Rocks In The Attic #56: AC/C - ‘If You Want Blood - You’ve Got It’ (1978)

56 blogs in, and I’ve not even covered an album by the mighty ‘DC. Shocking!

I remember when I first started listening to rock music - well, not even rock music, it was Aerosmith and nothing but Aerosmith at this point - my Dad brought home a stack of LPs that he’d borrowed from a friend for me to listen to. Amongst this pile was several AC/DC albums - all from their classic 1970s period.

This was the first time I had been subjected to AC/DC, and even before listening to them, I was in awe of the covers; and the one I remember being blown away the most by was this one - their first live album, recorded during the Powerage world tour. On the front cover, an out of focus shot of Angus Young impaling himself in the gut with his Gibson SG, with Bon Scott leering over his shoulder, holding onto his microphone. On the reverse, a similarly blurry shot of a now lifeless Young, lying face down with the headstock of his guitar poking through the back of his bloodied white school shirt. You can talk about classic album covers all day long, but this one is a real peach. In terms of a cover describing a band’s sound, this one really gets it down perfectly.

As well as introducing me to AC/DC, this album also gave me a love of the song Riff Raff. Underrated and underplayed by the band, this is a real gem and used perfectly here as their show-opener. You know that guitar sound that comes out of the speakers after the first line of vocals in the song? That’s Young bending an entire open-D cord. Beautiful. I’ve broken many guitar strings doing this very trick.

It’s odd that AC/DC have never really been able to capture their live sound in the studio. They sound as good as anybody in the studio - especially from Powerage onwards - but recorded live they sound like a completely different band. That’s probably the reason they’ve never released a greatest hits record - their live records are their greatest hits.

Hit: Let There Be Rock

Hidden Gem: Riff Raff