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Outdoor Living UK - Black Ice (Deluxe)
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List Price: £17.99
Our Price: £8.48
Your Save: £ ( % )
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Manufacturer: SonyBMG
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0886973922323
Format: Collector's Edition
Label: SonyBMG
Manufacturer: SonyBMG
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: SonyBMG
Release Date: 2008-10-20
Studio: SonyBMG
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: ACDC in fine form
Comment: AC/DC bounce back with an album full of fun and inspiration. Featuring their most catchy songs since the early 80's, the band have gone for hooks and melodies aplenty, apparently encouraged by producer Brendan O'Brien, who has also coaxed a more soulful, rather less strained performance from a very impressive Brian Johnson. Johnson, aged 60 when Black Ice was recorded, rolls back the years with a voice which whilst weathered, sounds strong and of more texture than for many a year. He sounds powerful and shrill in the style of his 80's heyday on tunes like Big Jack and Spoilin' For A Fight, adds his traditional gritty edge to superb, bluesy lines on Decibel, and just sounds altogether fantastic on the anthemic Rock 'n' Roll Train and Money Made.
The production from O'Brien, and mix from Mike Fraser, are excellent. Big, round, full of warmth and crunch - a modern production but not over-polished, despite a couple of slightly ill-advised but harmless uses of samples on guitars and vocals here and there. Angus favours a chunky sound but without the high end of the 70's albums - this is more like their more recent albums in terms of guitar sound, with Mal's awesome rhythm particularly evident on the aforementioned Money Made.
Soloing from Angus is great in parts, largely too short for hardcore fans, and rarely does he let rip with the flowing, tumbling pentatonic and blues runs which addded so much to the songs pre-1995's Ballbreaker. However, there are flashes of his old magic in Decibel, the rousing Skies on Fire, and in the glorious double-stops and double-bends of the ultra-catchy Anything Goes. Of the latter, it is curious how such a commercial track is just slightly let down in the chorus, where the actual song title isn't used, and without any backing vocals as in something like 1990's Moneytalks. Still, the song is a cracker and basically, pure sing-along fun.
Lyrics are again handled by the Youngs, and in the most part are uninspired and meaningless, failing to conjure up much in the way of imagary or indeed anything at all. You only have to check the main website message boards and discussions to see how strongly the fans wanted Johnson writing again.
The other disappointment is in the short length of some songs. Perhaps due to there being 15 of them, and concerns over running time, some superb tracks are all over too soon. War Machine just about gets away with it, but its quality deserves more, and the majestic Stormy May Day abruptly ends after the 2nd chorus, without a solo in sight. A pity.
But overall this is a great collection of songs, and aside from a somewhat dull chorus to She Likes Rock n Roll, and the lack of lyrics (content and structure) in Smash n Grab's strange 1st verse, there's hardly anything which a real AC/DC fan wouldn't enjoy immensely. What we have here is a thoroughly enjoyable collection of songs which find the band in fine form, led by one of the most characterful voices in rock and backed up by a one-off rhythm section - plus those classic twin guitars.
Their best for 25 years - enjoy!
Customer Rating:
Summary: AC/DC warm, but not warm enough
Comment: It's an interesting album Black Ice, it's a marked improvement on the last two Ballbreaker and Stiff Upper Lip, but I wouldn't say there was anything special about it. Usually when a classic album comes out, there's two maybe three stand out tracks on it where the band excels themselves, but on this there aren't any. There are some good tracks like Rock n Roll Train, Big Jack, Money Made, Spoilin for a fight, but no classics. There's isn't a bad song on this album, but it all sounds so familiar, almost like they were afraid to push the boat out, I'm not knocking it, but I almost feel like AC/DC played it safe, when they are capable of so much more.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Predictable
Comment: There are decent riffs on this album that lift it above some of the more lackadaisical offerings of Brian Johnston-era AC/DC (the equally forgettable Fly on the Wall, Ballbreaker, and Stiff Upper Lip), but it's a predominantly pedestrian set of songs.
Considering 8 years has elapsed since their last studio release (Stiff Upper Lip - although work began on Black Ice in 2006), you might expect them to pool their combined talent to write a more dynamic collection of songs - the album becomes repetitive and the songs indistinguishable after half way.
I've been listening to AC/DC since I first heard them on Australian radio as a schoolboy in the 1970s, and I've been consistently disappointed since Flick of the Switch (1983) precipitated a long slow decline from their previous three-punch successes of Highway to Hell, Back in Black, and For Those About to Rock..
Angus Young, despite his phenomenal guitar playing ability, has spent most of his post-Back in Black career (their landmark 1980 comeback album after the death of original singer Bon Scott) writing similar boogie riffs in the same key.
Brian Johnson lacks the clever word-play or cheeky insolence of the late Bon Scott's lyrics - indeed the Young brothers took over lyric duties four albums ago (Razor's Edge), despite Brian announcing he hoped to contribute to Black Ice.
In short, it starts well with the hit single Rock 'n' Roll Train, but like the similar-sounding names of the later song titles (She Likes Rock N Roll, Rock N Roll Dream, and Rocking All the Way), it gets very predictable.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Poor quality again
Comment: First let me say I am and always have been a massive AC/DC fan.I have travelled around the country and around the world to see them live which is always a stunning gig.
But this album is poor,really poor.Sounds like they got together friday afternoon after a pub lunch and wrote and recorded the whole lot before teatime.lyrically the worst album I have ever heard,god knows how many times you can use rock and roll in a song, but this must be near the limit.
Produced in an outside toilet from the sound of it[what is Brian singing? mostly I cant tell] .
There is a feeling of running out of ideas,recycled might be a better term.One shining light,track 10 , sounds great to start ,then fails lyrically and fades away.
For reference I own every AC/DC album,most singles,videos DVD's etc,this album is at the bottom of the list. Buy Back in Black to hear AC/DC [johnson era] at their best.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The only surprise is just how good this is...
Comment: It's good to have AC/DC back and, if the title and cover is anything to go by, also in Black. This, their Brendan O'Brien-produced 15th studio album, is no departure from their successful hard-riffing sound but is a more than worthy addition to an impressive career, perhaps because of just how long it was in the making. From start to finish, this album took over two years, mainly owing to an injury to bassist Cliff Williams' hand, leaving him unable to play for 18 months, leaving all of that time for the music and lyrics to be written and their ideas given ample time to be developed. Whatever the reason for the longevity of this project, it clearly worked because this album is a stormer.
In fact, AC/DC have made something close to a perfect specimen of their style and ability, making it amongst a handful of their best albums of which you could play to a complete newcomer as an example of their appeal and listeners would most likely either get it, or not. There are some classic additions to the AC/DC song catalogue here, such as the opener, 'Rock 'n' Roll Train', the bluesy 'Decibel', the electrifying rock of 'Wheels', the brilliant title track, 'Black Ice', which features some fantastic guitar work, and the persistent riff-fuelled groove of 'War Machine'. Slight departures from the formula are the slide-guitar led 'Stormy May Day', one of the album's highlights, which also features a fine vocal performance by Brian Johnson throughout, but especially at the end of the track where he sings without his trademark growl (something suggested by O'Brien) and the Led Zeppelin-esque 'Rock 'N Roll Dream'.
It could certainly be argued that, weighing in at fifteen tracks, this album could do with losing a bit of excess flab but it definitely packs a punch all the way through and even the less remarkable tracks are more than listenable. Taking this into account, as well as the strength of some of their previous work, I don't think there will be many fans who will consider this their best work ever. I'm afraid that I'm going to be ultra-predictable and say that, for me, the top spot still belongs to 'Back In Black', but as far as enjoyment and performance goes, this album should appeal to new and old fans alike and is up there with the best of the band's output.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Such are the near-generational gaps between latter-day AC/DC albums that it's always tempting to hail the arrival of a new one as a return to form. Black Ice arrives a whopping eight years after the band's last offering, Stiff Upper Lip, but one chorus into "Rock N Roll Train", the wise man would conclude that any evolution here is as slow and incremental as, well, evolution. A punchy, straightforward opener that finds Angus Young in good riff and Brian Johnson preaching a familiar gospel of schoolgirls and schoolboys, fantasy and ecstasy, it's familiar in the best possible way. A little deeper into Black Ice, however, and there's evidence of a slightly altered approach. Producer Brendan O'Brien softens and fleshes out the stripped-down, electric blues sound AC/DC rediscovered on 1995's Ballbreaker, and in places the band follow suit––take "Anything Goes", a poppy stomp that recalls O'Brien's other recent charge, Bruce Springsteen. Elsewhere, "Stormy May Day" and "Money Made" find Young taking up the slide for a few Zeppelin-flavoured licks. A few new paths, then, but all in all, the destination is pretty much the same: another solid late-period AC/DC album that, while unlikely to dislodge Back in Black from the fan's pedestal, finds its makers rocking into ripe old age. ––Louis Pattison
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