AC/DC: Fly On The Wall

[ALMOSTsaved]

Am I the only one who loves this album? Sure the production was somewhat challenged. We had mega reverb on Brian's vocals and Simon Wright on the drums, but I think overall it was AC/DC's last great album. The title track fucking smokes. Maybe I'm partial because this was the first tour I saw the band live...

[Terry]

Sink The Pink was okay. So was Shake Your Foundations.

I enjoyed the album enough at the time. Didn't really start to lose interest in AC/DC releases until the Who Made Who single came out.

Can't be bothered listening to it these days, though. Have pared my stuff down to nothing but Bon, save for Back In Black. Everything the boys did after BIB sounds like they were trying to make Back In Black 2 anyway, so I just saved the best and dumped the rest.

Never had a problem with Simon on drums...Brian sounded tremendous on BIB, but his voice just got worse with each following release.

[ALMOSTsaved]

I agree with you on that Terry. Bon was definitely the man and everything after BIB was the same formula...I just thought "Fly On The Wall" stuck out...

[Mr. Vengeance]

It's a good album, but all their albums are at least good. Brian's vocals always bugged me on Fly...they're mixed way back.

It was a real let down after Flick of the Switch, which was killer!!!

[Mr Badguy]

I always thought side one rocked and "Playing with girls" from side two.

The last four tracks are pretty forgettable, though.

I think "Shake your foundations" would fit right in at an AC/DC concert, rather than them totally ignoring "Fly on the wall" and boring us to death with "The Jack".

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Originally posted by Mr. Vengeance
["Fly on the wall"] was a real let down after Flick of the Switch, which was killer!!!

I agree. If there ever was some kind of "BiB II", "Flick of the Switch" was the one... Why on earth do they never play the slightest track from that one on stage?

Originally posted by Mr Badguy
I think "Shake your foundations" would fit right in at an AC/DC concert, rather than them totally ignoring "Fly on the wall" and boring us to death with "The Jack".

I agree as well. It's always the same old setlist. If only they could forget "The Jack", "Highway to hell" or even "For those about to rock" and play "Send for the man", "Shake your foundations", "Back in business"?
And what about stuff from "Flick of the switch", such as "Rising power", "Flick of the switch", or the "henaurmus" "Guns for hire" and "Landslide"?
For a goddam change...

I feel a lot of sympathy for Brian Johnson, really; but it's true that his voice has altered through the years... Up to the point that it's become a pain for me to hear him struggle with his vocal chords on his own songs, and most often nearly ruin Bon's tunes. I mean, I still dig AC/DC a damn lot, but there's something to be done about their setlist and Brian should have something done to his voice.

As for the place of "Fly on the wall" in their discography since "Back in black", well, here's the ranking I'd set, for what it's worth:

1. The Razor's Edge
Flick of the Switch
3. Stiff Upper Lip
4. For those about to rock
5. Fly on the Wall
6. Ballbreaker
Blow up your video

"The Razor's Edge" makes it by an inch IMO. It's overflowing with inspiration.

[Mr. Vengeance]

I hear you...Blow up Your Video is by far the AC/DC album that gets least play in my house. I hated the name, hated the album cover, and the songs were all pretty average.

[mako_kimura]

Most of the stuff on Fly On The Wall was pretty good. Shake Your Foundations was a good song. Razor's Edge was by far the best. However, I do agree with ya, Vengance, Blow Up Your Video

[mako_kimura]

*sucked

[Terry]

Originally posted by Jérôme Frenchise
I agree. If there ever was some kind of "BiB II", "Flick of the Switch" was the one... Why on earth do they never play the slightest track from that one on stage?



I agree as well. It's always the same old setlist. If only they could forget "The Jack", "Highway to hell" or even "For those about to rock" and play "Send for the man", "Shake your foundations", "Back in business"?
And what about stuff from "Flick of the switch", such as "Rising power", "Flick of the switch", or the "henaurmus" "Guns for hire" and "Landslide"?
For a goddam change...

I feel a lot of sympathy for Brian Johnson, really; but it's true that his voice has altered through the years... Up to the point that it's become a pain for me to hear him struggle with his vocal chords on his own songs, and most often nearly ruin Bon's tunes. I mean, I still dig AC/DC a damn lot, but there's something to be done about their setlist and Brian should have something done to his voice.

As for the place of "Fly on the wall" in their discography since "Back in black", well, here's the ranking I'd set, for what it's worth:

1. The Razor's Edge
Flick of the Switch
3. Stiff Upper Lip
4. For those about to rock
5. Fly on the Wall
6. Ballbreaker
Blow up your video

"The Razor's Edge" makes it by an inch IMO. It's overflowing with inspiration.

The Razor's Edge was a good effort. But like you said, it's painful just to LISTEN to Brian struggle on record AND on stage post 1983 or so.

Flick Of The Switch was okay.

Sometimes the very thing that I tend to compliment the band for, that they never underwent radical stylistic changes and stayed true to their roots (whatever AC/DC album you throw on, you know what you're gonna get), is also a real limitation for me; the sameness of all of it. This is more true particularly AFTER Bon died.

For some reason I can listen to the pre-BIB stuff and get enough of a variety there to keep it all seeming fresh, but post-BIB a lot of AC/DCs stuff just seems very much samey-sounding. If you really like that sound, then the consistency is great, but...

I dunno.

[jharp84]

Very true! Shame about bands playing the same fucking tunes every fucking tour and rarely playing"deep cuts" live that we need to hear!

[Mr Badguy]

I think "Ballbreaker" is their worst ever album.

The guitars have hardly any overdrive on them and the songs are pretty tired.

Rick Rubin mad The Cult`s "Electric" album with the perfect AC/DC sound but here he has blown it with the real AC/DC, which is ironic when you think about how good "Big Gun" is/was with him producing.

"Blow up your video" ain`t great but at least it`s got one or two really good tunes ("Heatseeker", "That`s the way I wanna Rock n Roll").

[Coyote]

Originally posted by Mr Badguy
I think "Ballbreaker" is their worst ever album.

The guitars have hardly any overdrive on them and the songs are pretty tired.

Rick Rubin mad The Cult`s "Electric" album with the perfect AC/DC sound but here he has blown it with the real AC/DC, which is ironic when you think about how good "Big Gun" is/was with him producing.

"Blow up your video" ain`t great but at least it`s got one or two really good tunes ("Heatseeker", "That`s the way I wanna Rock n Roll").

I'd add "Meanstreak" from that album, as well.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Originally posted by Terry
Sometimes the very thing that I tend to compliment the band for, that they never underwent radical stylistic changes and stayed true to their roots (whatever AC/DC album you throw on, you know what you're gonna get), is also a real limitation for me; the sameness of all of it. This is more true particularly AFTER Bon died.

For some reason I can listen to the pre-BIB stuff and get enough of a variety there to keep it all seeming fresh, but post-BIB a lot of AC/DCs stuff just seems very much samey-sounding. If you really like that sound, then the consistency is great, but...

Exactly. I'm still a fan, but mostly the big repeated choruses get on my nerves, you know, "C.O.D!... C.O.D!... C.O.D!... C.O.D!..." or "Come hell or high water!... Come hell or high water!... Come hell or high water!... Come hell or high water!..." or "Beeeedlaaam in Beeeelgium!... Beeeedlaaam in Beeeelgium!... Beeeedlaaam in Beeeelgium!... Beeeedlaaam in Beeeeelgium!..." :D

Originally posted by Mr Badguy
Rick Rubin mad The Cult`s "Electric" album with the perfect AC/DC sound but here he has blown it with the real AC/DC, which is ironic when you think about how good "Big Gun" is/was with him producing.

"Big Gun" is one of my top-3 fave AC/DC tunes with Brian on vocals. That tune is perfect. Nothing to add to it, nothing to take out from it. Just perfect.

[Mr. Vengeance]

There are a bunch of great songs on Flick of the Switch that you can CRANK THE FUCK UP...Title track, Bedlam in Belgium, Guns For Hire, Nervous Shakedown...The whole album is rocking. They need to get those into the live set at some point.