In 1990, AC/DC released Razor's Edge, which managed to score the band its biggest hits since their legendary Back in Black album in Money Talks and Thunderstruck. The album went on to ship three million copies and while it was like much of the band's 80s material (i.e. inconsistent), it was an enjoyable enough listen.
In 1992, they issued a live album in both single disc and double disc form, and in 1993, they scored generous airplay for the song Big Gun from the Last Action Hero soundtrack. The band didn't follow up Razor's Edge until 1995, when they released Ballbreaker. Produced by Rick Rubin, the album was highly anticipated, as many hoped that Rubin would be able to bring the absolute best out of the band. In addition, with a five year layoff in between albums, many assumed that this would be more than enough time for the band to write and record 11-13 solid tracks.
Unfortunately, Ballbreaker is an extremely disappointing record. As mentioned before in my AC/DC reviews, if an AC/DC album is to be judged on the riffs and guitar interplay of the Young brothers, Malcolm and Angus, then Ballbreaker can be considered nothing other than a disappointment. Add in the general malaise that seems to be all over these recordings, and Ballbreaker ranks up there with some of the worst AC/DC disappointments.
It begins with the first single, Hard as a Rock. While the video for this song was utterly hilarious (and very AC/DC), this song represents how far the songwriting in the band had fallen at this point. Can I listen to the song and enjoy it? Well, yeah, it has a decent enough hook in the guitar interplay of the Young brothers, but one can't help but feel this would've been nothing more than filler on a very good to great DC album, whereas here it's the first (and pretty much only) single.
The band continues to not even try with their songwriting on Cover You in Oil, another song that would've been nothing more than filler on any very good to great DC album, but here, it gets early billing, despite its cheesy lyrics and unimaginative riffing.
The first real bright spot doesn't appear until The Furor begins. The song has a solid, creative riff that drives it, and it has a dark underbelly to its upbeat, bluesy tone. Sadly, one of the worst DC tracks of all time follows. Boogie Mansounds as cheesy as the new movie of the same name looks. Here, the band is going for their classic sleaze rock sound, but it fails miserably.
Little else fails to really capture my attention on this disc. Whiskey on the Rocks is a classic AC/DC stomper, and for once, at least on this track, Rubin's production actually adds to the song rather than detract from it. The song is one of the rawest sounding cuts on the record, and you can't help but wonder if this album could've been more passable had it sounded a bit more raw. This is a point further illustrated by the title track, which is also as raw as hell.
The rest of the song are uninspired, both musically and lyrically. There is no real energy to them, and the band sounds absolutely bored playing them, as if they are just going through the motions. Even when the band does come up with a decent riff (as on The Honey Roll), the lyrics are completely inane, even going by previous AC/DC standards (and this is a band that wrote a song called Big Balls for God sakes).
All in all, Ballbreaker just doesn't really belong in any AC/DC fan's collections unless they are completist, in which case Ballbreaker can take its place right next to some of those awful mid 80s albums the band put out. Casual fans looking for a better taste of newer DC would do much better to check out the band's 2000 release, Stiff Upper Lip.
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