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
Leveled cover

Leveled

Earth Quake
Raw Power cover

Raw Power

Iggy and the Stooges
All of Them Witches cover

All of Them Witches

Hedvig Mollestad Trio
All the Young Dudes cover

All the Young Dudes

Mott the Hoople
Steppenwolf cover

Steppenwolf

Steppenwolf
Up Your Alley cover

Up Your Alley

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts