AC/DC – Backtracks

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impulse buy

Columbia
Produced by George Young

To cap off what will probably go down as their most triumphant year of touring AC/DC are releasing a box set of live and studio rarities that should plug just about every hole in any fan’s collection, including some they didn’t know they had.

The set will be issued in two substantially different configurations, one standard commercial edition, and an incredibly deluxe edition – with matching price-tag – available from the band’s website only. The standard edition contains two CDs and a DVD, while the deluxe version contains an additional CD and DVD, a large assortment of mostly-throwaway AC/DC collectibles, a 12″ LP (feature twelve of the eighteen tracks from the first CD) and a photobook, all housed in a working mini guitar amp.

Lavish in the extreme, and perhaps a little over the top (many fans will likely argue that the unnecessary guitar amp gimmick could have been left out and the price slashed by a third), it is the ultimate fanatics’ collection. But all the bonus items are just added fluff. The real deal is the music (and maybe the book) and not releasing a bare-bones five-disc edition will go down in many books as an oversight.

Both editions start off with the same eighteen-track CD of studio rarities, containing every studio b-side and alternate a-side/album track ever released by the band. Almost all of these were only previously available on long out-of-print singles, and although none of the tracks here are technically exclusive to the box, most fans won’t own most or all of them on CD.

The counterpart to this material is the equivalent live material culled from single b-sides and special editions, some available on CD for the first time, particular those dating back to original singer Bon Scott, and here is where the first difference between the two versions of the box comes in. The full set of rare live tracks occupies two discs, with a total of 29 songs. For the standard edition this is distilled into a single 15-track disc (selections from both discs of the deluxe edition, not just the first of the two), with at least one song from every show used for the b-side material except the 1996 Madrid show, which is the same one as the No Bull DVD. All of the older tracks have been fully remastered (as have the studio tracks) and the collection almost sounds like a coherent live album in its own right.

Both editions then share the first DVD, which represents the third part of the previously issued Family Jewels double-disc set, continuing where that release left off with music videos and assorted live performances from 1992 to 2009. But the undoubted centre piece of the set in terms of the musical content is the complete live DVD of the June 17, 2003 show at The Circus Krone in Munich, only available in the deluxe edition and sorely missing from the standard one.

An actual big top-style circus arena, The Circus Krone is a much smaller, more intimate venue than the band can normally be found playing (they played the 5,000-capacity Hammersmith Apollo in London the same year) and that’s really the only plausible excuse for not releasing this at the time. The video quality, camera work and sound are all superb and easily on par with bigger productions like No Bull and Stiff Upper Lip Live. The setlist was a real greatest hits package with the addition of Stiff Upper Lip and out of nowhere What’s Next To The Moon from Powerage. The pyro is minimal due to the confines of the smaller venue (the bell and the cannons are still present though) but there are already three full-scale AC/DC live shows available on DVD, no doubt with another to come at some point from the Black Ice World Tour, so a show like this, rare in itself but even rarer on film, is comfortably the most interesting thing here for die-hard fans.

The content of this set simply cannot be faulted. Where too many collections and compilations intentionally leaves songs out to make fans buy other products, this really is the complete rare AC/DC and amazingly doesn’t duplicate anything from the excellent Bonfire celebratory box set. The problem with this release is the deluxe set, the price of which deprives some fans of some of the excellent music here, particularly the live DVD, for the sake of gimmick memorabilia. A real salute to the fans would be a five disc set without the additional paraphernalia, but at the moment that doesn’t seem to be planned.

“ Lavish in the extreme ”

Tracklist:
Standard CD1/LP – Stick Around / Love Song / Fling Thing / R.I.P. (Rock In Peace) / Carry Me Home / Crapsody In Blue / Cold Hearted Man / Snake Eye / Borrowed Time / Down On The Borderline / Big Gun / Cyberspace

Deluxe CD1 – High Voltage / Stick Around / Love Song / It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock N Roll) / Rocker / Fling Thing / Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap / Ain’t No Fun (Waiting Around To Be A Millionaire) / R.I.P. (Rock In Peace) / Carry Me Home / Crapsody In Blue / Cold Hearted Man / Who Made Who (12″ Extended Mix) / Snake Eye / Borrowed Time / Down On The Borderline / Big Gun / Cyberspace

Standard CD2 – Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Live) / Dog Eat Dog (Live) / Live Wire (Live) / Shot Down In Flames (Live) / Back In Black (Live) / T.N.T. (Live) / Let There Be Rock (Live) / Guns For Hire (Live) / Sin City (Live) / Rock And Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution (Live) / This House Is On Fire (Live) / You Shook Me All Night Long (Live) / Jailbreak (Live) / Highway To Hell (Live) / For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) (Live) / Safe In New York City (Live)

Deluxe CD2 – Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Live) / Dog Eat Dog (Live) / Live Wire (Live) / Shot Down In Flames (Live) / Back In Black (Live) / T.N.T. (Live) / Let There Be Rock (Live) / Guns For Hire (Live) / Sin City (Live) / Rock And Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution (Live) / This House Is On Fire (Live) / You Shook Me All Night Long (Live) / Jailbreak (Live) / Shoot To Thrill (Live) / Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be (Live)

Deluxe CD3 – High Voltage (Live) / Hells Bells (Live) / Whole Lotta Rosie (Live) / Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Live) / Highway To Hell (Live) / Back In Black (Live) / For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) (Live) / Ballbreaker (Live) / Hard As A Rock (Live) / Dog Eat Dog (Live) / Hail Caesar (Live) / Whole Lotta Rosie (Live) / You Shook Me All Night Long (Live) / Safe In New York City (Live)

DVD1 – Big Gun / Hard As A Rock / Hail Caesar / Cover You In Oil / Stiff Upper Lip / Satellite Blues / Safe In New York City / Rock N Roll Train / Anything Goes / Jailbreak / It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock N Roll) / Highway To Hell / You Shoot Me All Night Long / Guns For Hire / Nervous Shakedown / Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Live) / Highway to Hell (Live) / The Making of Hard As A Rock / The Making of Rock N Roll Train

Deluxe DVD2 – Introduction / Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be / Back In Black / Stiff Upper Lip / Shoot To Thrill / Thunderstruck / Rock N Roll Damnation / What’s Next To The Moon / Hard As A Rock / Bad Boy Boogie / The Jack / If You Want Blood (You Got It) / Hells Bells / Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap / Rock N Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution / T.N.T. / Let There Be Rock / Highway To Hell / For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) / Whole Lotta Rosie

Written by Andy Lye
More: Boxsets, Hard Rock, AC/DC