After their first two albums, AC/DC were building themselves up for a successful music career. Although it wasn’t overly apparent by this time, they were becoming increasingly successful as a group. One of their early musical peaks, this was the last release to feature Mark Evans on bass guitar. Still, the first albums by AC/DC were consistent and exciting enough, so could their third release stack up musically as well? Let’s find out.

Go Down begins the album with an interesting song title and listening ahead. It launches into a feedback laden and riff-heavy tune, which progresses very nicely along. Bon Scott sings with his high-end register, sounding wonderful and powerful in his own way. The lyrics here are out-and-out raunchy sexual listening. This song is actually about oral sex, so keep this one away from the kids. Nonetheless, this is a good listen with pulsating rhythmic energy. A very dirty song that, if made today, would cause chaos in society with its dirty imagery. Angus Young plays a blistering guitar solo with loads of wild fills and pinch harmonics galore. His legatos sound incredibly great, and the whole thing sounds sensationally lively. Soon enough, Bon Scott and co return to it, and he sings over a rather muted set of chord progressions to boot. There is a good call-and-response section between Bon Scott’s vocals and Angus Young’s guitars, and this whole thing sounds clever, witty and brilliant. A great tune to hear, this does work tremendously well. A fine listen for macho, male sexual endeavours. Excellent music.

Dog Eat Dog is a shorter tune with an interesting introduction to it, launching into another stunning tune about the nature of the world. This is indeed, a dog-eat-dog world and we are all part of it. For this music and style of sound, this is simple, raw and powerful, unlike most music today. “Every dog has its day!” sings Bon Scott, which is true. After all, Charles Darwin outlined this simple philosophy back in the 1800s. There is a really great guitar solo in the middle of this song, which screams and sounds very raunchy. Bon Scott articulates such things perfectly as a pseudo Robert Plant in his own way. A joy of a tune to hear, this sounds really excellent musically in its simplicity. A great listen.

Let There Be Rock begins with a fast and furious tempo for straightforward Gibson guitars to go over. Singing about the history of Rock music and how it evolved over time. A great listening experience that is super suspenseful, energetic and with great playing, this has some truly great lead guitar from Angus Young here. He plays loudly, anthemically and expressively, and creates a great deal of suspense as well. This music is genuinely underrated today, and although this isn’t even the best AC/DC album out there, this is quintessential listening for Classic Rock fans out there. A great AC/DC song that never sounds dull nor boring in its six minute length, this does sound quite Led Zeppelin esque. A refreshing and interesting tune to listen to, the second half of the song has more interesting guitar sounds abound here. Although AC/DC’s music may be overly simplified, it is undeniably powerful and great to hear, every time. A fine listen, the guitar soloing in the second half of the song is quite something. With much tremolo picking and wild fills, this is extraordinarily awesome. A fine and fantastic song to hear, even today, this has an extended solo section towards the end, followed by crazy fills and a very rocking conclusion.

Bad Boy Boogie begins with some studio sounds before overdriven guitar chords enter and this piece gets kicking underway. An awesome tune to listen to from the start, this is a very direct and listenable tune to appreciate and is powerful, direct and energetic, a musical wake-up call to bands who didn’t use Gibson guitars and Marshall Amps. Nonetheless, this is a really out-there, macho male, sexually promiscuous and politically incorrect sounding tune to listen to. It builds up suspensefully to the guitar solo, which has some mean Angus Young licks and playing. Indeed, although Bon Scott was a legendary singer, Angus Young also largely deserves musical credit here. A sustained and repeatedly played guitar note launches into the second guitar solo before Bon Scott returns to the mission at hand. A really awesome listen, this is classy for dirty male music. Another great listen.

Problem Child launches straight into a cool riff set played by both lead and rhythm guitars duelling it out, before continuing into another excellent and classic piece of AC/DC rock. This is a great and interesting song about being said problem child in the family and Bon Scott sings clear and well over Gibson SGs playing awesome and well worked out guitar chords. A fine tune to hear, this sounds extraordinarily awesome and expressive. Angus Young’s playing is improving on this album, and he illuminates himself as a Rock God already by this point. A fine and catchy listen that does not bore through its five plus minutes of time, Bon Scott also illuminates himself as a really great singer, and he sings with ease and great ability. The second half of the song has the chorus repeated, followed by another round of impressive and expressive melodic guitar work. A fine and interesting musical listen, this is a great effort that sounds wonderful. There is some absolutely amazing tremolo-picked guitar soloing at the end here, as this tune reaches an amazing climax. Excellent, it concludes with crashing sounds galore.

Overdose begins with some loose playing and warming up, before launching into a song that quite honestly, doesn’t sound that good to begin with. Soon enough, it does kick start into another classic sounding AC/DC tune, despite the weird intro. It enters into a fairly standard AC/DC tune with some lyrics about drug use and this does sound really interesting musically, even with AC/DC’s simple musical format. There are some good lead fills, but this is not the best AC/DC song out there. It likely could have been replaced or reworked here. Still, it does work well and it has some lyrics about overdosing on a woman’s love, so to speak. The guitar solo saves the show, with Angus Young playing brilliantly here. Still retaining some interest many years later, AC/DC does make a genuinely awesome and impressive set of songs on this album. This does improve in the second half of the song, and it also makes a decent and progressive impact on the listener. Some of the length could have been cut down, but this is a great listen nonetheless about being lovesick. Interesting tune.

Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be is a solid improvement on the previous song, with loud clanging guitar riffs and drums to begin with. There is a brief section with bass only, launching straight into a great set of riffs and playing from the Youngs. This launches into a song about dirty sexual interests and sounds really diverse and excellent for what it is. Obviously an anti-religious song of sorts, this is about some awesome times and deeds and misdeeds throughout life. A great listening experience, especially lyrically. Some more expressive and dynamic guitar playing by Angus Young emerges in the second half of the song, sounding really awesome and cool. Pretty, punchy and expressive leads are here, and when the band resumes, they truly work as a unit musically. A good four minute long song about the realities of life, it has an abrupt ending. Excellent music.

Whole Lotta Rosie is the last song, with some excellent Led Zeppelin styled riffs, and launches into a very sexual, dirty and rather humourous song about doing it with a plus-sized BBW lady. Pretty out there in terms of its lyricism, even today, it clearly looks back to the dirty and raunchy Rock music pioneered by the likes of The Rolling Stones and others before AC/DC. Nonetheless, this is the most popular song from the album, which is an interesting conclusion to this very good album. Angus Young rivals Bon Scott for the spotlight, and he plays like he really needs to make a great impression, which he does. The guitar call-and-response section here is really cool, and this simple yet powerful tune sounds powerful and different. A supercharged and powerful listen, AC/DC conclude a very good album with an interesting and twisted listen. The extended solo section at the end is addictive listening, and some of Angus Young’s best moments are on this album musically. A cool tune, it ends with glorious guitar fills and drum rolls. Nice work.

AC/DC was progressively getting better by this point. They have made a stripped-down, out there and interesting Classic Rock album for those who desire to hear such a thing. With the exception of Overdose, this is very much a near perfect album. Should you listen to this album? Yes, if you wish to hear a straight ahead Rock album that is good AC/DC and ticks all the right boxes. A good creation from a legendary band.

Progressively improving.

8/10