 | |
List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Epic Europe
Salesrank:
Released: January 8, 2008 |
| Our Price: $6.29 |
| Used Price: $9.64 |
|
| Media: Audio CD |
|
Fly on the Wall Track Listing:
1. Fly on the Wall
2. Shake Your Foundations
3. First Blood
4. Danger
5. Sink the Pink
6. Playing with Girls
7. Stand Up
8. Hell or High Water
9. Back in Business
10. Send for the Man
Fly on the Wall Reviews:
(3.5 stars) Brian loses his voice, but Angus and Malcolm are still peaking 
2008-06-19 - Aaaah! What happened to Brian Johnson's voice? He sounded so good on Flick of the Switch, and now, a mere two years later, he sounds like he's vomiting into the microphone. You think I'm exaggerating? You haven't heard this album's title track. Which is probably a good thing, because it's one of the worst AC/DC songs in history. Oh, sure, Angus can still make fireworks come out of his guitar, but when is that anything new? It's not a good song by any means! Neither is "Danger," once again harmed by Brian's ruined larynx. The anti-booze lyrics are interesting, making it a near descendent of "Ride On". Only not half as good. Or good at all. Still, you know something? This album isn't as bad as we've been told it is by many fans. It's not a personal favorite of mine, and it's not a lost jewel like Flick of the Switch, but some people sure give it a lot of hassle it doesn't deserve. Even with Brian's vocals, "Shake Your Foundations" is still great, and Angus does himself proud with his whammy bar. And the shout-along chorus never gets old. "First Blood" is good, too. It's a bit formulaic in the beginning, but the tempo change near the end is something AC/DC rarely ever did. And, other than the main riff, which was stolen from the clean-guitar break in "Shoot to Thrill" (like many other late-period AC/DC songs), I thoroughly enjoy "Sink the Pink". It's paint-by-numbers, but Angus, Malcolm, and Brian are such good craftsmen I honestly don't care. "Playing with Girls" is pretty much a first-rate fiery rocker, other than Brian Johnson's annoyingness. The guitars soar on "Stand U," And while two "Shoot to Thrill" rewrites should be enough, drummer Simon Wright stands (or rather, sits) and delivers on "Hell or High Water," adding a funky drum intro to an otherwise mechanical, factory-made rocker. I'll admit I'm not a massive fan of "Back in Business". It's a generic blues-rock song. Far from bad, but I can get a half-dozen of these anywhere. And "Send for the Man" isn't much more than adequate. But there's nothing wrong with adequacy! I don't really have any major complaints about many of these tracks - all of the songs end in the same way (Brian screams, the drums go crazy, the guitar lets out one final chord, and the song thuds to a close), but compared to most mid-'80s hard rock? This is brilliant! And it's good by AC/DC's own standards, too, which are pretty far above that of your average hair-metal band.
AC/DC in a slump? definitely NOT! an underrated classic! 
2005-09-14 - Don't let anyone fool you into thinking that AC/DC were in the midst of a slump while recording the "Fly On The Wall" album which was originally released in June of 1985. The band had taken over the production reins for their 1983 predecessor "Flick of the Switch", and they elected once again to not bring in an outside producer for "Fly..." which was produced by Angus & Malcolm. And as strong of an album as "Flick..." is, this one is even better.
Yes, Brian Johnson's voice had lost something by this point--his vocals here just don't soar and rattle off the walls the way they do on the previous couple albums. Angus and Malcolm seemingly realized this, and responded by burying it in the mix somewhat, as well as using a lot of echo effects, and although Johnson's screams are occasionally a bit grating, it's a very minor quibble--he still adds greatly to the excitement level of the album.
The album opening title track doesn't get the record off to a promising start--it's a real messy bashfest of a song. Once it passes though, you're in for a hell of an exciting ride.
Angus and Malcolm did a great job producing this--the guitars smoke, and the crisp-yet-booming drum sound works great. Sure, Simon Wright's drumming is about as no-frills as it can get, but come on--fancy drumming has never exactly been a key factor with AC/DC.
Mid-tempo hard rockers really don't come any better than "Sink The Pink"--the intro has a great eighth-note guitar line from Angus that makes the arrivial of the chorus riff all the more thrilling, and the whole tune is brilliantly structured for maximum ass-kicking impact. "Hell Or High Water" and "Back In Business" are also mid-tempo ass-kickers with irresistible riffs. "Shake Your Foundations" has that ultra-catchy singalong chorus. The stomping "First Blood" has an irresistibly 'dumb' core riff that'll get you banging your head in no time. The slow-paced "Danger" has an amusingly threatening vibe and is a ton of fun. The whomping "Playing With Girls" is an explosive funked-up boogie with a perfectly placed and gloriously unhinged Johnson scream at 1:58 of the track. The bluesy "Stand Up" is cleverly constructed and has an intoxicating, anthemic chorus. The album closes with the irresistibly moody stomper "Send For The Man".
In short, I'm really blown away by this album--it's definitely one of AC/DC's best. I certainly wasn't expecting it to be this great, but it is. Angus and Malcolm clearly didn't give a damn about the trends in hard rock/ heavy metal at the time, and more power to them. "Fly..." has none of the lame, commercialized cockrock sound that turns up on the "Highway To Hell" and "Back In Black" albums. If you're a hard rock lover, you can't go wrong with "Fly On The Wall".
SINK THE PINK..........THEN BUY THIS ALBUM
2004-12-13 - FLY ON THE WALL.....so underrated. This album is AC/DC still rocking right through the 80's hair metal fiasco and it's awesome. It's standout tracks are FLY ON THE WALL, SINK THE PINK, SHAKE YOUR FOUNDATIONS, AND DANGER. Great album from a great band.
Not as good as usual but still no reason to trash it 
2004-12-04 - I bought this album expecting it to be lame, but I was suprised to find that it's a decent album. Yes, decent. Not a classic by any strech. For starters, Brian's voice is going, and the production suffers from an over-abundance of reverb which makes it a fairly headachy-sounding album. The watered-down production is my main gripe, because it sucks a lot of energy out of some really good songs. The boring "Danger", the macho-generic "Playing With Girls" (featuring the poorest lyrics ever written by this band), "Hell Or High Water", and "Back in Business" are just dreadful. "First Blood" is a little mediocre, but is just catchy, and the solo is great. The real classics though, have to be the incredible "Shake Your Foundations", "Stand Up", "Send For the Man" and one of their best songs since the days of Back in Black, "Sink the Pink". These songs are what makes the album. Buy it if you already have the classics and you don't mind filler, and hey don't forget to get your ass kicked by "Sink the Pink" and "Shake Your Foundations".
Brian Johnson isn't all that bad
2004-06-12 - First of all im writing this review to defend Brain johnson, im sick of people critizing him and his voice. He is not bad at all, when you listen to him sing keep in mind that he was about 40 when he recorded this, so compared to Bon he is old. And music wise you cant compare them,the ac/dc sound was changed after Bon died, not just the vocals. Also try to imagine Ac/dc with some one besides bon or brian, its hard isn't it, the only person i can imagine is Dan McCafferty of Nazareth. Don't get me wrong im a huge fan of bon and like him more then brian, i even did my 8th grade english project on Bon, it was about 6 pages long. Anyway this album is basic solid catchy 80's ac/dc
