[Album Review] AC/DC | Iron Man 2 (Deluxe Edition)

By 2010, not only was AC/DC back on top of the rock world but the marketing boost they were getting from their new label, Sony was taking the band to new heights.

Yes, they have been involved with a movie soundtrack before when an eccentric author was given carte blanche to make his own B-movie. But this time, were talking Iron Man 2. A bonafide Hollywood blockbuster!

OK, so it wasn’t a film score this time, just an awkward tie in album. I say awkward because only two of the songs, Shoot To Thrill and Highway to Hell, are used in the film. Back in Black was featured in Iron Man and a few others you can loosely tie to some promotional material. The rest, I have no idea how or why they came to be here. There is a character in the films called War Machine, and the song War Machine is on here… I have nothing for the rest.

No doubt that Marvel was sucking up to Sony in a big way since they own the film rights to the Spider-Man and X-Men series. So, why not give them a lucrative deal to sweeten negotiations for cross over potential into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

So, this is what we have for the tracklist:

1. Shoot to Thrill
2. Rock ‘n’ Roll Damnation
3. Guns for Hire
4. Cold Hearted Man
5. Back in Black
6. Thunderstruck
7. If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)
8. Evil Walks
9. T.N.T.
10. Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be
11. Have a Drink on Me
12. The Razors Edge
13. Let There Be Rock
14. War Machine
15. Highway to Hell

Not a bad mix. It is kind of nice to see Guns for Hire and Evil Walks getting some love. But as someone who has all of these songs elsewhere, the collection is completely redundant.

Good thing I got the edition with the bonus DVD which is only almost completely useless to me. It is 52 minutes long with the only two pieces of exclusive content. The 1st being the video they did for Shoot To Thrill, which took footage from Live at The River Plate, scenes from Iron Man 2, a few shots were they were pretending to play the song, and mixed them all together. The 2nd is a featurette on the making of the first video, lol.

The rest of the disc is made up of promotional videos and cuts from live concerts that are already on Plug Me In, Family Jewels, Live at Donington, and No Bull. Really, I recommend all of those over this.

For me, I just grabbed this a few years ago at a thrift store. They had it price for 11 moose bucks, and it came with the DVD…. so I went for it. Otherwise, I don’t think I would have added it to the collection. The only downside is it is a little bent in the corner and the the dummies put their price tag on the delicate digi-book cover.

Although this disc isn’t for me, I am not the center of the universe. Believe it or not. I think for new fans, Iron Man 2 makes for a pretty good introduction. You get plenty of old with new and hits with deeper cuts. There are plenty of photos of the band with a nice write up of their history. Most of the band incarnations are represented… heck, I think only Simon Wright got the cold shoulder. Plus, you get an excellent job by Mike Fraser who got these tunes, which were record anywhere from 1975 to 2008, to sound like they belong together.

It isn’t perfect, but if a movie tie in album is going to get more people listening to AC/DC, well then…. Let There Be Rock.

3.5/5