High Voltage (international album)
| High Voltage | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by AC/DC | ||||
| Released | 30 April 1976 | |||
| Recorded | 1974–75 at Albert Studios in (King Street) Sydney, Australia |
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| Genre | Hard rock, blues rock | |||
| Length | 44:37 | |||
| Label | Atlantic | |||
| Producer | Harry Vanda, George Young | |||
| AC/DC chronology | ||||
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| Alternative cover | ||||
Original European cover
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Blender |  |
| Rolling Stone | (unfavorable) (1976) |
| Rolling Stone |
(2003) |
High Voltage is the first internationally released studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It contains tracks from their first two previous Australia-only issued albums, High Voltage and T.N.T. (both from 1975).
Originally released internationally on 30 April 1976 on Atlantic Records and in the US on 14 May 1976 on ATCO Records, this edition of High Voltage has proven popular, selling three million units in the US alone. However, initially the album was panned by some critics upon its release, including a review by Rolling Stone magazine's Billy Altman that called it an "all-time low" for the hard rock genre. It was re-released in 2003 as part of the AC/DC Remasters series.
In December 1975, Atlantic Records' UK head Phil Carson signed AC/DC to a worldwide deal. The group's first two albums, High Voltage and the harder driving T.N.T., had been hits in their native Australia—the single "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" peaked at #5—and now plans were made for the band to tour England in 1976. The group had already recorded their next single "Jailbreak" (for which they had shot a music video) and had already begun recording their third LP Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap when, in April 1976, they flew out on their first British tour. The international release only included two tracks from the Australian High Voltage release—"She's Got Balls" and "Little Lover"—with the rest of the songs taken from the T.N.T.. The band arrived in the UK in the midst of the fledgling punk movement, spearheaded by bands like the Sex Pistols and the Damned. AC/DC was never really part of the movement, but got misidentified as such by some observers, as guitarist Angus Young recalled to Guitar World's Alan Di Perna in 1993:
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