一听音乐网

Powerage was a first in the sense that it debuted bassist Cliff Williams, but it really is more of a
final curtain to the band's early years. It would be the last produced by Vanda & Young, the legendary
Australian production team who also helmed hits by the Easybeats, and it was the last before AC/DC
became superstars. As such, it's perhaps the most overlooked of their '70s records, also because,
frankly, it is the most uneven of them. Not that it's a bad record — far from it, actually. There are
a few genuine classics here, most notably "Down Payment Blues" and "Up to My Neck in You," and there's
a real appeal in how Bon Scott's gutter poems of excess are reaching a mythic level; there's a real
sense that he truly does believe that rock & roll leads straight to hell on "Rock 'n' Roll Damnation."
But overall, the record is just a bit too wobbly, one where the parts don't add up to a record as hard
and addictive as before — but there's still plenty worth hearing here