Acdc Music:

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

Editorial Review:
Digitally remastered European vinyl LP pressing of this 1985 release from the Australian Hard Rockers, reissued to coincide with their 2008 studio release and world tour. 10 tracks. Sony/BMG.

Fly on the Wall Reviews:
AC/DC's second most underated album
2009-04-03 - It's easy for anyone to pick up this CD who has never heard it, take a look at the tracks on it, and put it down from not knowing any of the tracks unless you are familiar with the Who Made Who album.

When I first heard this album, like many others, I really hated it. I think I listened to it one time, and then that cassette collected dust for well over a year before I played it again.

I used to refer to it as AC/DC's worst album ever. However, after listening to every other album over and over, I just wanted more AC/DC, something new... but nothing was being released at the time, so I gave this album another chance. And the second time around, I was blown away.

I think I hated it at first because I was looking for a song as powerful as something from Back In Black or Highway To Hell. And I was already familiar with Sink The Pink and Shake Your Foundations 'cause they got released on the next album Who Made Who as it was the soundtrack to the Stephen King Movie "Maximum Overdrive"

Now that I was just seeing what these songs where for themselves. A lot took a while to grow on me, but eventually after a few listen, you realize, there are no stinkers on this album, just songs that could have been recorded a bit better in quality.

Fly On The Wall is a great tune, but I never really appreciated it until I heard live versions of it, I don't think they quite captured how much this song rocks as it does when they did it live. If you can find yourself a live bootleg called "Flies On The Soundboard" you can hear the impact this song has as a great opening number.

Shake your Foundations is a classic that AC/DC should still be playing today. It is not very well known to many people who are not fans of AC/DC, but it is one of those songs i'm sure would still be getting radio play today had the album been promoted better during it's release.

Same story as above for the track Sink The Pink.

Fist Blood see's AC/DC go for a bit of a ZZ-Top La Grunge inspired southern tune made into an AC/DC hard rockin' tune. It is a great number that eventually grows on you.

Danger is the one song here I really do not like. To me this song, and Night Of The Long Knives are the worst AC/DC has put together. This one sounds good musically, but when I hear the lyrics, it makes me think AC/DC are trying to teach kids to look both ways before crossing the street.

Playing With Girls is a great number, hard paced, a lot of chords for an AC/DC song, and goes off by the end. It is a good blood pumper once you give it a chance.

Stand Up & Hell or Highwater are ones that took a while to grow on me, but they eventually got there to be considered two great tracks.

Back In Business and Send For The Man are my two favorite tracks on this album, had they have been recorded a bit better, i'm sure they would be more well known. I could see both of these songs being used for some kind of movie theme some day.

Overall, this album and Flick Of The Switch are two of the worlds most highly underrated hard rock albums. It's due to AC/DC producing it themselves, and not having the back up of promoters that lead to the two albums not being recognized as great AC/DC albums. Fly On The Walls only complaint is that the vocals in particular can be pretty hard to understand sometimes due to the way they where recorded. There not exactly crisp or clear, and get drowned out or fade behind the music at a lot of points, but once you known what Brian is belting out, you can follow it, and it sticks out a lot more, and you may be able to appreciate that this album is definitely a keeper and rocks your socks off.

Makin' love, drunk or stoned...
2009-01-19 - AC/DC has throughout their long history has never put out a bad record. Let me be clear about this, they have never put out an album that wasn't worthwhile for a least a few key tunes. That being said, `Fly on the Wall' is probably their worst record. In terms of song quality, there are just too many songs of lazy lyrical quality and redundant riffing. Still 1985 was a subpar year in metal, so you could much worse than `Fly on the Wall'. The guitars are as heavy as ever, a product no doubt of the Young Brothers production in which Angus and Mal seemed to say...songs be damned as long as the guitars are huge! And they are but at the expense of Brian's tortured voice which is buried in the mix. Standout cuts include the title song, "Shake Your Foundations" and "Sink the Pink" but much of the rest would have no business being on a classic AC/DC record, filler galore. Do not make `Fly' a purchase if you are not a diehard, it is poorer quality AC/DC from a band who has done much better...IEIEO!

(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!
2005-09-13 - 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.