Ball breaker

Ball breaker
Studio album by
Publication (s)	September 22, 1995
Label (s)	Elektra Records
Format (s)	CD, LP, MC
Genre (s)	Hard rock , blues rock
Title (number)	11
running time	49:47
occupation	Singing : Brian Johnson Lead guitar : Angus Young Rhythm guitar : Malcolm Young Bass : Cliff Williams Drums : Phil Rudd
production	Rick Rubin, Mike Fraser
chronology Live (1992) Ball breaker Bonfire (1997)

Ballbreaker (colloquial English for about " man woman ") is the twelfth international studio album by the Australian hard rock band AC / DC . It was first published on September 22nd, 1995, and a remastered edition wasreleased in 2005. It was the band's first studio album since The Razors Edge , released in 1990.

background

Former drummer Phil Rudd , who left the band in 1983 due to alcohol problems, contributed to the album . The songs Hard as a Rock , Cover You in Oil , and Hail Caesar were also released as a single.

The album was produced by Rick Rubin , who also produced the single Big Gun , which appeared on the 1993 soundtrack for the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Last Action Hero . At Rubin's instigation, bassist Cliff Williams used flatwound strings.

As usual, the lyrics to Ballbreaker were written by the Young brothers and contain sexual indecentities and ambiguities (such as " she looks so fine I'll make her wet, I'll make her mine " from the song Cover You in Oil ).

tour

Singer Brian Johnson during a Ballbreaker World Tour concert (1996)

The Ballbreaker World Tour was the band's first tour in five years and was similar in size to the previous tour. The first North American concert was on January 12, 1996 in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA, at the Greensboro Coliseum. There the band toured up to and including April 4, 1996, until the tour took them to Europe, where AC / DC played numerous concerts between April 20, 1996 and July 13, 1996. This tour section also included 12 performances in Germany. The tour then continued in North and South America, as well as Australia and New Zealand.

The concert film No Bull , which was recorded on July 10, 1996 in the Spanish capital, Madrid, was also made during the tour .

Setlist

1. Back in Black
2. Shot Down in Flames
3. Thunderstruck
4. Girls Got Rhythm
5. Hard as a rock
6. Shoot to thrill
7. Boogie Man
8. Hail Caesar
9. Hells Bells
10. Dog Eat Dog
11. The Jack
12. Ball breaker
13. Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution
14. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
15. You Shook Me All Night Long
16. Whole Lotta Rosie
17. TNT
18. Let There Be Rock

Additions:

19. Highway to Hell
20. For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)

Track list

1. Hard as a Rock (Angus Young, Malcolm Young) - 4.27
2. Cover You in Oil (Angus Young, Malcolm Young) - 4:33
3. The Furor (Angus Young, Malcolm Young) - 4:10
4. Boogie Man (Angus Young, Malcolm Young) - 4:07
5. The Honey Roll (Angus Young, Malcolm Young) - 5:35
6. Burnin 'Alive (Angus Young, Malcolm Young) - 5:06
7. Hail Caesar (Angus Young, Malcolm Young) - 5:14
8. Love Bomb (Angus Young, Malcolm Young) - 3:14
9. Caught With Your Pants Down (Angus Young, Malcolm Young) - 4:15
10. Whiskey on the Rocks (Angus Young, Malcolm Young) - 4:35
11. Ballbreaker (Angus Young, Malcolm Young) - 4:31

reception

The album reached number 4 in the US charts and number 6 in the UK charts. In Australia it was the band's first studio album since Back in Black (1980), which made it to the top position. Ballbreaker made it to number 1 in Sweden and Switzerland, in Austria and New Zealand it was in second place. It won double platinum in the USA and gold in Germany, where it reached fourth place.

The relevant press was rather negative about the first studio album in five years, so Götz Kühnemund from Rock Hard described the album as disappointing, not comparable to the classics and above all criticized the vocal performance of singer Brian Johnson, whose age you can probably tell . Jancee Dunn from Rolling Stone pointed out above all that the album was rather unsurprising, lyrically with regard to sexual innuendos also almost clearly ambiguous. The HiFi magazine Audio judged: “As immovable as the Australian rock Ayers Rock, AC / DC also stand as a monument in the hard rock landscape. The band from "Down Under" has been cultivating rough hard and heavy sounds with clanking guitars, loud drums and screeching vocals for years. Angus Young and his buddies stay true to each other on Ballbreaker too. The musical heavy metal menu does not contain any surprises, but thanks to solid heavy home cooking it is definitely tasty at rustic dance parties. However , you wait in vain for hits like Highway to Hell . ”Furthermore, the Stereoplay commented as follows:“ Almost 20 years after High Voltage , AC / DC are still extremely live. Freshly motivated and spurred on by cult producer Rick Rubin, Ballbreaker , the first studio album in five years, turned into a powerful statement. The music is rough and unpolished, kept in the rock sound of the seventies - and as energetic as it was back then. The Australian metal foremen go to work hard as a rock . Angus Young plays furious guitar runs on The Furor , and Brian Johnson pushes his vocal cords to the limit in the bluesy Boogie Man or the stadium anthem Hail Caesar . Then only whiskey on the rocks helps for cooling - another highlight on Ballbreaker . "

Individual evidence

1. ↑ AC / DC - Maximum Rock and Roll: The Ultimate Story of the World's Greatest Rock-and-Roll Band , by Murray Englehart, Arnaud Durieux, 496 pages, Harper Collins USA, ISBN 0-06-113391-4
2. ^ Nathan Brackett, Christian Hoard (ed.): The New Rolling Stone Album Guide . 4th edition. Fireside, 2004, ISBN 978-0-7432-0169-8 , pp. 4 (AC / DC: Ballbreaker).
3. ↑ Cover you in oil ( Memento from September 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ AC / DC Setlist at Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas, Madrid. Retrieved August 13, 2017 . 
5. ↑ Götz Kühnemund: AC / DC: Ballbreaker . In: Rock Hard . No. 101 , 1995 ( review [accessed May 31, 2008]).
6. ↑ Jancee Dunn: AC / DC: Ballbreaker (Review). In: Rolling Stone. November 16, 1995, accessed May 31, 2008 . 
7. ↑ Audio.de Musikkritik: AC / DC - Ballbreaker ( Memento from March 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (October 15, 1995, accessed on September 17, 2012).
8. ↑ Stereoplay.de music review: AC / DC - Ballbreaker ( Memento from February 12, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) (November 15, 1995, accessed on September 17, 2012).