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Rating: We have reached a point in AC/DC's career where the album "Let There Be Rock" had brought some more recognition to the band, allowing the five rockers to perform outside their native Australia. The band started with blues (which was very present in their earlier production "High Voltage"), which during the band's "growth" transformed into hard rock. The work in question was released in the now distant 1977, a year when the hard rock genre was already something tangible and approved in Europe through bands like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, or Scorpions. In the new continent, it was also well-known, and part of the credit surely goes to AC/DC. "Powerage," being sandwiched between two masterpieces like "Let There Be Rock" and "Highway to Hell," has always been somewhat overlooked by critics. But now, let's analyze this record.
It begins with the engaging rhythm of "Rock'n'Roll Damnation," a track featuring an amazing riff that sticks in the memory, a riff in perfect AC/DC style, with Bon Scott highly energized, especially in the chorus, and even the entire rhythm section is almost perfect. The only flaw is that Angus Young performs a solo that isn't quite memorable, but he will make up for it in the following "Down Payment Blues," where the pace is less intense but still spectacular, and the schoolboy delights us with incredible virtuosity. "Gimme a Bullet" is another track that can be described as a semi-masterpiece, with more well-crafted riffs. This is the perfect song, in my opinion, for driving. But all these qualities are solidified with "Riff Raff," which has the same modes as the previous one, but Scott becomes more enraged, the schoolboy's refrains are even heavier, and the solos are very fast. Yet the best moment of the record is surely this, it's "Sin City," where the main riff is repeated ad nauseam, the singer's performance is, as usual, full of screams, then at a certain point everything calms down; from wild, the band becomes very calm, and Bon will sing very low notes before returning to screaming, Angus performs very powerful and never boring solos. "What's Next to the Moon" initially doesn’t seem like much, but when Bon starts singing, you will change your mind: great riff, great solo, and it continues well. With "Gone Shootin" there’s a return to blues, everything becomes calmer, even the singer: this is a nice idea, however, the track leaves you a bit indifferent. The record is closed by two songs like "Up to my Neck in you," which is dominated by a "kilometric" solo, and "Kicked in the Teeth," with high-pitched and screamed vocals by the singer; otherwise, everything is very rhythmic and perfect as usual.
This is one of those records that are not recommended because they are not deemed masterpieces. That we don’t have a masterpiece on our hands is for sure, but it's still a great album in full AC/DC style. It will also be the penultimate of the "Bon Scott Era", and to think that everything seemed to be going smoothly; no one could have predicted that after the next "Highway to Hell," one of the greatest characters of all time, yes, because he wasn't just a simple singer, but a driving force, a truly unique and absolutely inimitable character would leave, leaving a legacy to Brian Johnson, who, no matter how good, cannot "handle" it, and in my opinion, no one ever will.
RATING: 3.50
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Gimme a Bullet (03:23)
She had the word
Had the way
The way of letting me know
She knew the game
Called the play
Oh she hit me low
She said now you go your way
And I'll go mine
And that's a start
Doctor doctor
Ain't no cure
For the pain in my heart
Gimme a bullet to bite on
Something to chew
Gimme a bullet to bite on
And I'll make believe
I'll make believe it's you
Don't need no drink
Don't need no drug
Don't need no sympathy
Sooner or later
Send me a bill
For what she's doin to me
I'll call right up
Long distance lips
On the telephone
Come tomorrow
Come to grips
With me all alone
Gimme a bullet to bite on
Something to chew
Gimme a bullet to bite on
And I'll make believe
I'll make believe it's you
A bullet to bite on
Gimme a bullet to bite on
Cmon now
Yeah yeah bullet to bite
Bullet to chew
I'll make believe it's you
I'll make believe it's you
Gimme a bullet to bite on
You're a bullet baby
I wanna bullet to bite on
05 Riff Raff (05:14)
See it on the television every day
Hear it on the radio
It ain't humid but it sure is hot
Down in Mexico
The boy is trying to tell me
Near enough to the edge (beginning of the end)
Say they've all been there
Too late my friend
CHORUS:
Riff raff
Always good for a laugh (ha ha ha)
Riff raff
Go on, laugh yourself in half
(Smile awhile)
Now I'm the kind of guy who keeps his big mouth shut
Don't bother me
Somebody give me one arm up
Leave me in misery
I've never shot nobody
Don't even carry a gun
I ain't done nothing wrong
I'm just having fun
CHORUS
06 Sin City (04:46)
Diamonds and dust
Poor man last, rich man first
Lambourginis, caviar
Dry martinis, Shangri-la
I got a burning feeling
Deep inside of me
It's yearning
But I'm going to set it free
CHORUS:
I'm going in to sin city
I'm gonna win in sin city
Where the lights are bright
Do the town tonight
I'm gonna win in sin city
(I'm gonna rule you baby)
Ladders and snakes
Ladders give, snakes take
Rich man, poor man, beggarman, thief
Ain't got a hope in hell, that's my belief
Fingers Freddy, Diamond Jim
They're getting ready, look out I'm coming in
So spin that wheel, cut that pack
And roll those loaded dice
Bring on the dancing girls
And put the champaign on ice
CHORUS
07 Up to My Neck in You (04:15)
Well I've been up to my neck in trouble
Up to my neck in strife
Up to my neck in misery
For most of my life
I've been a fool
And you know what a fool can do
I'm telling you
You came along when I needed you
Now I'm up, I'm up to my neck in you
And I've been up to my neck in pleasure
Up to my neck in pain
I've been up to my neck on the railroad track
Waitin' for the train
To cruise on through
Well baby my time is due
Oh it's way overdue
You came along and you pulled me through
Now I'm up, up to my neck in you
Well I've been up to my neck in whiskey
I've been up to my neck in wine
I've been up to my neck in wishing
That this neck wasn't mine
I was a loser
You weren't lost
Baby you were too good, too good to be true
What you've got no one else could do
Now I'm up, I'm up to my neck in you
Yeah you came along when I needed you
Oh I'm up to my neck in you
09 Cold Hearted Man (03:39)
No one knew
Where he came from
He never knew himself
Call her Ma
Call him Pa
But he was born to someone else
No one fooled
Or messed him around
Cause they were all afraid
Ain't no lies
Ice in the eyes
Of Leeroy Kincaid
CHORUS:
Cold hearted man
One time lover heart in his hand
Cold hearted man
And you can't trust nothing you don't understand
Cold hearted man
Cold hearted man
Like a snake
He had no friends
He didn't need no one
Hurt his pride
Deep inside
He was another mother's son
Reputation
Broken glass
Everybody prayed
For their lives on the street
Where they happened to meet
Leeroy Kincaid
CHORUS
Sometimes you can't see
The other side
It's too well hidden
For the naked eye
One time lover
With his heart in his hand
Two time loser
A broken man
Cold hearted man
10 Kicked in the Teeth (03:53)
Two faced woman with the two faced lies
I hope your two faced living made you satisfied
Tell me baby I was your only one
While you've been running around town with every mother's son
Told your story about the women like you
Told your story about the things you do
I used to think that you were sugar and spice
I should've listened to my mother's advice
CHORUS:
Kicked in the teeth again
Sometimes you lose, sometimes you win
Kicked in the teeth again
Ain't this misery ever gonna end?
And I've been kicked in the teeth
Kicked in the teeth again
Two faced woman, such a crying shame
Don't know nothing, you're all the same
You run around, hope you had your fun
You never know who's gonna win till the race been run
CHORUS
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Other reviews
By alfo
Powerage is a splendid album that finds AC/DC in great shape and definitely in their most creative moment.
There are no valid reasons to put an album that rightfully belongs among AC/DC’s best works on the back burner.
By teenagelobotomy
"Powerage turns out to be... a unique album in weight and power, if not the most aggressive, certainly the most compact and powerful."
"Riff Raff... certainly the masterpiece of the album."
By JonnyORiley87
Powerage passed unjustly in near general indifference of the time, actually proving its strength between two gems of the caliber of Let There Be Rock and Highway To Hell.
The apex of the album is reached with the Rock/Blues gem Gone Shootin’: a nearly funk-like beginning grows into a monstrous solo that seems never-ending.
