AC/DC Album: “Stiff Upper Lip”

I read in a magazine recently that rock music is dead. I also read in another magazine that Korn is the future of rock. Well, as long as AC/DC is around, neither of those statements are true! Stiff Upper Lip is a great album; better than The Razor's Edge, and better than Who Made Who. In fact, it ranks up there with Highway To Hell and Back In Black as one of their best ever! As Angus Young said in a recent interview in Toronto, what we need is some of that good old, toe-tapping rock'n'roll, and that's what we get, and it still sounds just as good as it did when High Voltage came out back in 1973.

PS. AC/DC will be around long after the Backstreet Boys lose their looks and their fans, and long after rap music finally dies (which will hopefully be soon! ) If you agree with me, tell me that my review was helpful by clicking YES!

"You can't stop rock and roll," barks Brian Johnson on track number 7 off "Stiff Upper Lip." Apparently, you can't stop AC/DC either. In the thirty-odd years these guys have been around, they've bypassed every known musical trend (classic rock, disco, punk, new wave, techno, and elctronica) while leaving their sound virtually unchanged. And why should they bother? If it ain't broke, don't fix it, and on their umpteenth album, they've given more of the same head-banging rock to please old and new fans alike. Produced by George Young (the elder brother of guitarists Angus and Malcolm), we get killer guitar riffs, catchy choruses, and enough double-entendres to make Austin Powers proud. These guys have clearly aged and have somewhat mellowed a bit since the glory days of "Back in Black," but the energy is undeniably present. "Safe in New York City," "Hold Me Back," and "House of Jazz" deliver the goods as only AC/DC can deliver them. The album lacks one straight up classic in the vein of "You Shook Me All Night Long," "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" or "TNT," but even so, "Stiff Upper Lip" is a very solid record from "the thunder from down under."

I was fully prepared to be disappointed when I bought this album, as their last album Ballbreaker had a very gloomy, depressing sound with matching lyrics. It did have 2 good songs in Burning Alive and Hard As A Rock, but many of the songs were frankly weird, and Brian Johnson's voice made even a die-hard fan like me squirm in my seat. After the first listen, I was ready to trash SUL for it's boring lyrics and repetitive sound - but for whatever reason, I found myself wanting to listen again an hour later. The second time, I cranked it up louder, and what I had previously criticized - now had an completely addictive quality! Angus and Malcolm are brilliant on this album, with no wasted motion, and the drumming is infectious and had me tapping my foot on most of the songs. Additionally, Brian Johnson's voice is improved! It's a mixed bag, but on a few tracks like "Give It Up", he is reminiscent of his Back In Black style where he sang right with Angus on songs like "Shoot To Thrill". He definitely made more of an effort. This is easily the best produced album since Back In Black, everything sounds clear and dynamic. I love Satellite Blues, and enjoy all the songs with the exception of "I'll Be Damned", and "Come and Get It", as they drag a bit, but even these songs are not throw ins or filler, and other listeners may like their style. Truly, the only thing that can be criticized are the repetitiveness of some of the songs, and the repetitive lyrics, but you'll soon realize that the boys had a reason for this - they wanted to create addictive rhythmic tracks that continue to build to the end of the song. None of these songs have the emotion and power of "Back In Black", but they are all excellent Rock and Roll songs, with a lot of attention to simply making songs that sound good - and are fun and definitely not pretentious. If something sounds good, and you want to hear it again and again through the years, it's not simple - it's good and skilled work. That's what you'll get if you buy Stiff Upper Lip, an album you'll still listen to after 5 years.

There exists today an entire army of reviewers ready to dismiss every AC/DC outing as "the same old thing."

There is no problem with "the same old thing" when the same old thing is simple perfection. By contrast, the last few AC/DC albums have suffered from a bit of an identity crisis; they attempted to layer heavy-handed production on what is essentialy a straight-ahead blues band, more closely related to B.B. King than to the mass of '80s hair-metal bands that are all but extinct today.

George Young's production on Stiff Upper Lip brings to the forefront those strengths which make AC/DC the undisputed kings of blues-metal: the Young brothers' simple, undeniable blue-collar riffs and Malcolm Young's working-class voice. Tracks like Stiff Upper Lip and Hold Me Back are toe-tapping, head-bobbing, hammer-pounding hard-working songs the likes of which can be found nowhere else in record stores today. There hasn't been an AC/DC album (or indeed any album) like this in years, and that's a shame.

What a good thing we have this one to listen to!

The 90s were a sad time for rock & roll, all things considered. First we had the "grunge revolution", which opened the door for depressed-sounding, whiny, talentless garage bands to take over the music industry; then in the late 90s, rap-influenced metal acts - still untalented, but in a different style - such as Limp Bizkit and Korn started to gain popularity. For years, the airwaves were swamped with grungy, downbeat, stale-sounding dreck.

Now, AC/DC have returned to remind us of what real rock & roll is all about. The new album doesn't have the raw, gutsy feel to it that "Back In Black" has, and it doesn't have any supercharged, crank-the-volume metal anthems like "Thunderstruck", but it's great nonetheless. "Stiff Upper Lip" is an album that shows what talented musicians can come up with in their coffee break, and it certainly leaves the dreary "rock" of the 90s for dead.

Let's hope that "Stiff Upper Lip" heralds a new popular music renaissance, so we can just forget that the 90s ever happened, and start listening to good music again.