European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 21, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Acc keeps Rock n Roll alive by . Considine Baltimore Sun some things never change and acc seems to be one of them. Sure there have been some personnel changes Over the last 16years, the most notable being Singer Brian Johnson who was added after original vocalist Bon Scott drank himself to death in 1980. Its also True that the band has moved up in the world since it first began to raise a ruckus in the seedy pubs of Sydney australians Kings Cross District. These Days acc is strictly an Arena act playing to packed houses across the still the important stuff a the bands sound and sensibility a Hasni to changed a Whit. A a cd a songs have always been Blunt edged and Bone simple specializing i hypersonic vocals and ear crushing guitar. Its not the fanciest Way to Rock and Roll but its efficient. That a one reason Why the band has never put much Stock in instrumental virtuosity. Quot even in the old Days we always put atmosphere before technique a says guitarist Angus Young speaking Over the phone from his record company a new York offices. A you can play a great song note perfect but it might not have that acc though spits Sparks like a downed Power line. That a one reason its music has been so enduring and that Sas True of oldies like dirty deeds done dirt cheap and Highway to Hellas it is of the top 10 album the razors Edge. Quot Kinda reassures your Faith in Rock a no Roll music a a says Young laughing. Then again acc has always been a traditionalists hard Rock band. For one thing the band Hasni to changed its image a bit and looks today pretty much As it did a decade ago. Young for instance still hits the stage wearing a schoolboys jacket and Short pants. An hard work a band acc with Brian Johnsons amp a Spisz pm com Young and Chris Sade Haa it us the shorts and that whole Persona that a always been me from the Start Quot he says. Quot i mean some nights it does get a bit cold. If you re up there playing out there in Finland and you re in the Middle of Winter it can get a Little Chilly. But i think i would feel strange playing without clothes aside though Young reckons that what acc s ongoing Success really Means is simply that Rock a no Roll is alive and Well. Quot it shows that the Public is still out there Quot he says a and that a what they want to hear Rock music. They re keeping it alive. Quot i mean i used to get annoyed years ago when you d hear people like David Bowie go a Ash Rock music s id think a Well it might be dead for you but i could never remember him playing a Rock a no Roll acc however has never played anything but. Young attributes part of the band s Devotion to Basic Rock a no Roll to its Early Days in Sydney. Quot i mean a lot of those areas we played were rough areas Quot he says. Quot if you played pm a slow song it pretty much meant there might be some trouble in the audience a a know so we used to try and keep it fast and that ferocity quickly earned the band a loud and Loyal following. Quot we always knew that we had a distinctive sound Quot says Young. Quot there was just something about it. It was very so hard edged in fact that cd was initially mistaken for Punk Rock in some quarters. Quot or if it was t a Punk band it was a new wave band. And if it Wasny to a new wave band it was a heavy Metal band. I think they always had a tag Quot says Young laughing again. Quot we be always said that if anything we re a hard Rock a no Roll acc is also a hard working band and owes much of its reputation to its near incessant touring in the late �?T70s. Although its Devotion to roadwork is now seen As proof that a band could literally play its Way onto the charts Young says the real reason acc kept crisscrossing the country was that there was simply no other Way to get heard Back then. Quot really when we first came to America in 77, the Rock music on radio was pretty non existent Quot he says. Quot i think there were maybe five or six stations in the entire country that were committed to playing Rock a no Roll and the rest of the stations were pretty much into this disco Type thingy know Quot so we virtually had to play everyplace. And we proved our reputation As a live Rock a no Roll naturally some of that reputation stems from showmanship but even there acc has stuck with the tried and True. That s not to say the band is stuck in a rut exactly As Young puts it Quot we always try to look for something a bit but some things have taken on the status of ritual As when the guitarist drops his shorts Midway through the show to Moon his audience something that used to Shock parents but now seems almost quaint. One thing Young won t do however is waste his listeners time with flashy guitar solos. Quot i be never really been a Follower of that l�?Tve-got-22-frets-and-rm-Gonna-use-�?Tem-All school Quot he says laughing. Quot a Solo has to fit the song. If you re playing a slow song i mean now and again it s Worth zooming up and Down the fret Board. As my brother George used to say keep it exciting Angus Quot but i think my sister in Law said it Best. She said a hey you can practice at acc hits Europe in the Spring Check the a on stage Quot pages in stripes Magazine for tour Houston a in a your baby tonight whoever coined the phrase Quot where there s smoke there s fire Quot obviously had never heard Whitney Houston. Cue up her new album i m your baby tonight her first release in three years and it sounds like this 27-year-old is really smoking a almost every song is packed with sultry moans note bending asides window rattling gospel shouts the works. Without a doubt her performance shows All the Hallmarks of great soul singing. Except soul itself that is. Somehow the emotional fire at usually Burns behind such singing never quite ignites or Houston. Though she obviously knows How to sell a Melody the title tune shows that much and has no double navigating a state of the Art Funk Groove As with e new Jack by name is Nof Susa she a mainly going rough the motions there a absolutely nothing in her performance to suggest that she was even the slightest t moved by these songs. S particular a unfortunate because i m your y tonight is nothing if not an attempt to re establish Houston As an ramp a Singer. That Houston would recognize the need to revamp her snor6 9nificant after All she is one of the most Essul recording artists of the Rock Era having landed 8 c0rsecutive Chart toppers than the beatles or the what s no record a review Bee gees seven to their six. But because so Many of her hits have been floppy big budget ballads a the greatest love of All did t we almost have it All where do broken hearts go a some fans feared that Houston was not just Drifting into the Middle of the Road but into premature irrelevance. To s in living color for instance lampooned her Lack of Funk with a parody entitled rhythm less nation. In order to get Back on track Houston brought in the Best. Not Only does the new album feature four tracks produced by the red hot team of . And baby face whose client list also includes Bobby Brown Paula Abdul and pebbles but she also recruited Stevie wonder with whom she sings we did t know and Luther Vandross for a couple of tunes. This infusion of Funk helps some but rarely adds More than an attractive surface. Although anymore gets a Nice Groove going Early on that has More to do with the rhythm wednesday november 21,1990 arrangement that . And baby face have provided As for the vocals they re so completely subordinated to Drums and Bass that the song would have sounded the same no matter who Sung it. Much the same could be said for i belong to you a dreamily exotic tune whose Appeal has More to do with the Way Narada Michael Walden a production recalls Rebe Jackson s Centipede than anything Houston does. Far More problematic is the title tune an aggressively insistent production so overloaded with vocal firepower that it almost beats the listener Over the head an approach that also Mars the syrupy after we make love. That s not to say Houston misses the Mark All around of course. Her collaboration with Luther Vandross who do you love offers the album s most enjoyable performance in part because of its buoyant beat but mostly because of its delightfully offhand singing. And we did t know in which Houston merely follows the Lead of duet partner Stevie wonder also has its pleasures most of which Stem from wonder s deliciously idiosyncratic writing. Taken As a whole i m your baby tonight disappoints. Because Houston is unable to generate any sense of emotional empathy with these songs she is left with an album that neither succeeds As a change of Pace nor does much to maintain her reputation As a hit maker. A . Considine Baltimore Sun the stars and stripes a anal Page 17
