Thanks to Superdekes for sending this!
AC/DC – “Play Ball” (2014 Columbia)
Holy shit, AC/DC’s back. When we all heard about Malcolm’s health problems, I thought that was it. I really didn’t expect them to carry on with Stevie Young — but here he is, on AC/DC’s great new single “Play Ball”.
Judging by “Play Ball”, not much has changed in AC/DC land. The flavour is still distinctly AC/DC: upbeat, great mid-tempo groove and solid riff. And I swear you can hear some different fingers on the strings. Listen carefully. Yet regardless of losing arguably the most important member of AC/DC, it sounds like nobody else. Brian’s still growling, his voice pretty much unchanged since the Ballbreaker album in ’95. Musically, I’m thinking in territory similar to 2000’s Stiff Upper Lip. I’ve heard the song six times as of this writing (three on the radio, three on my PC). It’s nothing that will go down in AC/DC history as one of their greatest singles, but I can’t say anything bad about it either.
4/5 stars
Rock Or Bust tracklisting:
01. Rock Or Bust
02. Play Ball
03. Rock The Blues Away
04. Miss Adventure
05. Dogs Of War
06. Got Some Rock & Roll Thunder
07. Hard Times
08. Baptism By Fire
09. Rock The House
10. Sweet Candy
11. Emission Control
mikeladano.com 
Yup, that fuckin’ rocks. AC/DC baby, YEAH! \m/ \m/
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Oh yeah….and now with Mikey posting about it just gets us all cranked up about it!
4 songs with the title of Rock in it and I really look forward to hearing Emission Control!
Aye,Aye,Oi ….Shake……..
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Good call on the “Rock” titles, Deke!
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Actually iTunes has the album on preorder and you get the Play Ball single right away !
Guess what I’m doing!
Ha
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I’ll buy the regular CD, unless there’s a bonus track in something else.
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Well I just took a look and iTunes is charging $10.99 for it with no liner notes. I may actually hold out and go and buy the physical copy myself (for once) ha!
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Than again I may cave by than ?!
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When AC/DC first posted “Play Ball” on YouTube this morning, they accidentally posted the song “Rock Or Bust”. It was taken down two hours later, but the song is already getting around. You can hear “Rock Or Bust” here:
http://rutube.ru/video/2646a3eada5d6befdf5f878bc5d4c828/
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Right on, cheers Jeff! I heard about that little mistake this morning but haven’t heard the track til now!
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I think Garth says it best about how I feel about new AC/DC……………http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szkgylvDYA4
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I’m glad it was this instead of “ewwwwwww”!
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Oh yeah! Let’s play ball!!! Listen to that guitar! \m/ \m/
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It’s a delightful sound :)
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This is pretty exciting stuff. I saw Stevie stand on for Malcolm in 1988, without any real difference.
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No kiddin’ eh? What’s he look like?
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He’s another Young clone, was in the Starfighters back in the day.
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Pretty impressed by this. It’s got a good vibe. The Stiff Upper Lip similarity is exactly how I felt about it.
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Always glad to have Scott on my side when I do a review. Cheers!
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AC/DC learned many years ago that if ain’t broke then don’t fix it. This sounds like grass roots AC/DC and I like it.
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