35. AC/DC - 'Power Up'

By far, the biggest release of the year. This is comparable with the second coming. Four years ago, AC/DC looked dead and buried. Brian Johnson had to unceremoniously and suddenly bow out of live duties due to chronic hearing loss (and was bizarrely but rather brilliantly replaced by Axl Rose), Cliff Williams had retired, Phil Rudd was battling personnel problems (including an ‘intention to kill’ charge) and Malcolm Young was dead. The biggest bar band in the world was no more.

It was last year that rumours of life after death started to circulate. We all tried not to get too over excited, but leaked photos of the Phil, Brian and Cliff huddled together outside a recording studio seemed to confirm that the old dog (eat dog) was stirring. Confirmation came in October this year and “Power Up” finally dropped last month.

There is nobody on earth who does this type of guttural heavy blues as well as AC/DC and believe me many have tried (I’m looking at you! Airbourne). “Power Up” is everything that you want from an AC/DC record. It is cocky, slightly risqué (in a naughty school child sort of way) and just bundles and bundles of fun. Yes, there are no stand-out tracks. There is no ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’, 'Thunderstruck’ or ‘Back in Black’. What that however means is that there is less inconsistency than you have found on previous AC/DC albums. There certainly is no throw away pap and no weak points (which is more than you can say about “Black Ice’s” abysmal ‘War Machine’ and actually the whole entire second side of “Rock or Bust”). It is quite simply a solid rock n’ roll album from start to finish.

Having said all of this, its greatest charm is its familiarity. You know what you are going to get, and it delivers everything that you want. In a year which, quite frankly, has been as left-field and unexpected as you can get, there is something wonderfully soothing and reassuring about an AC/DC album that sounds exactly like an AC/DC album. The perfect album for an imperfect year.