AC/DC return to the record bins today with PWR/UP (Power Up) their first new studio album in six years.
“It was pretty much a case of our management had kind of contacted us and said, ‘Are you up for making a new album?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, well I got plenty of material that I had over the years which me and [my late brother] Malcolm [Young] had worked on.’ You know, a lot of great AC/DC tracks that we’d not got recorded as yet. And it was pretty much getting in contact with Brian [Johnson], Cliff [Williams], Phil [Rudd] and [my nephew] Stevie [Young] to see who would all want to be on board and everyone was buzzing and excited to go. Got behind the instruments and Brian got behind the microphone and off we went.”
Some of the riffs and ideas that Angus and his late brother Malcolm had — for songs that ended up on PWR/UP — date back to the early 2000s.
“Just before we made [2008’s] Black Ice we had so much material, ’cause we had a lot of years, me and him writing away, and Malcolm had said, ‘Okay, you know, we’ll leave these for now, but we’ll get them next time around.’ And I thought, well, this is the perfect time. I should get those tracks out.”
Produced by Brendan O’Brien, who oversaw their last two albums, PWR/UP is available in numerous configurations, including one that you can literally power up.
The limited-edition deluxe CD box set has a button on the side that powers up a flashing neon AC/DC logo light on the cover while the opening bars of the album’s first single, “Shot in the Dark,” can be heard on the box’s built-in speaker. The box also contains a 20-page booklet and USB charging cable allowing the box to remain powered up and on display. And of course it’s also available on vinyl as well as digitally.
“Good strong title because, you know, that’s what did as soon as got back together. There we were powering up.”
PWR/UP track listing:
- Realize
- Rejection
- Shot in the Dark
- Through the Mists of Time
- Kick You When You’re Down
- Witch’s Spell
- Demon Fire
- Wild Reputation
- No Man’s Land
- Systems Down
- Money Shot
- Code Red
