Backtracks -2CD+DVD-

Who Knew Phil Rudd could play?
This is an awesome set filled with tons for the hardcore fan!!!!! Why there has never been a full length Live disc of Bon Scott era material is just criminal. The 2nd disc helps us all hear how amazing they were back in that era. The DVD did not do much for me, but the 1st 2 discs of material are MUST have.

MAKES ME FEEL A SOFTNESS IN MY HEART....
How nice of the guys at AC/DC to finally give us everything we've been missing for all these years! I had been writing these guys letters for years pleading with them to release the rare tracks and B-sides that never made the boat to the U.S. including Killer songs like CARRY ME HOME and COLD HEARTED MAN and ROCK IN PEACE... the band sent me a few nudy pictures from some forth rate aussie girl books and told me to quote "get a life clown. Nobody reads these letters." But now, it seems that the band has softened up a bit in regards to all of these hard to find rarities, and it seems that maybe they have read my other letters too. Like the one I sent a few years back, asking about where the post 1990 videos were on the Family Jewels DVD. They have included a "disc three" for that set here. Totally gotta dig the videos from Stiff Upper Lip, some of their best. And some nice archived live music to boot, on disc two. Now there is a crazy collectors box, that costs a milion clams, if you're hoity... it comes with an LP of the rarities and a muther flippin amplifier... some of us can only hope to either win that bit off the radio, or happen to see it fall off a truck. But this box for the less fortunate is still nothing to shake your stick at. At under thirty bucks, this has made me feel a total warmth and softness inside my heart. They really do care!

the one we've been waiting for
this is what us hardcore fans fans have been waiting for all those tracks we've heard about but never got released,and here they are "crabsody in blue,cold hearted man,rock in peace" and a bunch more all sounding great. and these come along with the great live rarites that will get you rocking and as a bonus for all those people who complained that the family jewels collection ended at 1991,you get get disc three of that collection with the rest of ac/dc's music videos right up to the present day,there is no reason why any ac/dc fan should not have this collection.

The Unreleased To An Album B-Sides and Live Performances
Backtracks is the long awaited release of the songs AC/DC had mostly had only released as B-sides to singles, but never found there way onto an actual album. Mostly every AC/DC collector already has all of these songs. Either from bootlegs, internet downloads, or from the AC/DC website itself where a lot of these tracks where available to hear when you connected to the site using the Sony digi-packs they released a couple of years ago. Stick Around & Love Song where recorded in 1974 for there first album HighVoltage which was released and still available only in Australia. Most of the original Highvoltage album and there next album in Australian, T.N.T where combined to make the world wide release of High Voltage. Only two of the tracks from the original High Voltage where on that album, and all but two of the rest where released later on 74' Jailbreak. These two tracks here should have been added to 74' Jailbreak, but what can you do about it now? Fling Thing, Carry Me Home & Cold Hearted Man where recorded at the same time in 1976 or so, (along with Love At First Feel) and only got released as B-sides to a few singles. Though "Cold Hearted Man" was issued on some pressing of Powerage in Australia and Europe, however, those LP's are considered rare collectors items now. R.I.P. (Rock In Peace) was released on the 1976 Australian Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap album. The album was not released to the rest of the world due to complications with Atlantic (I think it was) not allowing them to release it as they thought it was sending out the wrong message. After Bon Scott died in 1980, DDDDC was released in 1983 to the rest of the world and instead R.I.P, Love At First Feel took it's place. Crabsody In Blue is from the Australian Let There Be Rock album released in 1977. It is considered to be the sequel to The Jack and is about as close as you can ever get to AC/DC almost doing a country number, but don't mistake it for one, it's pure blues driven rock. Snake Eye, Borrowed Time, Down On The Borderline are 3 songs recorded during the 1988 Blow Up My Video sessions. they each surfaced on B-sides to that albums singles and The Money Talks single from the next album. Each one of these songs could have easily been put onto that album with enough room for more, but like I said, what can you do? Big Gun was recorded in 1993 for the movie Last Action Hero. It was also to see how producer Rick Ruban was at recording AC/DC, and he did a well enough job he got the gig for the next album Ballbreaker. Cyberspace was recorded in 2000 for the Stiff Upper Lip album, but was only released on certain special 2 disc tour editions in various parts of the world. CD 2 CD 2 features tracks that mostly all where also released as B-sides to various singles over the years. However they have been cleaned up and sound even better then before. DVD Speaks for itself doesn't it? It's a good little package, and it's about time AC/DC released these tracks. However, where there is good, comes the disappointment. It's good to have all these songs remastered and sounding better then ever, but I can still not give it 5 stars. Because as a collector, I already have all this material. What we really wanted, was not just the stuff thats on here that we already had, but the songs we know exist, but are locked away in a vault somewhere. Plus the other songs that we do have that aren't included here. "Shes My Babe" has surfaced in recent years as the warm up recording to Ballbreaker, but that isn't on here. Then there is the ones no one has heard, but know of, such as "Tight Rope", "Out Of Bounds", "The Cck Crows", "Rave On" and a few more. Then there is the live material, such as Johnny B.Goode, Lucille with Phil Carson, Brians Shake, Messin With The Kid. Brian has quoted before they can never satisfy what the fans want, well, haha, yas did it again ;) Lets hope for Backtracks 2!

What seperates the men from the boys.
While most Rock N'Roll Bands are releasing boxed sets of material that has long since been available to the public on atleast 5 or more different compilations, AC/DC is the only band that I can recall that has never released any such greatest hits compilation, or with the exception of the Maximum Overdrive soundtrack, Who Made Who, any repeated material at all. For this reason, their new boxed set titled "Backtracks" is completely un-released or rare material. The songs that are not absolutely new, are only those from their first 2 Australian albums High Voltage and T.N.T, which are only available as expensive imports, and the song "Big Gun" which was only available for a short time on the "Last Action Hero Soundtrack." But now all that has changed with the release of this new box set. I guess one might say that being this boxed set is full of ultra-rare material, and only features songs that are not currently available on any other CD is a testament to their musical knowledge and appreciation for the fans. They understand that fans want their money's worth and not just a rehash of readily available tracks and for this small price, they get nothing short of spectacular. Love for the music, the fans, and good ol' fashioned know-how for the business is what seperates the men from the boys, and AC/DC Backtracks is a prime example. This set was announced some months back. It was advertised with 2 versions, the Standard Edition, which I am reviewing, and the Deluxe Edition. I will discuss the differences between the 2 in the sub-categories below. I will not list the track details for the discs since they are readily available on the product details page. Packaging: The packaging for the Standard set is very similar to some special edition DVD's with an outer cardboard slip case to house the inside fold-out case with attached plastic disc-trays to house the discs. The Deluxe Edition comes in a 1-watt working amp. As for the discs on the deluxe set, the packaging is somewhat lack-luster. They come in a fold-out book with the CD's held into place with cardboard holes that the CD's themselves rest DIRECTLY on so in time, this could damage the CD's which I am definitely not fond of. Packaging is definintely better on the Standard set as far as safety and functionality is concerned. CD's: The standard set comes with 2 CD's. The first disc is the studio rarities, and the second disc is the live rarites. The deluxe set features 3 cd's instead of 2, the first 2 being almost the same, but the 3rd disc is an extra disc of live rarites. The studio rarities differ in that the Deluxe edition features 6 alternate or extended tracks to songs that have already appeared on albums, while the Standard just features the 12 rarites that haven't yet been released. The live discs feature more live tracks on the Deluxe edition than on the Standard set, hence the 3rd disc. I personally opted for the Standard set for this reason. I liked listening to the songs the way they released them in the first place, and wasn't really interested in longer cuts or alternate takes. Even though I own every album and DVD of theirs, the extra studio and live tracks just didn't seem very nesasary. Sound Quality: Since I am somewhat of an audiophile, and prefer to own original CD releases of albums including AC/DC's, I was not so excited about these tracks being remastered. Although they are a little over-maximized and some compression is noticeable, they are definitely not un-listenable, and those of you who prefer remastered material, will find that these match the sound quality of the 2003 AC/DC album remasters and will have no complaints. Besides, this is the only way they are currently available so I definately can't complain. DVD's: While the Standard set features one DVD which is Family Jewels part 3, the Deluxe edition features this disc, and a 2nd disc which is another live performance "Live At The Circus Krone." Unlike the CD's on both sets, the only difference between the 2 sets with the DVD's is that there is one more DVD on the Deluxe set. The common disc between both sets "Family Jewels part 3" holds no difference between the Standard or the Deluxe set at all. Since I am actually reviewing the standard set, I won't discuss the memorobilia or the Vinyl album of the studio rarites, because I only need to compare the sets between common material between both to help people understand the differences. As I said before, I'm reviewing the standard set. When I first heard of this set, I thought for sure that I would buy the deluxe edition, until I saw the price tag. 200 dollars for the Deluxe set, while the standard edition is only 25 dollars. Although I consider myself one of the biggest AC/DC fans anyone could hope to meet, I could not in good conscience pay such a large amount for ultimately just 1 extra CD and DVD which is what I was interested in. I could care less for the memorobilia, photographs, or the amp since I don't even own a guitar. 175 dollars more seemed one heck of a price tag for the deluxe set when I was only interested in what the standard set had to offer. Ofcourse I would love to have the extra CD and DVD, but I won't pay 175 dollars for them. So if you're like me, and just want the music and aren't concerned with alternate takes or extended tracks, by all means buy the standard edition, if you are an absolute AC/DC junkie and have the means, go ahead and spring for the Deluxe Edition. Final Judgement: I gave the Standard edition 5 stars in this review. If I were to review the Deluxe edition, I would have to give it 3 stars. Better than bad since it is AC/DC, but knock off 2 stars for the insane price of the extra material not on the standard set, which isn't very much at all. I hope this review has helped you. LET THERE BE ROCK!!!!!!