Powerage
	Produced by Vanda and Young
	Released on May 25, 1978
	UK CHART POSITION #26 . . . US CHART POSITION #133 . . . PLATINUM RECORD (10/4/90)
	Find it at GEMM
92446-2 cover [high resolution scan]

V ery loud and pretty lame. The last few albums were clever and contained some classic bits: “Problem Child,” “Big Balls,” “It’s A Long Way To The Top.” Nothing on Powerage is essential AC/DC, though some folks have salvaged “Sin City” and “Rock ‘N’ Roll Damnation” just for a keepsake. The problem isn’t power; the album (especially the digital remaster) rocks. Angus Young’s guitar is front and center, truncheoning the listener with chords or branding them with a burning solo. The problem is the material; Powerage isn’t inspired. Bon Scott is ineffectual, with nothing new to say and no new way of saying it. A sense of humor would have helped, since in that context Bon was positively charming, but there’s nothing funny about Powerage. It gets back to the idea of a mythology in their music: Powerage doesn’t add to the mythology. This is just product that’s well-crafted in spots while leaving a general impression of shoddiness. When they threw in intelligent music, the shoddiness came off as playfulness, but nothing on Powerage is so intelligent. There’s really not much more to say about it; the whole thing is unremarkable. In order to fill out the review a little, I’ll mention that I do “cheer” for certain albums to be better than they are. For example, I wanted Steve Hackett’s Cured, Cat Stevens’ Foreigner and Yes’ Tormato to be better than they were, largely because they fell into a “classic” period of music for the artist. But the fact is, some bands release duds in the midst of otherwise very good albums. Powerage, in my opinion, is such a dud. If I don’t warn you away from it with both arms waving, it’s because AC/DC fans aren’t so easily scared.

92446-2 back sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. GIMME A BULLET
2. DOWN PAYMENT BLUES
3. GONE SHOOTIN'
4. RIFF RAFF
5. SIN CITY
6. UP TO MY NECK IN YOU
7. WHAT'S NEXT TO THE MOON
8. COLD HEARTED MAN
9. KICKED IN THE TEETH
   
   US track listing
   
1. ROCK 'N' ROLL DAMNATION    3:35
2. DOWN PAYMENT BLUES    6:00
3. GIMME A BULLET    3:21
4. RIFF RAFF    5:14
5. SIN CITY    4:40
6. WHAT'S NEXT TO THE MOON    3:28
7. GONE SHOOTIN'    5:04
8. UP TO MY NECK IN YOU    4:10
9. KICKED IN THE TEETH    3:52
   
   All compositions by Angus Young and Bon Scott

CREDITS

PHIL RUDD -- drums
BON SCOTT -- vocals
CLIFF WILLIAMS -- bass
ANGUS YOUNG -- guitar
MALCOLM YOUNG -- guitar
Mark Opitz -- engineer
Jim Houghton -- photography
Bob Defrin -- art direction

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