Critic's Review
Steve Huey, All Music Guide
AC/DC's debut album, High Voltage, is a stripped-down collection of loud, raw, rude rockers, mostly odes to rock & roll and its attendant hard-partying lifestyle -- to paraphrase the leadoff track, "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)," getting drunk, stoned, beat up, and laid. The band reveled in its own macho obnoxiousness, particularly Bon Scott; at the end of the gleefully sexist, double-entendre-filled "The Jack," Scott grandiosely thanks a hostile, booing dubbed-in crowd. While their sense of humor and clever wordplay made early AC/DC a great deal of sleazy, infectious fun, the band's revolutionary musical attack could not be overlooked -- Angus Young's manic guitar solos overlaid a series of simple, basic boogie grooves delivered with ferocious power and volume, a sound that made the band a popular attraction at British punk clubs around this same time. The formula would be refined on subsequent albums, but High Voltage proves that AC/DC were already in the big leagues. [High Voltage is also available in an import release.]
