Description
Double album on clear vinyls. Limited 350 numbered copies
Ac/dc’s storied career hit on a rough patch with their opinion-dividing Flick Of The Switch album, which was released on Aug. 15, 1983. When Ac/dc first began to lay down plans for recording their ninth studio album, their career was at its absolute commercial peak, flying high on the world-beating success of 1980s flawless Back In Black and its worthy successor, For Those About To Rock. Both albums had kept the band touring and/or working for nearly two years straight (and the human toll would soon be felt in drummer Phil Rudd’s exit), so once they finally found the time to reflect on their next move, the Australian hard rock heroes decided it was time to go back to basics. Fatefully, after three albums working with studio perfectionist Robert John Mutt Lange, the group decided to produce Flick Of The Switch themselves in a concerted effort to strip their songs of any lingering studio polish. To that end, Ac/dc spent less than a month recording 10 new songs, and later drove their point home with the help of a spartan, startlingly white cover art, featuring nothing but a pencil sketch of Angus Young preparing to flick that giant electric switch. Unfortunately, not benefiting from any outside perspective also wound up stripping many of the songs of their top-shelf ideas, too, and it’s telling that none of Flick Of The Switch’s tunes – save for the electrifying Guns For Hire and possibly the title track – have enjoyed much of an afterlife beyond the album’s supporting tour and thats probably why live material from the Flick Of The Switch Tour is so welcomed. What we have on this album is a recording from Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, Ohio on Friday the 11th of November 1983, an arena that has a capacity of 12 000 people and where Fastway acted as support act. So the rarities on this recording are the three tracks performed from the new album at the time, Guns For Hire, Badlands and the title track Flick Of The Switch. The brothers Angus and Malcolm Young churn out a reliable batch of excellent riffs and solos and gives the track Badlands a bit more energy live than on the studio version and Brian Johnson sounds..well like Brian Johnson. Besides these three rarities its pretty much a basic best of set list so even people who only wants a good live album from the band should find most of the tracks they expect to be played at an Ac/dc concert on this recording.
Track list:
1. Guns For Hire
2. Shoot to Thrill
3. Sin City
4. Badlands
5. Back In Black
6. Bad Boy Boogie
7. Rock n Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution
8. Flick Of The Switch
9. Hells Bells
10. The Jack
11. Highway To Hell
12. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
13. Whole Lotta Rosie
14. Let There Be Rock
15. TNT
16. For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)