I love the band. All incarnations. They all have a place in the landscape. I knew this book would make my heroes look ugly and it does. However, reading the book I can understand how and why many of the ties that they cut.
This book is a collection of long forgotten quotes from old AC/DC books, old interviews with the players involved, mixed with new interviews and commentary from the author. It paints a picture of the early musical influences that grew from Young and Vanda. Very organic in the evolution from all of their previous works. Discovering this music is worth the price of the book. While the music is taking shape so is the story of how to "break" the band.
The bulk of the book are record company executives, DJs and managers trying to jockey for position for taking the most credit possible. It is any wonder why Angus, Malcolm and George fire anyone and everyone that crosses them? One former manager pats himself on the back about how much money he still receives from Back In Black because he retained the rights because he is just so smart. The theme is that everyone wanted to bleed this band dry.
However, the Young brothers are notoriously ruthless in chopping people out of nowhere. Story after story, the body count rises. By the time the book gets around to Simon Wright it barely gets a sentence with a did-he-quit-or-Malcom-fire line. None of the people in this book are terribly likable and by the end of the book you come away feeling they all deserved some bad luck to come their way.
The best aspect of this book are snippets from Mark Evans, the engineers and others that were in the recording rooms watching everything unfold. Hearing first hand of the process is excellent. Digging up the drummer from High Voltage and hearing his perspective was also brilliant. There are a lot of excellent things in this book.
Having said that I wouldnt recommend this to just any AC/DC fan. If you want a walk down the path of going from nowhere to stardom via the record company then I would recommend this. If you want inside scoop or details about the music and the inspiration then move along because it's not in this book.
The mystery about who wrote the Back In Black lyrics is an excellent topic that isnt resolved and will never be resolved but having so many perspectives in one book is an excellent aspect of the music to be found in here.
The research done by the author is the most comprehensive I've ever come across in a book about the music industry. The photos that were used are gems. The book leaves no stone un-turned.
It's a long way to the top.
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