AC/DC : Powerage (European Sequence)

THEY SAY THAT YOU
PLAY TOO LOUD

WELL,

BABY THAT'S TOUGH

Powerage

 is the fifth 

studio album

 by Australian

 Hard Rock Band

 AC/DC 

released on

  May, 5th 1978

 in the

 United Kingdom

 and

 May, 20th 1978

 in the 

United States, 

by Albert Productions 

and 

Atlantic Records. 

This was the band's

 first album 

to feature 

Cliff Williams

 on

 bass guitar, 

and it was also

 the first 

AC/DC 

album not to have

 a title track 

aside from the

 Australia-only 

High Voltage album

 Powerage 

was re-released

 in 2003 

as part of the 

AC/DC 

Remasters 

series.

Background

After a 12-date 

European tour

 opening for 

Black Sabbath

 in April, 

bassist

 Mark Evans

 was fired from

 AC/DC

   May, 3rd 1977. 

In the 

AC/DC memoir 

AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll, 

former manager 

Michael Browning 

states,

 "I got a call one day 

from 

Malcolm and Angus.

 We were in London,

 I went to

 their apartment 

and they

 told me 

they wanted to 

get rid of Mark.

 Him and Angus 

didn't see

 eye to eye. 

They used to 

have a 

sort of 

tit-for-tat 

thing going, 

but nothing that

 I would have 

ever thought was

going to be 

gig-threatening." 

According to 

Browning, 

the Young brothers 

were seriously

 considering

 Colin Pattenden

 of 

Manfred Mann's Earth Band

 fame. 

Browning 

feared that

 Pattenden was

 too old

 and didn't fit 

the band's

 image, 

so he instead 

pushed for

 Cliff Williams, 

who had

 previously 

played with

 Home 

and

 Bandit.

 Williams, 

who could also 

sing 

background vocals,

 passed

 the audition 

and was asked 

to join the band

According to the 

Murray Engleheart book 

AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll, 

several songs 

that appeared on

 Powerage 

were started in

 July 1977 

during the band's

 first rehearsals

 with Williams

 at Albert Studios,

 including

 "Kicked in the Teeth", 

"Up to My Neck in You",

 an early version of 

"Touch Too Much"

 which later appeared 

on the follow-up album 

Highway to Hell,

and possibly

 "Riff Raff". 

The Powerage sessions

 officially got going

 in January 1978 

and stretched over

 a period of 

about eight weeks. 

Atlantic Records executives

 in the United States

 complained that 

the album did not 

contain a 

radio-friendly single, 

so with the first pressings

 of 

Powerage

 ready to go in the UK,

 the band complied 

and recorded 

"Rock 'n' Roll Damnation". 

The song, 

which features

 handclaps and maracas 

and does not have

 a traditional 

guitar solo, 

was released in 

Britain 

at the end of May

 and reached #24,

 the best performance

 yet by an

 AC/DC single.

Biographer

 Clinton Walker wrote

 in his 1994 

Scott memoir 

Highway to Hell, 

"'Gimme a Bullet' 

was perhaps 

Bon's most 

accomplished piece 

of writing to date,

 in which his 

penchant for

 hardcase metaphors 

finds even more 

genuine pathos 

and humour than

 it had before.

 "What's Next to the Moon", 

with its allusions to 

Casey Jones 

and Clark Kent, 

as well as the elusive 

"Gone Shootin'" 

and the unapologetic

 "Down Payment Blues"

 "I know I ain't doin' much, 

but doin' nothin'

 means a lot to me"

clearly show that

 Scott's writing, 

much like the 

band's sound, 

had evolved 

from the novelties

 of the group's

 early albums.

"Bon was a street poet

  he described it as

 'toilet wall' poetry," 

former AC/DC

 manager

 Michael Browning

 explained to 

Peter Watts

 of Uncut in 2013.

 "That was unknown.

 They signed a singer 

and got a lyricist,

 as well." 

"Sin City",

 which the band performed

 frequently in concert, 

explores the 

seductive charms 

and dangers

 of Las Vegas, 

while

 "Kicked in the Teeth" 

addresses a

 two-faced woman

 with

 "two-faced lies".

 In an interview with 

Bass Frontiers, 

Cliff Williams recalls 

the sessions fondly:

 "The guys had already been

 in the studio for a while 

and we went in

 to do what 

turned out to be

 the Powerage album. 

Great work environment. 

Albert Studios

 there in Sydney 

was a great little 

rock and roll room... 

Great producers. 

Obviously a lot of 

chemistry there 

being brothers. 

Just a real fiery, 

energetic work environment. 

And we had about

 three weeks to do it,

 'cause that's about

 all the money we had...

 It was really a

 tremendous experience.

Releases

Many of 

AC/DC's 

early albums

 were altered

 for release in

 other markets, 

and this practice 

continued with 

Powerage, 

although it was 

the first LP to be

 released nearly 

simultaneously in both 

Australian 

and international

 markets 

Just With Different 

Sequences

TRACKLIST

(European Sequence)

Rock 'n' Roll Damnation

Gimme a Bullet

Down Payment Blues

Gone Shootin'

Riff Raff

Sin City

Up To My Neck In You

What's Next To The Moon

Cold Hearted Man

Kicked In The Teeth

LINK