Eamon Blog

Today's Shelf Pull: AC/DC, Highway to Hell

Big choruses, small decisions, nothing left idling.

Beneath the big choruses, the interest lies in rhythm, restraint and the little decisions that keep a riff moving.

For today's shelf pull in Listowel, AC/DC's Highway to Hell offers a useful reminder: direct music need not be simple in its effect. The guitars give you the shape of a song quickly, but the rhythm decides how it moves. Listen past the size of the chorus and there is smaller work going on, all elbows and careful timing.

The opening Highway To Hell makes that distinction plain. Its riff is an invitation rather than a wall, leaving room for the voice to put its own slant on the beat. The chorus broadens the frame without changing the furniture. There is something pleasingly economical about it: a few strong elements, each allowed to do a proper day's work.

Released in 1979, Highway to Hell is AC/DC's sixth studio album and their last with Bon Scott. That is significant history, but it need not stand between you and the music. His voice is worth attending to as a moving part of the arrangements, not just a name attached to a turning point.

The grain in that voice gives the neatness underneath it a useful rough edge. The guitars and drums keep their appointments; the singing sounds less interested in good behaviour. That friction is part of the appeal. Order does not have to announce itself as order.

On the shelf today

AC/DC - Highway to Hell

LP / Rock / 1979

EUR29.95 / Available now

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