AC/DC "LIVE" 1992 ****

This one just came with mail order from the fair city of Leipzig (I've never actually been there but I like to imagine it as a beautiful medieval town). There is a single and a double CD edition, this (2CD) supposedly being a "special collector's edition" but very easy to find and cheap (especially second hand, as this one was). Most AC/DC fans swear by the first live album (with Bon Scott) but this one reads like a greatest hits set, so I thought I'd try it. Well, I didn't regret it: the band is super tight and the performances are both professional and enthusiastic (but then, they always are-check them on youtube). If there ever was doubt whether Brian Johnson could fill Bon Scott's shoes, this album should have dispersed it, as he handles older material extremely well. Despite releasing some below-par records in the 80's, it's obvious that at that point in their career the band were on top of their game live. Having recently seen their latest dvd from (the fair city of -as I imagine it, that is) Buenos Aires, the band is still great but, when you compare the 2 albums, it's obvious that Brian Johnson's voice isn't what it used to be back then. I won't do a track-by-track presentation, as I'll be presenting their studio counterparts in the future. Three songs are notably different from the studio versions, as they're presented in the form of elongated jams ("Jailbreak", "High Voltage", "Highway to Hell") but otherwise the performances are tight and never let up. Overall, the album is a fun, hit-packed collection that flows extremely well, except for these small nuisances: A) the 2CD edition includes some relatively weaker songs from their then-current albums, creating a lull in quality somewhere in the middle of the first CD and B) the songs fade in and out instead of running consecutively, thus ruining the illusion of a "live" concert. Nevertheless, given the absence of a Best-Of, this could be a good place for the novice to start, as it contains all the hits... 

**** for Thunderstruck, Back In Black, Moneytalks, Whole Lotta Rosie, Let There Be Rock, Highway To Hell, T.N.T.

*** for Shoot To Thrill, Who Made Who, The Jack, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Hells Bells, Are You Ready, Thats The Way I Wanna Rock N Roll, High Voltage, You Shook Me All Night Long, For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)

** for Sin City, Heatseeker, Fire Your Guns, Jailbreak, The Razors Edge, Bonny