AC/DC/For Those About To Rock(We Salute You) (1981)

 

 

Hey Folks! Today Marks The 35 Anniversary Of For Those About To Rock! Fellow Blogger Mr (Andrew )Bop Asked If Anyone One Wanted To Blog About This Monumental Album So Click The Links Below And Check Out Some Great Writers….

https://nauticazinger.wordpress.com

https://keepsmealive.wordpress.com

My review of FTATR was posted last September(2015) So yeah I’m cheating but …..ummmmm My Blog My Rules……..

 

Tbone raced out of the gates and bought this the day it was released and that would have been Nov of 1981! AC/DC as we know became a household item after Back In Black sold like millions and millions and millions (you get the idea) and well you can all read about how Back In Black took us all over musically and sonically as well a good story on my friend CHICO who is the star of the Back In Black post….https://superdekes.wordpress.com/2015/02/13/sonic-waves-acdcback-in-black/

So here we are back in November 81 and those smart Suits at Atlantic Records are getting out new AC/DC product before Christmas which we all know means $$$$$ for the record company’s ….

Tbone did the right thing and bought this on vinyl(I got my copy of FTATR at Christmas) once we got back to his place it was time to further inspect said product! I have always loved the cover simple,a cannon background some kind of copperish color and the logo of AC/DC of course and what a great title for a bunch of young fanboys like myself and Tbone!

FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK …(on the front cover)  WE SALUTE YOU …(on the back cover)  of course we were gobsmacked as there we’re ten more new songs(which i will get into shortly) but the real kicker was that it was a gatefold album…

Boom we opened it up. There it is AC/DC  in a live action shot! Wowzers we must  have stared at that pic for minutes! Ha and no we weren’t baked!

Not to many bands did gatefold sleeves at the time(well in my collection anyways ) of course I had the two Kiss Alive Albums (1&2),Cheap Trick At The Budokan,Dream Police and Rush’s Exit Stage Left and that was it for gatefold sleeves….

Of course AC/DC had built their reputation not only on studio albums but the touring angle as well. Hence the great live shot….

After For Those About To Rocks release I heard chatter in my Highschool Halls that FTATR sounded like the Back In Black? Hahahaha…no shit Sherlock the previous 7 AC/DC albums all sounded alike but that’s AC/DC’s deal and more power to them….I dug it and bought into the program! Oi! I mean why would AC/DC change it up now! They were huge,they had Mutt Lange once again produce as he twiddled the knobs as producer on Back In Black and before that Highway To Hell.

Cliff Williams,Phil(breaking the law) Rudd,Brian Johnson and those crazy wacky Young brothers Angus and Malcolm keep the parteeee going! (Cannon Included!)

FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK (WE SALUTE YOU)-Angus  gets our attention real quick with his real cool picking and brother Malcolm lays down the ultimate riff! Here comes  Cliffy (bass) Rudder (drums) and Jonno, he is already cooked hollering “we roll tonight to the guitar bite!”  Of course if you’re a fan of this album you know this songs deal! The verses and chorus move along at a mid tempo pace and the band shifts gears once Angus nails down the solo! Johnson tells us all to “Pick up balls,Load up your cannons for a 21 gun saluuuuute!” There they be….Cue Cannons…FIRE……by golly AC/DC dumped some cash into the sonics on this album as these cannons sound real! The songs ramps up Angus goes speeding up and down his guitar neck and the song ends with one more round of cannon fire! If your Lookin for an attention grabber …look no further than track 1!

PUT THE FINGER ON YOU-Angus leads off and Phil  joins in on drums Jonno lays down the vocal and man this dude was singing in the high registers on this album as he did on Back In Black. The guitars carry this one as does Angus on his solo.

LETS GET IT UP-Angus once again opens this mid tempo tune and the band steams ahead! Johnson is crafty with the lyrics on this song! At one point he sings”It’s high tide,Let’s ride the moon is rising and so am I” poetry in rock motion my  friends of Arena Rock and why do I say that? Easy peasy 34 years later these lyrics are welded Into the Neanderthal portions of my brain! Guess what? I’m totally ok with this! Angus does not abort ship but shifts gears in a real nice solo and he shows why he’s always been a great hard rock blues guitar player being he can play off the wall bonkers solos and chill it back and play blues solos cranked up to 10 on his Marshall.

INJECT THE VENOM- This is serious AC/DC! Big sound from the band stops and crashes at the start and let Brian wail his vocals in between bursts of High Voltage heavy riff rock! The chorus is real good and man Angus nails down the solo like a lightening bolt zinging the fretboard of his guitar! V-E-N-O-M! Great tune a Gem I mean, Johnson could peel paint off the wall with his vocals on this record! As always top-notch straight ahead hard rock beats courtesy of Mal,Cliff and Phillip.

SNOWBALLED- kinda one of those tunes that no one talks about but I’m gonna! Love Snowballed. It just cranks heavy blues rock from the start and it took me years to figure out what Johnsons singing about on this track! Vocally this track as man he’s giving er! “you been Snowballed!” Yelps Brian and Angus and the boys are steaming down full throttle about to come off the tracks! Angus just lets it rip and that’s the deal for early 80s AC/DC fast hard-driving rock!

EVIL WALKS- The beginning riff man that sounds like Evil to me and this opening to this tune feels like were all going down to hell! Dig how the band shifts gears at the start and by the time Johnson joins were off to the races! Great everything about this song! Crank the video posted and we all can go to Hell together! Love the street backing vocals courtesy of Cliff and Malcolm they ain’t singers man their just dudes in jeans and t-shirts that open there mouths and there’s the vocals. On record is what you hear live.

C.O.D- Love this tune! Love the crisp clear snap mix of Phil’s high hat. Speaking of mixed drums AC/DC always got great drum sounds on their albums and the only other band that has come close is the Cult on their Electric Album! Man those drums on Electric are so crisp so clear and were talking about the Cult back in 1987!  C.O.D is great with just the one guitar at the beginning joining Phil and Brian singing about ‘Call of the dog,cry of the bitch,cream of the dream is the cause of the itch,call of the doctor,cash on demand,get enough rope might even hang’ boom the band ramps up and were off to the real catchy chorus C.O.D …..man I just love  this tune and why not it’s simple yet very effective AC/DC doing what they do best! Teaching all of us 14-year-old boys back in 1981 the birds,bees,does and dont’s of life! For that thanks ACDC!

BREAKING THE RULES-A slow barn burner of a tune as the band just grooves off the top. Angus once again goes into some inner channel old blues guy and plays a low down n dirty solo! This tune is a slower paced AC/DC kinda animal! Phil,Cliff and Malcolm lay back the groove and no worries peeps if you’re gonna break rules break them with AC/DC!

NIGHT OF THE LONG KNIVES-The band all start out of the gate on time all together and this song Yep is one of those end of the finish line Gem classics that no one ever talks about! Love the guitar during the verses sounds pure Evil!  The chorus is real and I mean real catchy  This tune is how we like our fav Aussies…Eviiiiil man pure Eviiiiil !

SPELLBOUND-Trippy dippity tune that wheezes and sniffs its way to the finish line. Back in my youngish daze I would kinda be done after Night Of The Long Knives but over time what makes a great song sometimes is the slow grower that over time will win Ya over! Spellbound is that.  The chorus is Rock EM Sock Em a different kinda of AC/DC  but not really…hey it all can’t be about booze and humping! Well! It can be…..

IN CONCLUSION-On any given day FTATR can easily be up there in my fav AC/DC albums,yeah seriously like why not! Sure my all time fav DACCA record is Flick Of The Switch but there all great in one way or another and I can honestly say AC/DC would never be featured in a 3/4s Filler episode! Nada not happening here. Seriously though 1981 and now Into 2015 FTATR is deemed an all time classic …..just love it ….