordered some songs? What if Bon was waaaaay out there in some (a lot of them) live gigs? THAT was Bon. All of it.


A sober Bon would have been completely different. Alcohol itself did not make Bon, but it was a part of Bon´s life. It was also a part of Bon´s death.
Deal with it.