Let there be sound...there was sound...let there be light...there was light...let there be drums...there was drums...let there be guitar...there was guitar...oh! let there be rock!

So goes the bare bones, driving chorus to the title track of Aussie rockers AC/DC's second worldwide release. In those lines lies not only a simple history of rock and roll, but also a smart parody of Biblical language by the most unkempt, unwashed, unpure and raw hard rock band ever.

By the time Let There Be Rock came out in June of 1977, the band had already recorded and released their true second album, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, held back from American release due to it's laviscious and tawdry lyrics. Unlike that record, however, Let There Be Rock was a more cohesive work, showcasing the band's growing ability to put together an album that truly felt like an album.

The one-two punch of Go Down and Dog Eat Dog sets the album's tone, no doubt helped along by the frustrations of a marred home-country tour leading up to the sessions, and the energy those frustrations no doubt helped to create. If Go Down is a raw, rough around the edges blues boogie, then Dog Eat Dog is a deliberate, almost plodding bit of stomping, anarchist hard rock track that never really gains a ton of steam, but is driven forward by the vocal yelps of the late Bon Scott.

The aforementioned title track is the undeniable centerpiece of the record. It is as good a proof as any that AC/DC could be as heavy metal as any other band on the planet at the time (or since, really), and really, the fact that guitarist Angus Young's guitar amp caught on fire during the recording of it, only resulting in producer George Young telling Angus to keep playing. With a single listen, it's not hard to see why the amp caught on fire. Young plays his instrument like a beast out of his cage, with a positively driving bit of metallic guitar work before unleashing a pair of blistering solos. After just more than six minutes, the song reaches it's end, but only after the listener has been rocked harder than ever before in his or her life. Let There Be Rock may be, more than any other track, the definitive AC/DC epic for those reasons.

The second half of the album features the most well known tracks. Problem Child is a swaggering, energetic song with a sweaty, meaty two chord riff that will make air guitarists out of the least experienced rock fan. Bad Boy Boogie revisits the band's more bluesy roots, abandoning the extra raw sound that is found most everywhere else on the record.

Whole Lotta Rosie is Scott's infamous story of one of his sexual encounters, with a woman of humongous proportions. It is, to say the least, one of the more definitive Bon Scott trademark songs from the Bon Scott era.

Only Overdose, stuck in between the aforementioned Problem Child and the pure out and out fun of Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be, fails to strike much of a chord in this listener. At over six minutes, the song is overlong, and it is the one spot on the record where the band fails to sell the song to the best of their abilities. Scott sounds bored, and the song lacks the energy and fire of the other tracks on the record.

All that being said, Let There Be Rock stands just below the "must-own" tier of AC/DC releases, falling into the "next step" of albums, alongside discs like Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap and High Voltage. This doesn't make it bad, or merely ok. Instead, it's a great album that doesn't quite measure up to the legendary status of other discs such as Powerage (the band's best) or Highway to Hell.

4.5 stars, rounded down.

Recommended: Yes