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I spent many of my pre-teenage years listening to early AC/DC, but tend to shy away from their later efforts: I believe AC/DC produced a lot of boring, formulaic music after Bon Scott's passing. Originally released in 1977, Let There Be Rock predates the formula. This album features some very well produced recordings of some of AC/DC's best songs. There are songs that aren't so great but in those cases the performances more than make up for the average songwriting.

I've always found the opening track Go Down slightly average. It is a nice, big start to the album, so I guess it does its job. Dog Eat Dog is where the album really starts to groove and Let There Be Rock is a great effort at an anthem. Bad Boy Boogie is a good, solid effort.

This album really hits its stride on "Side 2". Overdose is hugely underrated and gets me every time. Crabsody In Blue is a slow blues-style song and, while a little crass, the humour is still obvious and the guitar playing is hot. After this Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be explodes out through your stereo system. This is one of AC/DC's great songs. The album finishes with Angus Young's guitar anthem Whole Lotta Rosie, which features some of the finest guitar playing by anyone, anywhere, anytime.

While, these days, I tend to question a reasonable subset of Bon Scott's lyrics, you wonder how he sings some of the lyrics with his tongue firmly in one cheek. There's a lot of humour in there that has lost currency in more politically correct times. However, given the emotion in the recordings and the musicianship shown by the band, the less appealing lyrics can be ignored. This album needs to be listened to.

Let There Be Rock is a powerhouse of raw, heavy rock. The guitars are huge and dirty. Bon Scott is in supreme vocal form. From beginning to end this album is simply uncompromising. Listen to it loud...