Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Release of ‘Power Up’ re-energizes rockers AC/DC
Through decades, deaths and disasters, AC/DC keeps thundering on.
Forty-seven years along, and with the closest thing possible to their original lineup, the rockers last week released “Power Up,” their first album in six years.
It’s also the first since the 2017 death of Malcolm Young, who founded the band in Sydney, Australia, in 1973 with younger brother Angus. “Power Up” is dedicated to the elder brother and is shot through with his spirit and songwriting.
“We all felt Malcolm around us; he was there. We’re not spiritual type people, but, boy, oh boy,” lead singer Brian Johnson, 73, said in a Zoom interview from his home in Sarasota, Florida. “Malcolm was a very strong character in real life, and him pass
ing away wasn’t gonna stop that. He was there, everywhere, and I think you can tell it on the record.”
All 12 tracks are co-written by Malcolm and Angus Young, selected by the latter from a trove of unused songs that piled up during the band’s long life.
“Malcolm and myself over the years, whenever we’d come to an album we always walked in with a lot of A-grade songs,” the 65-year-old Angus Young said via Zoom from his home in Sydney. “We always had a stack full more left that were all great, great tracks.”
“Power Up,” the group’s 17th studio album is overflowing with the same thundering chords and schoolboy sneers that marked classic albums such as “Highway to Hell” and “Back in Black.” The latter was also dedicated to a recently deceased bandmate, original singer Bon Scott, who died in 1980.
“There is the similarity between Bon’s tragedy and Mal’s,” Angus Young said.
With Malcolm Young suffering from dementia that would lead to his death, his nephew Stevie Young stood in for him on 2014’s “Rock or Bust,” and he did so again on “Power Up,” though at 63 he’s hardly the new kid.
“We’ve known Stevie for ever and ever. He’s been around us for decades,” bassist Cliff Williams said via Zoom from his home in North Carolina.
After a tough tour in 2016 that Johnson couldn’t finish because of hearing loss that had grown increasingly severe, it appeared the classic version of the band might never play together again.
He’s since been equipped with state-of-the-art hearing-aid technology and had been eager to perform again.
“It was just a lot of fun to be with the boys, and I felt like I was equipped to actually go out and do something,” Johnson said. “My ammunition belt was full. I was ready to go.”