Wax of the Week #6...AC/DC: TNT (1975)

Their second album (Australian version), while still in their early, somewhat more primitive stages. Love "Live Wire," "High Voltage," and especially the anthemic "It’s a Long Way to the Top" with its droning bagpipe. AC/DC are one of those bands, like The Ramones and Motörhead, where if you don't like them it's hard to grasp why you'd even like any harder rock music.

Wax of the Week #5...AC/DC: '74 Jailbreak EP (1984)

I remember when this came out, it was great to hear these early Bon tracks that weren't released on the American versions of their albums. And they weren't throwaways. "Jailbreak" is one of their best songs, with its Doors-like dramatic middle part. Even the cover of Joe Williams' old blues standard "Baby, Please Don't Go" (by way of Them's version, I'm guessing) kills, with its smokin' main riff. I'll bet it's expensive to be a completist AC/DC collector, with all these international variations and non-LP songs, as with Thin Lizzy.

Wax of the Week #4...A-II-Z: No Fun After Midnight 12" single (1981)

They're not the most well-known NWOBHM band (they only released a live album and one other single), but damn if the second b-side, "Valhalla Force," isn't one of the best songs of the era. The other two aren't too shabby, either. Simon Wright, AC/DC's drummer for most of the '80s, plays on this. One of the great thrills of buying metal records in the '80s were European import singles, which usually featured non-LP flipsides, and those big 45 RPM grooves sounded MASSIVE.

Wax of the Week #3...AIDS Wolf: The Lovvers (2006)

I think I only listened to this once before filing it. What comes to mind was a more trebly, punky-prog Black Flag, but I could be totally off. But even if the music was awful I’d still file it, as this is the band of two of my favorite graphic artists out there, Chloe and Yannick of Seripop. They naturally put a beautiful, screen-printed package together, complete with inserts, poster, and the works. Their work has that killer, primitive energy in the best underground Gallic tradition, à la Le Dernier Cri. Seripop became well-known via their gig posters, but have since entered the fine art realm, producing large, ambitious installations of abstracted screen printed paper. If you have any old Seripop posters you don’t want anymore, please send them to me. In the meantime I’ll give this another spin.

Wax of the Week #2...AC/DC: Flick of the Switch (1983)

I'm not as big a fan of the Brian Johnson version of AC/DC, but there are certainly good songs scattered throughout their 1980s records. I like three songs on this one. At least they produced it themselves, and ditched Mutt Lange. Never got to see this band live. Not sure they played the Albany area much back in the day.

Wax of the Week #1...AC/DC: Powerage (1978)

Often forgotten because of the popularity of its followup (Highway to Hell), Powerage (the band's fifth LP) was sort of like a musical comedown (in feel, not quality) or respite from the hyperventilating fury of its monster predecessor, Let There Be Rock. Despite the presence of fast rockers like "Kicked in the Teeth" and the massive "Riff Raff," many of the songs have a more restrained, bluesy feel that borders on southern rock. It also contains what is probably my favorite song from the band, "Down Payment Blues," with its unusual (for AC/DC) arrangement. It's one of those rare records where every song is digable. Unfortunately, after this magical slab, "Mutt" Lange would come in and shave all the burrs off their sound. I have the original mix version that omits "Rock ’n’ Roll Damnation" but adds "Cold Hearted Man."