"Let There be Rock" is the 3rd studio album by Australian hard rock band, AC/DC. It was released in 1977 on Atlantic Records and produced by Harry Vanda & George Young. The line-up for the album was Bon Scott (vocals), Angus Young (guitar), Malcolm Young (guitar), Mark Evans (bass) and Phil Rudd (drums).

Coming just a year after their seminal album, "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap", AC/DC hit us again with a barrage of great hard rock songs. "Let There be Rock" peaked at No.17 in the UK album charts, but the two singles released off the album, "Dog Eat Dog" and "Whole Lotta Rosie", incredibly failed to chart.

The album begins with "Go Down", which is a hard rocking track with a touch of the blues. It has a great riff throughout which is quite simply played by Angus and Malcolm, but what steals the show is the delivery of Bon Scott's vocals who was very underrated as a singer, and that's something which I just can't understand. I'm not going to say what the song is about, but those who are of age can probably work it out from the title!

"Dog Eat Dog" is a song about the cut and thrust of the business world, specifically the music industry and how everyone's fighting for the same thing but very few make it. I'm split down the middle with this song and quite undecided. It's got good structure but it's not exactly a track that stands out as being a classic on an album that has a lot of classics. This is a song that was played rarely live, probably for all the above reasons.

There's not much to be said about the title song, which is one of the best known songs the band has ever written or recorded. It's a brilliantly frenzied song dedicated to rock and roll and all those that play the music and is about how the music genre has become an institution or religion if you will, with musicians as the preachers and the fans as the congregation. It's on this song where Angus shines. It has a great, heavy riff, but the solos are insane and from around the four-minute mark that's all you get - not that you'll be complaining! This is just a brilliant song, no doubt about it.

"Bad Bog Boogie" is up next, which is a song written by Bon Scott about his exploits with women in the town he grew up in. Once again, there's some really excellent guitar playing here. Malcolm's rhythm backs up Angus' soloing perfectly and the bridge between the two main solos is very catchy. If I had one criticism, it would be that the main riff is played a little too fast and I think it may have been a better song with a slower tempo.

"Problem Child" is a song that was on the band's previous album, "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" and didn't originally feature on the Australian version of "Let There be Rock" - Atlantic Records made the decision to replace "Crabsody in Blue" with its questionable lyrical content. Anyway, it's still a great rock song with a very catchy chorus and I do love how Bon Scott sings this, almost as if he really was a problem child as a youngster - something which wouldn't have surprised me in the very least.

"Overdose" has some great hard rocking riffs over Bon's wonderful vocals, played to a bluesy tempo which really hits the spot, especially when Angus is soloing over Malcolm's riff in the middle of the song. It's a track about getting too much of a good thing with a woman and not being able to stop. The song was covered by American thrash metal band Exodus on their 1989 album, "Fabulous Disaster".

"Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be" is one of the best songs on the album, but I actually much prefer the live version on "If You Want Blood (You've Got It)". Bon's singing is sublime on this track and I enjoy the way AC/DC gives a blues-sounding song more of a rock feel. It's a song about cavorting with a woman, and the narrator knows he shouldn't be there but he figures it's too much of a good thing to let go.

"Whole Lotta Rosie" finishes the album in spectacular style with a true story, which I'll attempt to narrow down. While on tour in Tasmania, Bon Scott went with a very big woman called Rosie and had the most amazing of crazy nights he'd ever had in his life and when the band came back to Tasmania he looked for her again and she'd slimmed down and it wasn't the same. I'm not sure if that's the absolute truth, but there you go. Anyway, the song is the best on the album with one of the most recognisable AC/DC riffs in history. This is an excellent end to the album.

In summary, this is one of my favourite AC/DC albums, but then again, they all are if Bon Scott is singing on them. "Let There be Rock" has everything you need for a classic hard rock album and more, and I can't get enough of some of the songs on here. Sure, there are some unmemorable tracks but to be fair the album gets better and better after the first two songs. I would definitely recommend buying this, and you will not regret doing so.

1. Go Down
2. Dog Eat Dog
3. Let There be Rock
4. Bad Boy Boogie
5. Problem Child
6. Overdose
7. Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be
8. Whole Lotta Rosie

My rating: 8/10