Talking of the guitar on the album, O'Brien said Malcolm's riffs were "boring and perfunctory" and that Angus's solos were "histrionic and incomprehensible" - and then it cuts to a shot of Ang and Malc listening to this - they're both grinning, laughing, nodding their heads! I guess it could be that the reactions were edited in from a different part of the interview. At no point is O'Brien in the same shot with other band members when he makes one of these caustic remarks. He's seated in the black armchair off to the side, while the brothers Young sit on a red leather upholstered loveseat that looks very 1950s somehow and Brian Johnson stands, leaning against the Victorian print wallpaper and enthusing in that great gravelly scratchy Newcastle accent of his.
Anyway, enough about that. It's just a dream, right? Here's another dream: I just hope this album is as good as the last one. The last one was good, solid. Howard Hawks said that all it takes to make a great* movie is "three great scenes, no bad scenes." Well, all it takes to make a great AC/DC album is two great songs, seven solid songs, one really awful song. The really awful song is more important to the equation than you might think. It's true that Back In Black contained no awful songs whatsoever, but unless you've got a classic of that order on your hands, why not throw us a little unintentional comic relief! You can of course omit any number of the solid songs in favor of any additional great songs that you may have lying around.
My nightmare would be for them to put "Can't Stand Still" on this album. They put it on the last album twice - once as "Hold Me Back." Word was Johnson wanted "Can't Stand Still" to be a single. Ock! Awk! I can't even spell the noise of choking disgust that my neck is making at the suggestion of that. What a weak song! A total ballad. Nothing going on at all! Verse and chorus, milk and mildness. There was some slightly jumpy guitar, but still, soooooo tame - we're talking a song that gets stomped on by Bryan Adam's "Can't Stop This Thing We Started." Not something you'd like to say about any AC/DC song! Now, it was fine in terms of album filler, but unworthy of our boys' consideration as a SINGLE!! That bit of rumor, plus the fact that they put the song on the album twice under two different names, gave me a prophetic cringe: "Are they just getting this out of their system? Or is this a direction we'll be seeing more of in the future...?"
I sure hope not. But let me exorcise that fear - BEGONE! BEGONE "CAN'T STAND STILL!" - and move on. Because, I have a very good feeling about this album. I have good reasons to believe it will be at least a better-than-average AC/DC album (which is a fine thing indeed, a better-than-average AC/DC album!). But beyond that, I retain secret hopes that it will be THEIR BEST WORK SINCE (dare I say it?) BACK IN BLACK!
Why not? We've got the whole classic unit from Back In Black back together, and they've had plenty of time to come up with a ton of material (which supposedly, they've been telling us for years they've been doing - would they LIE?? - Brian even at one point let slip the spectre of a "double album!" - a rumor that was blissfully quashed).
And furtherly auspiciously, Brian's doing the lyrics again! Last few albums he hasn't written any lyrics - it was all Angus & Malcolm. And they done themselves proud! But I'm glad Brian's back on that. He has a brilliant touch, with some awesome non entendres and double sequiturs to his credit over the years.
Oh, but I can't wait for this one. Can't wait! Can't stand still. Can't hold me back.
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