The Train Kept A Rollin'
AC/DC are fairly peerless these days, now over 30 years into their career with most of it spent at the top of the heap in their genre. What do you want from AC/DC these days? Considering they haven’t released a proper studio album for 8 years they needed to come back with a solid track with the AC/DC stamp all over it and that’s exactly what ‘Rock N Roll Train’ is. Yes it’s rather clichéd and very early 80s in terms of the title and the lyrics but it’s a reminder that at the end of the day there’s simply nothing like raw guitars, a big drum beat and some classic hard rock vocals.
Since AC/DC found their winning formula they really haven’t tinkered with it much and they haven’t needed to. Consistently churning out tracks that have the swagger of the early Stones with a big sing along chorus has become their trademark and they’ve managed it again here. That said, I can’t see ‘Rock N Roll Train’ being hailed as a future classic; it’s solid but it’s not fantastic in the way that the riff of ‘Back In Black’ is and despite a short solo from Angus it doesn’t have a really great moment like the end of ‘For Those About to Rock’ for example.
Having waited so long for a new release from the band, long term fans will no doubt lap it up and over analyse every second of the new album (‘Black Ice’). There’s probably enough here for those who haven’t heard the band to want to check them out further but when they put together the ultimate greatest hits package in another ten years will ‘Rock N Roll Train‘ be on it? Probably not.