If the lead singer of Geordie sounds uncannily like Brian Johnson, that’s because he is Brian Johnson.
Prior to skyrocketing to universal fame in 1980 after replacing AC/DC’s recently deceased frontman Bon Scott, Johnson experienced a moderate degree of regional success with the Newcastle, England-based Geordie. The band also included lead guitarist and chief songwriter Vic Malcolm, bassist Tom Hill and drummer Brian Gibson.
Geordie’s debut album, Hope You Like It (EMI Records) proved to be quite an admirable affair. Their loud and lively chops were right in tandem with Johnson’s brash and bellowing vocals.
Plucked as a single, “All Because of You” cracked the Top 10 in the U.K. during the spring of 1973. Supported by a hard-rocking spine, the track soars with stabbing hooks and breaks. In an unexpected move, a chorus aping the “ah ah ah ah” from “Twist and Shout” crops up in the middle of the song.
Elsewhere on Hope You Like It, there’s “Natural Born Loser,” which burns with angst and aggression. The driving density of “Give You Till Monday” further stresses Geordie’s flair for firing off toxic tunes designed of Amazon strength and proportions.
Although “Strange Man” freely recycles the racing rhythms and wailing bray of Led Zeppelin’s “The Immigrant Song,” Geordie slips enough novel curls and twirls into the stew, making for an electrifying epic of their own doing.
The duly dubbed “Keep On Rockin'” serves as the kind of minimalist stomper later symbolized by AC/DC, and “Ain’t It Just Like a Woman” pounds with power and purpose.
While Hope You Like It is certainly dominated by blazing riffs and raunchy beats, a couple of entries deviate from the formula: For instance, “Old Time Rocker” is a tongue-in-cheek rockabilly number and the silly “Geordie’s Lost His Liggie” involves Brian Johnson singing a mess of a countrified sea-shanty ditty in an exaggerated Cockney accent.
Originally marketed as a glitter act along the lines of bands such as Slade and the Sweet, Geordie’s heavy-duty workouts heard on Hope You Like It were actually steeped more in the vein of Deep Purple, Status Quo and the aforementioned Led Zeppelin.
Brian Johnson departed Geordie following the release of the band’s third album, 1976’s Save the World, to embark on a solo career that obviously wasn’t meant to be. Geordie continued touring and recording, but never recaptured the attention they received early on.
Sizzling with raw energy, crushing grooves and super-sized melodies, Hope You Like It is nevertheless an overlooked classic and required listening for those who dig music with meat on its bones.
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