Angus & Malcolm Young’s First Recordings To Be Reissued

The first venture into the recording studio for brothers Malcolm and Angus Young of AC/DC is due for re-issue, as 'Tales Of Old Grand-Daddy' by the Marcus Hook Roll Band finally gets its due on June 2 on CD, vinyl and digital download.

Long before they were kicking it out with AC/DC, their older brother George was rocking the world with the Easybeats, who, though primarily known in America for 'Friday On My Mind,' had an incredible catalog of great rock and roll. After the Easybeats split up in 1969, George, along with partner-in-crime Harry Vanda, carried on.

In 1972, the duo formed the Marcus Hook Roll Band. They released three singles -- all recorded at Abbey Road Studios -- in Europe, and when it came time to record a full length album, George called on a little help from his younger siblings. The sessions, done at Albert Studios in Australia, date from early-1973, and was Angus and Malcolm's first venture into the recording studio.

“It was the first thing Malcolm and Angus did before AC/DC," George Young told Classic Rock Magazine, "We didn’t take it very seriously so we thought we’d include them to give them an idea of what recording was all about.” The resulting album, 'Tales Of Old Grand-Daddy,' is a straight-ahead, driving rock and roll album. The sessions from Australia were teamed up with the U.K.-recorded singles to make up the album. On songs like 'Quick Reaction,' and 'Red Revolution' you can hear the buds of AC/DC waiting to bloom forth.

Deep insight into the sessions has been lost to the ages by the involved parties. “We had Harry, myself and my kid brothers Malcolm and Angus. We all got rotten – except Angus, who was too young – and we spent a month in the studio boozing it up every night, recalled the elder Young.

The band was short lived and, in fact, never even played a live gig, which, in the long run, may have been for the best. If the Marcus Hook Roll Band took flight, the world may have been deprived of all things AC/DC.