SONIC WAVES…AC/DC/Fly On The Wall

1985 and by that point AC-DC weren’t the huge juggernaut they were about 5 years earlier when they steamrolled all our young minds with Back in Black(1980) and For Those About To Rock(1981).

1983s Flick Of The Switch is perhaps my all time fav Aca Daca record and you can read about it  here.https://superdekes.wordpress.com/2014/09/03/sonic-waves-acdcflick-of-the-switch/

So when Fly On The Wall dropped in June of 1985 all us diehards bought it upon its release and then  it slid off the charts and that was that! But I tell Ya man I love the rawness of this record I mean gone were the days of Mutt Lange polishing and refining up the sound for AC-DC. Course it worked as those 3 records that Mutt Lange produced (Highway To Hell,BIB and FTATR) were huge sellers but by the time Flick Of The Switch was released the bros Angus And Malcom Young seized the good ship ACDC and took over its controls at the studio console and produced these two ACDC records(FOTS and FOTW)  These two records are the sleeper records in the ACDC catalogue and if you’re looking for singles here….Nope! If you’re looking for a real good sounding produced album here…..Nope! If you think you’re gonna understand Brian Johnson’s lyrics on this record….Nope! Ha!

But if you are looking for some no-nonsense just plug it in and let it rip kinda rock than well …..this is the place!

LET THERE BE ROCK……indeed!

FLY ON THE WALL- Angus drops a power chord  and here comes new boy Simon Wright on the drums and  Johnson vocals sounding like his appendix is about to explode! This is fantastic shit! Johnson is off the rails already and were only 30 seconds in! The song right ramps up by the chorus and plows forward with quick Angus Young on the frets and   good Ol Cliff Williams slobbering all over his bass. This is AC-DC that I love! Straight forward rock..basically boot you in the ass rock!

SHAKE YOUR FOUNDATIONS-Aye Oi! This I guess was the single and it’s pretty damn catchy I mean you can’t go wrong with the boys banging out the lines Aye Aye Oi! Shake Your Foundations! This is a good mid tempo non stop rocker and I love this track and that damn chorus! Those wily OL rock vets still could write a catchy chorus and this tune proves it! Perhaps if they had cleaned this song up sonically it would have done better but yeah tell Malcolm that and you would be eating a fistful of knuckles! Still though this is a great track!

FIRST BLOOD-ACDC keeps the machine chugging along and here comes First Blood! Simon and his Sonor drums keep the beat a grooving and the guitars of Malcolm and Angus do the rest! This is ACDC being in street fighter mode! Locked and loaded. The verses are real good and pre chorus is gold and boom First Blood ….bad dog looking for more! Ha could be about a women or could be a fight! I’m thinking on this tune a fight 1985 style! Whatever the fuck that means!

DANGER-Angus and Malcolm mix there guitars like some kind of Led Zep mash up! Danger Danger,don’t talk to strangers sings Jonno and hey man it’s 1985 and ACDC is not reinventing the wheel here folks but still it’s 1985 I’m still in high school and ACDC is teaching me about all things Danger meaning birds! Ha!

SINK THE PINK- I remember this video got some spins on Muchmusic and speaking of Highschool (Lakeview High School)we had an English teacher in grade 12 at the time Ummm can’t remember his real name but surprise he had a nickname and it was Waxman! Waxman we spent one class talking about this track that he had seen the night before on MuchMusic! Ol Waxy just couldn’t understand why call the song Sink The Pink…to us (classmates) we dug it to Waxman he hated it was a good debate,nothing was resolved but it was good to see that Waxman could roll some rock n roll  punches! The song though is ACDC ….nothing fancy but Angus and Malcolm keep the chow train moving and once again this is ACDC mid tempo smashing glasses and rocking it forward!

PLAYING WITH GIRLS- Ahh man this is my favourite tune off of FOTW! Boom this is barroom boogie rock at its best! The guitars are cranked on this track and so is Johnson he’s cranked up for sure …you know this song is about the highball women who are hot to touch! And well if Your playing with Girls gonna get you hot,playing with guns gonna get you shot! Playing with fire gonna heat you up,Playing with me you gonna get the lot!…..so yeah man this is   ACDC taking over my English teacher Waxmans class and teaching all of us young uns the birds and bees of life! Come to think of it..Tbone did you write these lyrics in grade 12! Ha!

STAND UP- oh yeah another track I really like! ACDC tells us take no shit Stand Up don’t be a puppet!  Love the beat to this  tune by new drummer boy Simon Wright! Love the guitar of Angus and Malcolm that kinda sleazy riff there known for! The chorus is real catchy with Cliff even noodling around on his bass and Johnson rocks it with his voice! Well what’s left of it! Ha!

HELL OR HIGHWATER-Simon leads off with your typical AC-DC drum beat and the boys join in and this song isn’t to bad. During the chorus the Dacca boys drop down some serious big gang backing vocals. Of course Angus like he always does interjects the song and torpedoes a riff good time solo!

BACK IN BUSINESS AGAIN-well they may have been down in record sales but don’t count these guys out! ACDC is headed for the homestretch with this tune. Too be honest they ease  off of the gas on this one and that is Allright I mean let’s do a quick rundown so far with this album…well its about things that make you Sink The Pink! Ha! Really and oh yeah Playing with Girls! Geez does it get any better than this? Nope Sez I!

SEND FOR THE MAN-AH shit ACDC are wanting their dough. Send For The Man holy heck Jonno sounds like he’s gargling vocal mouthwash here! He’s telling us all to take cover and ACDC end the album on a riff oriented straight ahead rocker to finish things up! For crap sakes will the last one to leave shut the lights off when Ya leave? Thanks!

IN CONCLUSION- you know outside the goofy album cover this album rocks! What I mean by that is ACDC don’t give a shit about singles back in 85! This is stripped down low a dirty ACDC and I was real glad that Tbone invested into Fly On The Wall as well I mean he had been toting along two debacles sonically at the time Y&Ts Down For The Count and sapping and dabbling in Nightranger(7 Wishes) so Tbone saves face with this call..Atta boy!  But Yep…I dug this one and still do I don’t visit this one as much but when I do it’s still a firecracker of a Wreckord!