Powerage
| Powerage | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by AC/DC | ||||
| Released | 5 May 1978 | |||
| Recorded | January–March 1978 at Albert Studios in Sydney, Australia | |||
| Genre | Hard rock, blues rock | |||
| Length | 39:43 | |||
| Label | Atlantic | |||
| Producer | Harry Vanda, George Young | |||
| AC/DC chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Powerage | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
| Stylus Magazine | favorable |
Powerage is an album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It was the band's fourth internationally released studio album and the fifth to be released in Australia. It was also the first AC/DC album to feature Cliff Williams on bass. All songs were written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young and Bon Scott. Powerage was re-released in 2003 as part of the AC/DC Remasters series.
After a 12-date European tour opening for Black Sabbath in April, bassist Mark Evans was fired from AC/DC on 3 May 1977. In the AC/DC memoir AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll, former manager Michael Browning states, "I got a call one day from Malcolm and Angus. We were in London, I went to their apartment and they told me they wanted to get rid of Mark. Him and Angus didn't see eye to eye. They used to have a sort of tit-for-tat thing going, but nothing that I would have ever thought was going to be gig-threatening." According to Browning, the Young brothers were seriously considering Colin Pattenden of Manfred Mann fame until Browning, who feared Pattenden was too old and did not fit their image, pushed Englishman Cliff Williams, who had played with Home and Bandit. Williams, who could also sing background vocals, passed the audition and would go on to record on Powerage, although Evans insists that the album also has bass by him, as the Powerage songs started being done during the recording of his last album Let There Be Rock, and producer George Young while Williams was having trouble getting his work visa. In a 2011 interview with Joe Bosso that appears on MusicRadar, Evans reflected on his ousting from the group:
The band finally toured America for the first time in the summer of 1977, focusing on smaller markets at first but eventually playing CBGB's in New York and the Whiskey A Go Go in Los Angeles. In December they played a set in front of a small audience at Atlantic Recording Studios in New York City which was broadcast live over Radio WIOQ in Philadelphia and hosted by Ed Sciaky. The promotional album, Live from the Atlantic Studios would be released on the 1997 Bonfire box set. In early 1978, the band returned to Sydney to record their next album.
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