Record of the Day: AC/DC, “If You Want Blood You’ve Got It”

AC/DC
“If You Want Blood You’ve Got It” (Cd Epic B00009QUI1U)

Shocking right from the famous cover which sees guitarist Angus Young impaled by his electric guitar in a lake
blood, this album presents itself as one of the most traumatizing musical experiences your ears can encounter but also as one of the greatest albums in the history of rock.

Generally I hate heavy metal, a very boring genre based exclusively on decibels and a sort of acoustic priapism where the various groups compete to see who screams the loudest. The Australian (but largely British) AC/DC are often lumped together in the newspapers with this clique of well-known strongmen, but in reality they are linked to the great tradition of historical groups
like Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, heavily indebted to the blues and attentive more to the writing of the songs than to the volume of the speakers (however capable of making several toupees fly high).

Recorded in 1978 during the promotional tour of the album “Powerage” (also excellent), “If You Want Blood You’ve Got It” is an album with shocking energy, which peels the skin from the first seconds of the opening track ” Riff Raff”, and preventing you from sitting still while listening, it doesn’t let go until the end, when your brain is now reduced to crazy mayonnaise.
The album still features the diabolical voice of Bon Scott behind the microphone, the arrogant lead vocalist loved by fans, who after recording the next studio album “Highway to Hell” will go to the other world thanks to a bad night (it seems he had drank seven Jack Daniel’s in a row).

The album is therefore a watershed in the band’s production and photographs with lacerating accuracy the incredible energetic potential that it manages to develop in concert. The guitars of the brothers Angus and Malcolm Young are long-range weapons, which hurl electric blasts at the poor people in the front rows while Cliff Williams on bass and Phil Rudd on drums unleash tons of unstoppable rhythm that will put the speakers of your sound system to the test, thanks to songs now
legendary like “The Jack”, “Whole Lotta Rosie” and “Let There Be Rock”.

In the end you feel the need to spend some time in an anechoic chamber, but the album is a bomb and it’s absolutely worth listening to to finally send this mid-autumn month home.

Carlo Boccadoro, composer and conductor, was born in Macerata in 1963. He lives and works in Milan. He collaborates with soloists and orchestras in different parts of the world. He is the author of numerous books on musical topics.

This text is taken from “Lunario della musica: A record for every day of the year” published by Einaudi, courtesy of the author and the publisher.