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If You Want Blood You've Got It

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Not to be confused with the song of the same name from the Highway to Hell album.

If You Want Blood You've Got It
Live album by
AC/DC
Released13 October 1978 (1978-10-13)
Recorded30 April 1978
VenueThe Apollo, Glasgow
Genre
Length52:42
Label
Producer
AC/DC chronology
Powerage
(1978) 		If You Want Blood You've Got It
(1978) 		Highway to Hell
(1979)
Singles from If You Want Blood
  1. "Whole Lotta Rosie (Live)"
    Released: 10 November 1978[1]

If You Want Blood You've Got It (written as just If You Want Blood) is the first live album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, and their only live album released during Bon Scott's lifetime. It was originally released in the UK and Europe on 13 October 1978, in the US on 21 November 1978, and in Australia on 27 November 1978.[2] The album was re-released in 1994 on Atco Records and in 2003 as part of the AC/DC Remasters series.[3]

Background

[edit]

The album was released six months after the band's previous studio album Powerage. A 'best-of' package called 12 of the Best had been in the works, but the project was scrapped in favour of a live album. It was recorded during the 1978 Powerage tour and contains songs from T.N.T., Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Let There Be Rock, and Powerage. It is the last Bon Scott-era AC/DC album produced by Harry Vanda and George Young, who also produced the band's first five studio releases.[4]

In his 1994 Bon Scott memoir Highway to Hell, author Clinton Walker observes, "Live albums, which tended to be double or triple sets in which songs short in their studio versions were stretched out into extended tedium, were for some reason popular in the seventies. If You Want Blood reversed this tradition... it boasted a blunt ten tracks and, allowing nothing extraneous, got straight to the point, that being raging AC/DC rock and roll."[5]

A concert at the Apollo Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland on 30 April 1978 was used for the live tracks. The concert is also remembered for the encore, when AC/DC came back on stage dressed in the Scottish football strip, paying homage to Scott's and the Young brothers' homeland.[6]

"This gig summed up what made AC/DC so special live: the energy, the rapport with the crowd and the way those simple yet classic songs took on another life. You hear all of this on If You Want Blood. It's a great reminder of how remarkable the band and their fans were that night." – Tom Russell, DJ[7]

"Dog Eat Dog", performed on the night, was removed from the album release, while the encore – "Fling Thing/Rocker" – was edited, removing "Fling Thing" and cutting out Angus's extended solo, as he did a walk around the audience (with an early version of a wireless guitar lead). This part of the band's concert theatrics later accompanied "Let There Be Rock"; "Rocker" has been performed only a few times since Bon Scott's passing in 1980. The live "Dog Eat Dog" was released as the b-side of the single "Whole Lotta Rosie" in November 1978, but only in Australia. It was rereleased worldwide in 2009 on the two (standard) and three (collectors) CD boxed set compilation Backtracks, featuring Australian-only songs not released internationally at the time, and live b-Sides from 7" and 12" singles. The encores "Fling Thing" and "Rocker" (with a complete guitar solo) appeared only on footage of the concert by a Dutch TV station played at the time, but were eventually released on the Family Jewels DVD.[citation needed]

According to the 2006 book AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll, the album title was an extension of Scott's response – at the Day on the Green festival in July 1978 – when a journalist asked what they could expect from the band. The singer replied, "Blood."[citation needed] The cover art is from a shoot with Atlantic Records' staff photographer Jim Houghton after the show at Boston's Paradise Theater on 21st August 1978, the idea for which came from Atlantic's art director Bob Defrin.[citation needed] The front cover depicts Angus Young being impaled on stage with a guitar during a performance, while the back depicts a bloodied Young lying facedown on the same stage, though deserted.

A song titled "If You Want Blood (You've Got It)" appeared on the next album: the band's US chart breakthrough, Highway to Hell.

Reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[8]
Blender[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[10]
Spin Alternative Record Guide5/10[11]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[12]

The album was listed at #2 on Classic Rock magazine's readers' poll of "50 Greatest Live Albums Ever".[13] In a 1992 interview with Metal Hammer at the time of the band's second live release, Malcolm Young admitted, "I personally still prefer the old album. We were young, fresh, vital and kicking ass."[14] Greg Prato of AllMusic notes, "While most other rock bands of the era were busy experimenting with disco or creating studio-perfected epics, AC/DC was one of the few specializing in raw and bluesy hard rock, as evidenced by 1978's live set, If You Want Blood You've Got It."[15] Eduardo Rivadavia of Ultimate Classic Rock enthuses, "Other concert records may boast more songs, more Top 40 hits or even more crowd-pleasing gimmicks. But very few can challenge the sheer excitement and reckless abandon captured on AC/DC’s terrific concert document."[16] Carlo Twist of Blender magazine praised the album, saying that "They were always a mighty live act, and this is the sound of AC/DC in Europe just prior to 1979's U.S. breakthrough. The audience's hysteria regularly cuts through the amps, as they howl along to singer Bon Scott's tale of sexually transmitted disease ("The Jack") and punctuate guitarist Angus Young's staccato riffing on "Whole Lotta Rosie." Imagine a punk-rock Chuck Berry played at nosebleed volume."[17]

Concert footage

[edit]

The entire Glasgow concert was filmed but the complete footage has never been released. Eventually, "Riff Raff" and "Fling Thing/Rocker" segments were made available on the DVD AC/DC Family Jewels, released in 2005. Video footage was also used from the show on Family Jewels using the "Rock 'n' Roll Damnation" studio version audio track promotional clip. Segments from the concert (the songs "Rock 'n' Roll Damnation", "Dog Eat Dog" and "Let There Be Rock") were made available on the DVD Plug Me In, released in 2007 (the latter 2 were also released on YouTube in 2013)). "Bad Boy Boogie" was included on the bonus disc on the three-disc edition of Plug Me In.[18]

Track listing

[edit]

All tracks are written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young and Bon Scott

Side one
No.TitleOrigin albumLength
1."Riff Raff"Powerage5:59
2."Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be"Let There Be Rock4:10
3."Bad Boy Boogie"Let There Be Rock7:29
4."The Jack"T.N.T.5:48
5."Problem Child"Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap4:40
Side two
No.TitleOrigin albumLength
6."Whole Lotta Rosie"Let There Be Rock4:05
7."Rock 'n' Roll Damnation"Powerage3:41
8."High Voltage"T.N.T.5:05
9."Let There Be Rock"Let There Be Rock8:33
10."Rocker"T.N.T.3:24
Total length:52:44

Original concert setlist

[edit]

All songs written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young, and Bon Scott except "Fling Thing", which is a Scottish traditional song.

No.TitleLength
1."Riff Raff" 
2."Problem Child" 
3."Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be" 
4."Rock n Roll Damnation" 
5."Bad Boy Boogie" 
6."Dog Eat Dog" 
7."The Jack" 
8."High Voltage" 
9."Whole Lotta Rosie" 
10."Let There Be Rock" 
11."Fling Thing" 
12."Rocker" 

Notes

  • The song "Gimme a Bullet" was played during sound-check, according to the Official Apollo Theatre website setlist for the show.[19]
  • "Fling Thing" is the b-side to the original Australian only single of "Jailbreak", but is actually the traditional Scottish folk song "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond". The band played it live in Australia and Scotland as a staple part of the encores in the early years, and is replayed on the 1991 album AC/DC Live 2 CD Collectors edition from the Glasgow concert on the Razors Edge World Tour (though this time it is just called "Bonny") and it was re-released in its original form, for the first time since 1976, on the Backtracks boxed set.
  • This version of "Fling Thing / Rocker (reprise)" - as it was the encore for the concert - is on the Family Jewels DVD, with some of the other songs from this concert, but the entire show has never been seen in its entirety since an original broadcast by a Dutch TV station around the same era.[20][21]

Personnel

[edit]

Production

Charts

[edit]
Chart performance for If You Want Blood You've Got It
Chart (1978–2024) Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[22] 37
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[23] 7
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[24] 73
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[25] 29
UK Albums (OCC)[26] 13
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[27] 17
US Billboard 200[28] 113

Certifications

[edit]
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[29] 3× Platinum 210,000^
France (SNEP)[30] Gold 100,000*
Germany (BVMI)[31] Platinum 500,000^
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[32] Gold 50,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[33] Gold 25,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[34] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[35] Platinum 1,000,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Music Week" (PDF). p. 56.
  2. ^ "AC/DC - If You Want Blood You've Got It (Vinyl, Australia, 1978) For Sale | Discogs". www.discogs.com. Archived from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  3. ^ "20 Remastered US CD releases (AC/DC) part4 2003 REMASTERS". stason.org. Archived from the original on 17 August 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  4. ^ Kreps, Daniel (23 October 2017). "George Young, Easybeats Guitarist and AC/DC Producer, Dead at 70". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 5 April 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  5. ^ "How AC/DC Elevated Their Career With the Live 'If You Want Blood, You've Got It'". Ultimate Classic Rock. Archived from the original on 18 April 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  6. ^ "Insight: Scotland's greatest ever rock band '" we salute you". www.scotsman.com. 6 August 2017. Archived from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  7. ^ "Live albums". Classic Rock supplement: The Live Albums That Changed The World. December 2011. p. 17.
  8. ^ Prato, Greg. "If You Want Blood You've Got It - AC/DC". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 12 May 2020. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  9. ^ Twist, Carlo. "If You Want Blood You've Got It". Blender. Archived from the original on 13 May 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  10. ^ "AC/DC: Album Guide". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 8 March 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  11. ^ Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (1995). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. ISBN 1841955515.
  12. ^ C. Strong, Martin (2002). Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Canongate. ISBN 1852279230.
  13. ^ "Rocklist.net...Steve Parker...Classic Rock Lists". Rocklistmusic.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 March 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  14. ^ Elliottpublished, Paul (10 December 2021). "AC/DC: the long road to Glasgow and the triumph of If You Want Blood You've Got It". loudersound. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  15. ^ "If You Want Blood You've Got It - AC/DC | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 9 May 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  16. ^ "If You Want Blood You've Got It". ultimateclassicrock.com.
  17. ^ Twist, Carlo. "If You Want Blood You've Got It". Blender. Archived from the original on 13 May 2009.
  18. ^ "AC/DC - Plug Me In Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic". Allmusic. Archived from the original on 24 August 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  19. ^ "AC/DC at the Apollo Theatre, Glasgow, Scotland". glasgowapollo.com. Archived from the original on 7 August 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  20. ^ "Glasgow Apollo / Who Played". www.glasgowapollo.com. Archived from the original on 25 February 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  21. ^ "Glasgow Apollo / The Apollo Years". Archived from the original on 10 February 2007. Retrieved 20 February 2007.
  22. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. p. 11. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  23. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – AC/DC – If You Want Blood" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  24. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – AC/DC – If You Want Blood You've Got It" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  25. ^ "Swisscharts.com – AC/DC – If You Want Blood". Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  26. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  27. ^ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  28. ^ "AC-DC Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  29. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2013 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association.
  30. ^ "French album certifications – AC/DC – If You Want Blood You've Got It" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
  31. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (AC/DC; 'If You Want Blood')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  32. ^ Salaverrie, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (PDF) (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Madrid: Fundación Autor/SGAE. p. 953. ISBN 84-8048-639-2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 January 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  33. ^ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards ('If you want blood')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien.
  34. ^ "British album certifications – AC/DC – If You Want Blood You've Got It". British Phonographic Industry.
  35. ^ "American album certifications – AC/DC – If You Want Blood You've Got It". Recording Industry Association of America.
[edit]
  • Lyrics on AC/DC's official website
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