Powerage

Released

Despite its silly cover art (lead guitarist Angus Young, electric wires protruding from his sleeves, seemingly aglow with electricity), 1978’s Powerage is Bon Scott-era AC/DC’s most “mature” album. The frontman’s lyrics on “Down Payment Blues,” “Kicked in the Teeth,” “Gimme a Bullet,” and “What’s Next to the Moon” are surprisingly poetic, but they’re married to riffs as hard as any in the band’s catalog, and the rhythm section — guitarist Malcolm Young, drummer Phil Rudd, and new bassist Cliff Williams — drive everything hard, but with a suppleness sometimes absent in their earlier work. And they still know how to write a berserk, headbanging thug anthem; “Riff Raff” is a song that can make an audience literally explode, and “Sin City” is almost as hardcore.

Phil Freeman

Suggestions
I cover

I

Kingston Wall
Not Fragile cover

Not Fragile

Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Trout Mask Replica cover

Trout Mask Replica

Captain Beefheart
Tasty cover

Tasty

Good Rats
Are You Experienced? cover

Are You Experienced?

The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Too Much Too Soon cover

Too Much Too Soon

New York Dolls
The Rolling Stones, Now! cover

The Rolling Stones, Now!

The Rolling Stones
The Seeds cover

The Seeds

The Seeds
Razor Wire cover

Razor Wire

Mean Mistreater