It’s something of a travesty that a band as huge as AC/DC doesn’t have a proper greatest-hits collection. Instead of putting together a top-notch career-spanning disc or two, the band is bilking fans this holiday season with Backtracks, a wholly inessential box set of mostly mediocre rarities, live tracks and music videos. In its standard iteration, Backtracks features one disc of studio rarities from single B-sides, compilations and import releases; one disc of live rarities from similar sources; and one DVD of latter-day music videos and a handful of vintage clips.
The Details
Since all the audio material has been previously released, hardcore fans likely already own the studio rarities, which range from silly curiosities (the Celtic-sounding instrumental “Fling Thing”; the wispy ballad “Love Song”) to worthy gems (the meaty “R.I.P. (Rock in Peace)”; the riff-tastic “Big Gun,” which was actually one of the band’s biggest hits). And the live material is spotty, paling in comparison to the band’s landmark 1992 Live album (the deluxe version has a second live disc, along with promotional doodads including a working guitar amplifier as the packaging—talk about indulgence).
The music videos on the DVD are mostly cheesy, and the vintage clips are so-so (the deluxe version’s extra DVD features a concert from 2003, not exactly the band’s heyday). Nothing here qualifies as bad, but it’s mostly superfluous, and could have easily been condensed into a single-disc rarities collection for the faithful. Now where’s that much-needed best-of?
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