New Vibrations: AC/DC - Backtracks

In America, we don't have the same AC/DC albums that were released in Australia. It wasn't until the creation of AC/DC's fifth album that the track listings for the Australian and international releases would match, and until then, tracks would be chopped, re-ordered or dropped on the international versions.

With the Backtracks boxed set, those missing and altered tracks from the '70s are finally collected for the American market, along with B-sides and rarities from the band's time with singer Brian Johnson. The set also includes a disc of live recordings and a DVD that features just about all of AC/DC's music videos up to the present day. There are two versions of Backtracks available for purchase. The first is the fairly-priced $40 set that includes two CDs worth of material, plus the DVD. The second is the less-fairly-priced, but quite impressive $200 set that includes a coffee table book and an additional CD of live rarities among other things.

The first disc is interesting, but not essential. It's nice to finally hear "Crabsody in Blue." "Love Song" gives fans an idea of what the band might have been like had they decided to focus on songs about romance rather than the paeans to liquor and loose women that have come to define the band's lyrical style.

"Fling Thing" is a sweet rock instrumental version of "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond." In the $200 collector's edition, there are six additional tracks, each previously released, but somehow altered between their American and international versions.

The second disc, however, is what makes the set interesting to more than just AC/DC completists. There are four fantastic live recordings taken from the days when Bon Scott was the band's singer, and 11 tracks ranging from decent to excellent in quality that were recorded with singer Brian Johnson.

Some of the Brian Johnson-era tracks suffer from long instrumental breaks that must have been just thrilling to the audiences there to see the band live, but that drag when listened to on CD.

There's enough solid material here, including tracks that haven't previously been available except in studio versions. Excellent songs from quality albums like Flick of the Switch and Stiff Upper Lip can be heard as they were performed live, and they sound just as good, maybe better, than the album versions.

For 40 bucks, the decision to get this set hinges on two things: how badly one wants to hear AC/DC live recordings, and whether or not one already owns the Family Jewels music video collection released a few years back.