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AC/DC |
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To die-hard AC/DC fans, the album was sacrilegious. After all, Scott was one of the all-time greats, and how dare the band replace him so quickly with a seemingly ordinary guy with fuzzy hair and a knit hat. And it’s fairly apparent that Johnson’s signature screech is nowhere near as brilliant as Scott’s inimitable voice acrobatics. But BACK IN BLACK is all about blistering riffs, chain-gang choruses and most of all, killer songs—and there’s not a bad one in the batch. Opening with the landmark “Hell’s Bells”, featuring the greatest rock intro put to wax—with its ominous chimes and ascending guitar blitz—is truly extraordinary. “Shoot To Thrill” follows it up in similar fashion, this time upping the speed for maximum raunchability. The hit “You Shook Me All Night Long” romps and rolls with the best of them, and has become an essential part of every upstanding stripper’s repertoire. The band gets its caveman-groove on in high style with “Giving The Dog A Bone”, and god love ‘em for it—rock music was never supposed to be subtle. And “Rock’n’Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution” is a chugging anthem that still slaughters all non-believers who lay in its wake. Yep, upon further listening, it’s easy to see why BACK IN BLACK is such an essential album…no wonder it continues to sell so briskly. This new DualDisc edition features the album in all of its glorious
remastered sound on the audio side, plus a supped-up version on the DVD
side, which also contains the film THE STORY OF BACK IN BLACK, and a
discography. As part of Epic’s massive AC/DC program, they also reissued
the band’s entire back catalog a while back. Featuring crystal-clear sound
and expanded artwork, each comes housed in a shiny digipack. As I tend to
prefer the Bon Scott era, some stand-out titles include the fantastic
HIGHWAY TO HELL album, which catapulted the band into the international
spotlight; POWERAGE, which features the brilliant anti-anthem “Sin City;”
and one of the band’s earliest outings DIRTY DEEDS DONE DIRT CHEAP.
Although Epic’s fine renderings of the Brian Johnson-era albums make them
worthy additions to any hard rock collection, none of them match the sheer
velocity and vigor of BACK IN BLACK. With its explosive sound, this new
version gives it just enough extra juice to push your speakers over the
edge—use with caution. |
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-Jim Kaz |
It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years since the original release of
this album. What’s even more unfathomable is the fact that this
gargantuan-selling record almost didn’t get made at all, due to the
premature passing of singer and front-man extraordinaire Bon Scott. To
think that the band had almost called it a day just a few months prior to
its release is unreal, especially now that BACK IN BLACK is one of the top
five biggest-selling albums of all time. To commemorate the occasion, Epic
has done a top-notch job reissuing the seminal hard rock album, the first
to feature Scott’s replacement, Brian Johnson.