Alternate Covers A Go-Go! - AC/DC, The early stuff...

First of all, I LOVE ALTERNATE COVERS!!!! I absolutely love finding/getting a record with totally different, alternate cover art! Whether their discontinued, recalled, changed for whatever reason, or just plain imported. Especially if they're originally on a small label, and then bought out by a bigger one and re-released.

The following are 4 classic examples of alternate foreign covers.


My love of Australian bands goes a lot further than AC/DC, or even Rose Tattoo (who I fucking LOVE!), bands like the Hard-Ons, The Exploding White Mice, and a host of others that I got into mostly from the Greasy Pop Records catalog. But just 'cause I'm in the mood, this post will be about AC/DC.


For the most part, the only real collectable AC/DC vinyl I own is the first four albums released on Albert;
-High Voltage
-T.N.T.
-Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
and Let Their Be Rock.

Since I'm not exactly sure of the release dates, I'll go according to catalog numbers. I'll  start with High Voltage. (cat.# APLP009) Produced By Henry Vanda and George Young, of Easybeats fame (Friday On My Mind), this album features a very young Angus Young (who I read was no more than fifteen at the time!) and differs greatly from it's American counterpart.

The cover is a very cartoony depiction of a dog pissing on what seems to be an electrical box marked "High Voltage" and side 1 starts of with a killer version of "Baby Please Don't Go". "Little Lover" & "She's Got Balls" are the only two songs on this pressing that appear on the American version. In fact, the American "High Voltage" is more or less a repackaging of the Australian "T.N.T".

"You Ain't Got A Hold On Me", "Show Business", and "Soul Stripper" are the 3 other songs (along with Baby Please Don't Go) from this pressing that eventually appeared on the Atlantic Records release "'74 Jailbreak" in 1984.
This album was repressed in the early '80's, but with a solid black label The originals have a dark, almost "Royal" blue label, and came with a sew on patch. (which I am MISSING, hint hint!)

The two songs not featured on either of the American pressings we've talked about are "Stick Around", and "Love Song". The latter being the most out of character of them. Rarely do you hear a "Love Song" by AC/DC that isn't almost entirely sexual innuendo. It's a slower number than normal for them as well, and it's really cool to hear them while they seem to be still developing as a band.

T.N.T. (APLPA 016) like I said, is basically the preliminary version of the American "High Voltage". Side one is identical, Side two mixes things up a bit. Both feature "T.N.T.", "Can I Sit Next To You Girl", and "High Voltage", as well as the two songs from the Aussie "High Voltage" and that's it. But T.N.T. also contains "Rocker", a song that was on the American "Dirty Deeds", and a cover of Chuck Berry's "School Days", which is a dead giveaway to their song writing style! A formula that carried the band for almost it's entire career.

Another cool aspect of this version is the cover is a gate-fold, and has cool little bio's of the band members on the inside. And that's one of the best parts of record collecting, the PACKAGING! C.D.'s have done a most impressive job at coming up with new and interesting packaging ideas, and some are just plain fucking sweet! But to me, it's still kind of a "micro-level" packaging. I'm old and set in my ways...

Next up id "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap". (APLP 020) Which, was the first AC/DC album I ever heard (the American version) and with the Aussie issue, again, things get kinda mixed up. Side one boasts the title track, and "Problem Child" and are the only two common tracks on side one, With "Aint No Fun...", and "There's Gonna Be Some Rockin'", from side two of the American issue, along with "Rocker" from the Aussie "T.N.T."

Side two has "Squealer", 'Ride On", and "Big Balls" from the U.S. release, and brings out "Jailbreak" for the first time on L.P. This song also had an amazing video. But back then they were called "promo" films and were rarely even seen let alone broadcast.

The other stand-out song is "R.I.P." (Rock in Peace). Another song never released in America.
The cover for this one is probably my favorite AC/DC cover of all time. (with the Aussie Let There Be Rock, and If You Want Blood.. both tied for a close second) It's another very cartoon-like image depicting the band hanging  out in a pool hall drinking and such and the title of the album is a tattoo on Bon's arm. Angus is flipping up his first two fingers.

Last of the Aussie's is "Let There Be Rock" (APLP 022) and what can I say. This record just plain rips. I was always overwhelmed by how raw this album was to their other early ones, an energy that I don't think was quite duplicated until 1978's "Powerage". But the American version has what I consider to be a particularly un-flattering looking cover. The artwork looks poorly cropped, and Phil Rudd is even sitting all wrong on his drums (I imagine in an attempt to show his face). Conversely, the Australian cover art, while very simplistic, does so much more. A close-up of a fretboard, with fingers that appear in motion playing notes. Again, this cover is a gate-fold, with some really awesome b&w live shots on the inside.

I should also mention, that nowhere on any of these albums is the classic AC/DC logo, with the letters in that sort of "block-form", the "classic AC/DC font has not been used at this point.
For the most part, the track listing on these are just about the same. Only with "Problem Child" on the U.S. version replacing a song called "Crabsody in Blue". Another great track that never saw the light of day in the U.S. until years later when the days of C.D. box sets emerged.

So this is the beginning of my rant about this particular band and their more collectable pieces, I'm positive there will be more to come. These are my first AC/DC rarities and this is a band that I've been listening to them since grade school.

Again maybe a couple of you learned something, most vinyl junkies like myself will no doubt say; "no shit.." But I am forever in the market for more, and as I find 'em and learn about them, so will you.
-m