AC/DC - Ballbreaker
1995 East/West

Track Listing:
1.  Hard As A Rock
2.  Cover You In Oil
3.  The Furor
4.  Boogie Man
5.  The Honey Roll
6.  Burnin' Alive
7.  Hail Caesar
8.  Love Bomb
9.  Caught You With Your Pants Down
10. Whiskey On The Rocks
11. Ballbreaker

Line-Up:
Vocals:  Brian Johnson
Guitars:  Angus Young, Malcom Young
Bass:  Cliff Williams
Drums:  Phil Rudd

Website:  www.ac-dc.net

Horatio's Rating:  A
Overall Rating:  A

Also be sure to read:
AC/DC - Flick Of The Switch by Horatio
AC/DC - Fly On The Wall by Horatio

Horatio's Review:
What exactly is Malcom and Angus' game?  How can two grown men conjure up material of such pure rudeness?  AC/DC might be semi retired these days but when they get it together the music and lyrics get more unbelievable every time.  In 1995 the lads had been absent for a few years, their last album being 1990's masterpiece 'The Razor's Edge', which was followed by the usual mammoth tour and a bogus live album, was the last heard from the lads for a couple of years.  Oh, I forgot about 'Big Gun' I hear you say......When our heroes returned in the horrific grunge/pop punk dominated wasteland of 1995 they brought back their stripped down sound that had been absent on 'Razor's Edge', courtesy of Rick Rubin's production.  With Phil Rudd back behind the stool, the lineup returned to the 1980-83 version, with 63 year old Chris Slade taking his leave.

Lyrically this might be the band's peak.  Hilariously at odds with all around them, the band hadn't changed one iota, providing some relief in those desperate years.  Think 1995, 'The X Factor' and 'Stomp 442'.  What more proof do you need?  Classics were easily dispensed with the unmatchable likes of 'Hard As A Rock', 'Cover You In Oil', 'The Honey Roll', 'Hail Caeser' and 'Caught With Your Pants Down', tracks with riffs so cornball and lyrics so simple, all you can do is laugh at the band's greatness.  I remember sitting down and reading the lyric book like a novel, falling to the floor in tears.  Grown men wrote this.  What can you say?  I feel the music is a tad too restrained on occasion, with none of the heaviness of 'Flick Of The Switch', but that's a minor complaint.  Albums like this make up for the bands continuing bland live performances, but as this and 'Stiff Upper Lip' have been the only two in a decade, they might as well hang it up.  But it's hard to blame the band for their lengthy spells between albums.  How do you top bollocks like this?

Song summaries include:

1.  Hard As A Rock - Brian's got himself a hard-on the size of the 'Rushmore rock'.  'Her hot potatoes will elevate you' is his reason.  Solid riffs in the grand tradition adds to the all round air of ludicrousness.
2.  Cover You In Oil - This takes the cake.  Ten years later and I still can't get to grips with this.  Brian just showered and slipped into 'something good'.  Then the dirty old sod sees a young girl wandering through the hood.  Brian kidnaps her and gets down to it.  'I'll make her wet, I'll make her mine' he relates to us.  She sucks him off.  'Pulls on the zip, gives good lip service'.  Beano busts a nut.  'She make you hot, you spray your lot'!  All the while Brian's covering her in oil!  'She's kinda rough, she give it tough,' he bellows.  Easy to see why it took so long to write a new album, eh bro?  Tough?  Rough?  I can't take it.  I'm off to bed to try and ease the confusion in my head.
3.  The Furor - Could do without this bummer of a track to be honest.  Plodding, with no lyrical fare worth mentioning.  Just joking!  Brian's on the lam from the Firm who will 'bust your balls'.  Brian crosses state lines and does a runner never to be found.
4.  Boogie Man - Slick old Brian's a right wheeler and dealer.  'Some people say I only come out at night, well maybe those folks might have got it right'.  Simple enough?  Not a rocker of any real repute in terms of actual boogie, but that hooks a turkey and a half.  Ace in the hole!
5.  The Honey Roll - What else needs to be said?  Read the title.  Well, I could add 'baby bend over touch your toes' or 'honey roll over and lettuce on top'.  As for the opening riff, I have no suitable adjectives.  Obscene for one.  In a good way of course.
6.  Burnin' Alive - More serious in tone.  What you playing at!  Marginally tedious also.  The boys need to cut loose.
7.  Hail Caeser - Back to form with a chorus I can't fathom.  Listen to it.  How does a mind create something like this musically?  Hail!  Hail!  Nifty Bon Scott vocal copy from Brian goes down a treat.
8.  Love Bomb - Simple and shite.  Brian's a lovebomb on the loose, ripping and tearing at some broad at the strip club.  'Open your bays, get ready, it's bombs away!'  The piece de resistance reads 'love bomb, get it hard!!'
9.  Caught With Your Pants Down - Near seventies rocker with Brian out on the town and causing havoc with the 'wrong crowd'.  Brian's optimistic that 'maybe I'll get beat up' or get 'caught in a shootout'.  Inevitably he's caught pants down with a hooker by the boys in blue against his car, with a smirk on his face wearing only his trademark cap, ass cheeks showing to the camera.  'It's just Brian' says the chief disappointedly, and the police retreat.
10. Whiskey On The Rocks - In ten years I haven't heard this fully.  Boring?  AC/DC?  They can be you know.
11. Ballbreaker - Then they pull another trump card out of nowhere.  'Work hard and tough, and I want some rough'  They could make an entire album off that rhyme.  This crazy bitch man, she's 'a razorback, a hog attack, buildin' steam, whippin' cream, she likes a a fat smokin' stack'.  You read that right chaps.  I could never aspire to that genius.  'She went for my throat, I began to choke, she said honey shoot your load'.  Old Brian's done it about five times in the album so far!  The working man's hero!  All these escapades and misadventures come to life don't they?
Horatio's Rating:  A

Discography (last updated 7.20.06):
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap - 1976
High Voltage - 1976
Let There Be Rock - 1977
If You Want Blood - 1978
Powerage - 1978
Highway To Hell - 1979
Back In Black - 1980
For Those About To Rock - 1981
Flick Of The Switch - 1983
'74 Jailbreak - 1984
Fly On The Wall - 1985
Who Made Who - 1986
Blow Up Your Video - 1988
The Razor's Edge - 1990
Live - 1992
Ballbreaker - 1995
Bonfire box - 1997
Stiff Upper Lip - 2000
Stiff Upper Lip EP - 2001
AC/DC Vinyl Box - 2003