Today, our friend Basileus reviews the new AC/DC album Power Up.
I should start by noting that AC/DC is my second favorite band of all time. That can be a good thing or a bad thing. For instance, it allows me to overlook certain things (like bad lyrics and “sameness”) but at the same time it can make it tough for me to appreciate when their stuff is not up to snuff.
Second, in anticipation of the release of Power Up, I probably shouldn’t have spent so much time listening to past AC/DC albums, particularly those from the peak period (which for me goes from Let There Be Rock to Flick of the Switch). That surely and inadvertently set unrealistic expectations and helped shape what is my initial slightly underwhelmed impression of the new record.
It’s not a bad album, don’t get me wrong. It’s good. It’s filled with good-to-very good moments, but it’s short of great moments, much less great full songs. While I don’t dislike any songs (with the exception of "Kick You When You Are Down" which I hate and removed from the playlist for now—will revisit it later), I also don't love any songs all the way through. Even the best songs have head-scratching moments where either the production, the arrangements, the background vocals, the choruses, or just the lack of energy mar what could otherwise be first tier AC/DC songs.
I have posted my thoughts on the annoying key change in the otherwise very good first single "Shot In The Dark" (best song on the album, by the way). Other songs that could have reached very high marks instead have to settle for merely “good” or “very good” because of similarly easy-to-fix issues. For instance, "Demon Fire" is a good song. It is fast, has good energy, and has a nice chorus. However, when it gets to the solo, instead of reaching a higher gear (with, for instance, an extended and furious Angus solo), it shifts to a plodding riff over which Angus solos modestly. Frankly, the energy level goes down a bit, only to pick back up again when the solo ends, which is not really the way an AC/DC song should go. Good song that could have been great. And it happens in almost every song, where the potential for more is there but it is ultimately not maximized. For all the crap thrown at Stiff Upper Lip for how plodding and boring it is (most of it deserved), most of the songs are elevated by the arrangements and the soloing and most of the songs finish in a higher gear than when they started.
But I am being overly critical when the reality is, I like it. I think the average song on this is better than the average song on, again, Stiff Upper Lip. And as I mentioned before, unlike Ballbreaker, where half of it is good and the other half is embarrassing crap, this one only has one must-skip song. For me, I suspect this will probably fall somewhere in the middle of the pack of the Brian years, which is no small feat considering their age and the number of albums they have under their belt.
Without doing a song-by-song review, here’s how I see them stacking up, after about 5-6 listens:
Very good:
Realize, Shot in the Dark, Witch’s Spell, Demon Fire
Good/Ok:
Through Mists of Time, No Man’s Land, Systems Down, Money Shot, Wild Reputation
Meh, passable I guess:
Rejection, Code Red
Awful:
Kick you when you are down
One last comment: I suspect "Through The Mists of Time" will divide fans. It’s a bit poppy and I’ve heard it being described as Springsteen-esque. Regardless of your feelings of the song as an AC/DC song, how great would it be if they shot a video of the song with old footage and photo stills of the band and its members throughout their history, particularly of Malcolm and Bon—old live footage, backstage, in the studio, just hanging out. The song is perfect for it. What do you all think?
Monday, November 23, 2020 at 02:43PM 
