Flick Of The Switch [Remaster]

This is a Hyper CD, which contains regular audio tracks and also provides a link to the artist’s website with the help of a web browser.

AC/DC: Brian Johnson (vocals); Angus Young, Malcolm Young (guitar); Cliff Williams (bass); Phil Rudd (drums).

Recorded at Compass Point Studios, Nassau, Bahamas. Originally released on Atlantic (80100). Includes liner notes by Brad Tolinski.

This is a Hyper CD, which contains regular audio tracks and also provides a link to the artist’s website with the help of a web browser.

Detractors have long called minimalist bands such as AC/DC, Bad Company and ZZ Top formulaic. By paring rock down to its most basic elements, these bands forged a musical terrain where anything less than mastery over the form would reveal gaping holes in the structure. Remember that there are no keyboards filling up space, or creating diversions on an AC/DC record. The point is, AC/DC’s approach may not have varied an inch over the years and it may very well be a formula. It is also a highly effective one.

FLICK OF THE SWITCH carries the spirit of the band’s hard rock crunch with capable aplomb. Massive guitar riffs that could capsize a medium size boat, a stomping 4/4-rhythm section and Brian Johnson screeching like a banshee on the warpath. The album’s highlights are the mid-tempo “Rising Power,” and the bruising title track. When Johnson screams “With a flick of the switch she’ll blow you sky high” on the latter, AC/DC proves itself still capable of explosive outbursts.