Search - Ac/Dc :: Blow Up Your Video (Dlx)

Hard album to like

Quinn L. Miller | Columbus, OH | 02/22/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Strange departure in a string of declining fortunes for the Australian rockers. At least Johnson's voice is in better form than either their previous (Fly on the Wall) or latter (Razor's Edge), and this is as good as he would sound until turn of the century. But bringing back old producers Vanda & Young did nothing to reverse the sinking trend, if anything just exposed the tired blues rock riffs by way of thin production. The lyrics try a little harder than on FOTW, but that's never the point when listening to AC/DC. "Heatseeker" and "That's the Way I Wanna Rock N Roll" are the obvious attempts to break radio (or video), neither having the power or hook to push that threshold open. The band could benefit from some of the witty sleeze/sly word play Scott used to employ in his lyrics. "Meanstreak," "Go Zone," and "Ruff Stuff" all being bland, by the numbers songs with little personality, no spark. This is dead similar to the writer's block headed issues Ram It Down by Judas Priest was experiencing the same year. Both bands looking to stay relevant in a changing rock environment but hitting a brick wall in the process. Fortunately, things would improve, at least a little, with the turn of the 90's."