While we wait for the next AC\/DC album, I thought it would be
\nnice to check out the last album put out by the Aussie
\ntroublemakers. (Hopefully, we’ll see that new album before
\n’99.)<\/p>\n
Anyhow, after the success of
\nThe Razor’s Edge<\/i> and
\nAC\/DC Live<\/i>, the band had somewhat disappeared from the
\nlandscape of rock ‘n’ roll. While
\nThe Razor’s Edge<\/i> had been much a product of the times, the
\nband decided that the next album would touch back on their earliest
\ntimes and albums. So the band called on mega-producer Rick Rubin
\n(who’s produced everyone from the Beastie Boys to Nine Inch Nails)
\nto helm the production of
\nBallbreaker<\/i>.<\/p>\n
The album kicks off with the catchy “Hard As A Rock.” The song
\nwas proof that AC\/DC was still much the same band that it had
\nalways been – right down to the wrongly-believed misogynistic
\nlyrics. Following it was the just-as-catchy “Cover You In Oil.”
\nThis song is a perfect example of AC\/DC’s use of double-entendres.
\nThe song is about making an oil painting of a girl – “covering” the
\ngirl’s body in oil. But that may mean more than one thing – after
\nall, what picture are they drawing?<\/p>\n
Hooks and riffs galore are to be found here. From the mean
\ncrunch of “The Furor” to the blooze of “Boogie Man,” the band is in
\ntop form here. The grooves are improved by the return of former
\ndrummer Phil Rudd – who left after the
\nFlick Of The Switch<\/i> sessions. Other anthems include “The
\nHoney Roll,” “Caught With Your Pants Down” (for which I always
\npicture Marv Albert and Hugh Grant) and the title track.<\/p>\n
Add to that a bit of seriousness that’s brought by the songs
\n“Burnin’ Alive” and “Hail Caesar” – who would have thought that
\nAC\/DC would ever stick a message in one of their songs??? (What do
\nI mean? For example, “Burnin’ Alive” is about the mess at Waco. See
\nif you can’t catch the references.)<\/p>\n
OK, you’re saying. What’s wrong with THIS album? Well, very
\nlittle. The biggest problem with it is Rubin’s production. While
\nHarry Vanda and George Young’s production in the early AC\/DC albums
\nwas lo-fi, but allowed the full power of the band to come through,
\nRubin’s production is empty and shallow.<\/p>\n
Other than that, you can take this album to the bank. Now, where
\nis that NEW album??????<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":24783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5683],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-35987","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-ac-dc","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35987"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35987"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}