Review of AC/DC Family Jewels

Introduction

Just to set the context before I start waxing lyrical about this magnificent collection - I generally don`t like `Heavy Metal`. You know, all that risible Iron Maiden and Judas Priest stuff where grown men dressed in leather hold guitars and mike stands jutting upward in front of thousands of befuddled and confused testosterone-addled spotty-white male teens who think that it`s all, frankly, a better view of reality than their own.

However, there are some bands of the genre that are impossible not to like. `Motorhead` always strike me as `the real deal`, dripping motor-oil rather than sweat and with their tongues firmly in cheek as they play some of the most blistering rock`n`roll ever to have graced planet earth.

And then there`s AC/DC - the undisputed riff-kings, everyone`s favourite rock band. Huge riffs - pure instinctive and unpretentious rock `n roll, the perfect soundtrack to a wild-night out, without whom `The School of Rock` would have been merely `The School of Pop`.

So what do we have here? A Double-Disc DVD packed to the gunnels with archival material from a long and distinguished career that, despite years of service, is primarily hewn of the same tree.

AC/DC started out as a fairly mediocre rock and blues band, playing covers of standards like `Baby please don`t go` with enough gusto to have raised an eyebrow of interest from the major labels. At the fag end of the glam-era, and just as Punk was about to erupt, they played their un-pretentious good-time boogie to increasingly appreciative audiences. Angus Young`s guitar playing from the outset was impressive, with good-clean chops and blistering lead guitar - and even in the earliest clips included here, his school uniform showed that here was a band who were never going to take themselves too seriously.

Disc 1 of this set covers the origins of the band in 1975 through to some of their biggest hits that really defined the Ac/DC sound (like `Highway to Hell` in 1979). These were the Bon Scott years(not Scott Bonham as I always think of him in my meddled metal mish-mash mind), where the original singer of the band, forever with an amused twinkle in his eye, helped forge that unique sound. Sadly Scott passed away in 1980 having choked on his own vomit after a party in London.

The early clips here (some Aussie TV appearances) will be of great interest to fans, and the progress to the mighty AC/DC sound can be mapped track by track.

The tracks included on Disc 1 are:
Disc One (1975-1980):
1. Baby Please Don`t Go
2. Show Business
3. High Voltage
4. It`s A Long Way To The Top
5. T.N.T.
6. Jailbreak
7. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
8. Problem Child
9. Dog Eat Dog
10. Let There Be Rock
11. Rock N Roll Damnation
12. Sin City
13. Riff Raff
14. Rocker
15. Whole Lotta Rosie
16. Shot Down In Flames
17. Touch Too Much
18. If You Want Blood
19. Girls Got Rhythm
20. Highway To Hell

Tracks like T.N.T show early promise, but it`s not until track 11 (`Rock n Roll Damnation`) that the sound suddenly beefs up. Prior to this, in common with other Rock bands of the time, the chops were a little thin and lack-lustre. (My own theory is that the arrival of The Sex Pistols (ironically) with their huge, thick and bassy chords, changed the face of rock music and rock production forever.) Then things really catch alight! The live version of Riff-Raff is tremendous here, Bon Scott a ball of energy and Angus Young rocking like there`s no tomorrow. It`s in the live performances included here that we really see the band at their best.

The classic `A whole lotta Rosie` is played in front of a small studio audience but is still incendiary - with both Scott and Young discarding their shirts and letting loose in classic rock`n`roll style.

Amongst these highlights are a few video toe-curlers (in common with any collection of promos from the period) like the inclusion of a bloodstained Young with a guitar piercing his body during `If you want blood (you got it)` - though even this doesn`t spoil what is essentially a great performance.

The greatest track here is perhaps `Highway to Hell` where the AC/DC sound that we all know and love was finally forged once and for all. And then, tragically, Scott died. Many assumed that was the end. But this is a 2-disc set and the story plays on - with the classic return LP and tribute to Scott, `Black in Black`.

The irreplaceable Scott was replaced, to everyone`s surprise, by a Geordie, the flat-cap wearing Brian Johnson who sounded remarkably like Scott. The first cluster of clips on Disc 2 show the new singer looking remarkably like Harry H. Corbett (from Steptoe & Son), a perfect compliment to Angus Young`s Krankies impersonation. The first four tracks are recorded on a sound-stage (sans audience or much in the way of lighting) but despite this, still rock. (Did I just say that? What am I now - Jack Black!?). `Let`s get it up` is a live performance and amply illustrates the immense popularity of the band, despite the tragedy that befell them. By the `Flick of the Switch` album, Philip Rudd, the brilliant engine-room drummer that provided the backbone that allowed Young`s distinctive guitar to shine, decided to leave the band.

The promos provided here are all `performance` videos (AC/DC hated the anodyne MTV video and even called an album `Blow up your video` in protest), though there are some `creative moments` here that don`t do them credit, though tracks like `Shake your foundations`, `Who Made Who`, and `You shook me all night long` still sound as great as they ever did, and in truth, probably represent a band at the (commercial) height of their powers.

The full listing is:
Disc Two (1980-1993):
1. Hells Bells
2. Back In Black
3. Rock And Roll Ain`t Noise Pollution
4. Let`s Get It Up
5. For Those About To Rock
6. Flick Of The Switch
7. Nervous Shakedown
8. Fly On The Wall
9. Danger
10. Sink The Pink
11. Stand Up
12. Shake Your Foundations
13. Who Made Who
14. You Shook Me All Night Long
15. Heatseeker
16. That`s Why I Wanna Rock & Roll
17. Thunderstruck
18. Money Talks
19. Are You Ready
20. Big Gun

Video

The source material is widely variable but there are no real stinkers. Naturally it`s all 4:3.

Audio

This is a stereo mix, and despite the variable source material, is pretty good throughout. It`s music to be enjoyed at volume and my speakers certainly took an enjoyable beating and everything sounded just fine.

Features

None present on this review disc - and no menu either. But it would be surly to grumble with so much else packed on to the two discs.

Conclusion

Fans of the band will love this collection. `Family Jewels` is a pretty comprehensive, chronological retrospective of one of the most popular rock-bands of all time.

The history is divided into two - with Disc 1 covering the early Bon Scott years, and Disc 2 the latter Brian Johnson years.

Disc 1 may well provide some of the most entertaining surprises, such as Scott in drag in an early Aussie TV appearance, though Disc 2 is the more hit-packed of the two, reflecting the commercial heyday of this mighty rockin` band. Favouring performance videos (many of which are live) over conceptual videos, most of this collection has aged remarkably well.

There`s also a real sense of continuity with little change in approach or style since the outset of this remarkable 30 plus-year career.

My only real gripe was that the review discs had no menu and no access to individual songs. I`m assuming that this won`t be the case on the `official release` as that would prove to be extremely frustrating.

Overall - a highly recommended purchase, and one that`s bound to be a regular visitor to the DVD tray on your player. Rockin`!