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:
- Shoot to Thrill
- Rock ‘n’ Roll Damnation
- Guns for Hire
- Cold Hearted Man
- Back in Black
- Thunderstruck
- If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)
- Evil Walks
- T.N.T.
- Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be
- Have a Drink on Me
- The Razors Edge
- Let There Be Rock
- War Machine
- 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
More AC/DC:
[Album Review] High Voltage (US)
[Album Review] Let There Be Rock (US)
[Album Review] Powerage
[Album Review] If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It!)
[Album Review] Highway To Hell
[Album Review] Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (INT)
[Album Review] For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)
[Album Review] Flick of the Switch
[EP Review] ’74 Jailbreak
[Album Review] Fly On The Wall
[Album Review] Who Made Who
[Album Review] Blow Up Your Video
[Album Review] The Razors Edge
[Album Review] AC/DC Live
[Album Review] Ballbreaker
[Album Review] Stiff Upper Lip
[Album Review] Black Ice
[Album Review] Iron Man 2 (Deluxe Edition)
[Album Review] Rock Or Bust
[Album Review] Live At River Plate
[Album Review] Power Up
[Album Review] High Voltage (AUS)
[Album Review] T.N.T.
[Boxset Review] Bonfire
[Boxset Review] Backtracks (Deluxe Edition)
[DVD] Review] Stiff Upper Lip Live
[DVD] Review] Family Jewels
[DVD] Review] Plug Me In
[Blu-ray Review] Live At Donington
[Blu-ray Review] No Bull | The Director’s Cut
[Blu-ray Review] Live At River Plate
[Book Review] Bon: The Last Highway | Jesse Fink
I was given this as a birthday present many years ago and it’s an all right listen. It does have a couple of my all time favourite AC/DC songs on it.
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Yes, they did a nice job of adding hits with album tracks.
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That’s a good way of looking at it – for longtime fans, it’s redundant, but if it’s the gateway album for new fans, I suppose that’s salute-able!
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Hey, whatever gets them listening!
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I believe that this Iron Man collaboration was what ushered in a new AC era… the Iron Man movies who made billions of dollars and had millions of people watching made them all aware of AC if they weren’t already aware or fans.
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Yes, a movie tie in like this can bring so many new people to the table. Heck, I didn’t know who Queen was until Wayne’s World.
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I have this one! For me it served as a perfect ‘that’s-all-I-need-to-own’ and then companion to the studio albums I ended up getting (Dirty Deeds, Highway to Hell and Back in black).
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You have a lot of essentials in that line up! May I recommend to at least add Let There Be Rock to that list?
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You may. I’ll jot it into the wee notebook… and if I see it cheap enough I’ll pick it up.
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You should be able to.
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My world is blown…I thought you were the center of the universe. I am now adrift in an empty world and believe in nothing. Now, this album is exactly what I thought it would be…redundant. Never bought it for that reason. Nice write-up.
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I mean, it is only redundant if you have all of the albums already. The good news is you can believe I am the center of the universe if you want to.
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Is any AC/DC redundant, really? I mean, multiple occurrences of tracks in the collection are just welcome additions, more chances for those tunes to turn up in the mix, aren’t they? 😉
I do dislike price stickers that are impossible to remove, or leave gummy residue behind. BMV is bad for that.
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Ha ha…. no.
I spend a lot of time removing sticker gunk off of CDs. The life of a thrift shopper.
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Yeah that’s my life too. All part of it, I guess.
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To be honest, I think this album is a bit much since it’s just a compilation album and like you said, only one or two songs are in the movie! “War Machine” is in one of the trailers, so I’m surprised that one didn’t make the movie. The least they could’ve done was put “Fly on the Wall” or “Hell or High Water” on the album to give Simon some love! Yes, I like Simon more than Chris.
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Unfortunately for Simon, he left before The Razors Edge.
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Again, no appreciation for Fly on the Wall, what the heck? It’s always about the “hits”!
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Great review Kevin! You know being a hardcore Iron Man i got this for the collection, but i also enjoy it has a wide range of ACDC songs you normally wouldn’t hear on a ‘best of’ collection, not just the big songs, and most of the music just fits the world of Iron Man very well. It’s such a great mash up for both sides of fans, and extra special for peeps like me, who love both ACDC and IM…
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Thanks, Kyle! I agree, certainly not a bad set at all. You got some big hits and deep tracks to wet your whistle.
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