AC/DC Let There Be Rock Coming to DVD

One of my earliest impressionable rock and roll memories was of me and my friend Bill in probably 7th or 8th grade taking a bus to the Century 25 theaters in San Jose to see the film Let There Be Rock.

This was the third rock and roll film I had seen in a short period. One was The Secret Policeman's Ball and the other was The Song Remains the Same - both of which inspired me to choose music as a career at a ripe young age, and both filled me with dread and uncertainty about HOW I would actually make that happen. But the seed had been planted.

If I had any doubts, though, Let There Be Rock buried them deep. This film (which I have never seen again since) carved itself in my head. The loud rock and roll. The insanity of Angus Young spinning around on the ground and then going side stage for a hit of oxygen. The ruggedness of Bon Scott. Raw raw raw.

I left that theater transformed. It's also why I immensely prefer the Scott-era AC/DC over the Brian Johnson version. But as Johnson said when AC/DC made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, "It's Bon's band." Yeah baby. Good man.

Adding to the aura of this film in my mind is that it's apparently never made it to DVD. Oh I am sure I could have found it on VHS or DVD if I had really wanted to, but I am glad I will be able to watch an official sanctioned version some (almost) 30 years later on a large screen TV with the sound CRANKED.

The official release is slated for January 2011. According to Eddie Trunk's Web Site:

"Let There Be Rock", the AC/DC concert documentary that was filmed December 1979 at the Pavillion De Paris, will receive its long-awaited DVD release in January 2011.

According to the All Music Guide, "Let There Be Rock" was released in France a year after it was filmed, though American release was delayed until well after the band had established themselves in the States with new vocalist Brian Johnson and the multi-platinum success of the "Back In Black" album.

In his review of the original "Let There Be Rock" film, Fred Beldin of the All Music Guide writes, "Director Eric Dionysis captures the excitement of the live show with an energetic style and effective close-up shots, though the staged interviews and sub-'The Song Remains The Same' fantasy sequences show the band to be bemused but not convinced by these attempts to add some arty depth to the proceedings. The highlight of the extracurricular segments is Bon Scott, radiating warmth and humility in these last interviews before his untimely death at age 33 from alcohol poisoning."

I will be first in line. Online, of course. Let There Be Rock!

Czech Leader Taps Highway to Hell in Obama Speech

Czech prime minister Mirek Topolanek saw AC/DC when the band played Prague last week, and had one of the band's biggest tunes rolling around in his head when he diverted from a prepared statement about Obama's stimulus package.

According to the New York Times, instead of saying Obama's stimulus package would lead "the way to destruction" he used the phrase 'road to hell.'

According to the story, "AC/DC played here last week," Topolanek told the daily Lidové Noviny. "And their cult song Highway to Hell might have led me in that very improvised speech to use the phrase..."

Czech translator Petr Bilek said citing "hell" is not a big deal for Czechs in a speech like this:

Mr. Bilek suggests that this is in part “because American society is influenced by Christianity,” while Czechs are well-known for their atheism. A European Commission poll in 2005 (available as a .pdf) found that only 19% of Czechs say they believe in god, and a third identify themselves as atheists. So, Mr. Bilek told the Prague newspaper, “while for many Americans hell is truly a horrifying concept, Czechs don’t make such a big deal out of it.”

I wish politicians would whip out heavy metal lines in their speeches more frequently. Wouldn't it have been great if Bush had said "we're screaming for vengeance and we'll have those pesky Taliban dazed and confused after we make 'em run to the hills. If you think I am wrong, you've got another thing coming!"

AC/DC Bust Out Classics At Public Dress Rehearsal

This is re-posted and edited from a Blabbermouth posting:

Jessica Letkemann of Billboard.com had the opportunity to see AC/DC's "final dress rehearsal" for their "Black Ice" Tour in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in front of thousands of contest winners and invite-only industry personnel. Here is her report of the show.

In a hail of faux-cannon shots and fireballs, AC/DC played a "final dress rehearsal" for its Black Ice World Tour last night (Oct. 26th) at the Wachovia Arena in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., in front of thousands of contest winners and invite-only industry personnel. The trek kicks off tomorrow at the venue.

The lights went down at 8:10 as an animated AC/DC film played and a giant locomotive moved out to center stage, surrounded by fireworks. Guitarist Angus Young, in his trademark black school-boy uniform, played the opening notes of new single "Rock N' Roll" train and got the crowd quickly shouting its approval.

The 14-song show soon segued into AC/DC classics like "Back in Black" and "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap," with singer Brian Johnson and company testing out the elaborate stage set: 21 Marshall amps with a bridge across them, assorted pyrotechnics, a phallic stage extension with a raised platform at the end and a glass panel laid into the main stage so a cameraman could catch Young's guitar-handling from underneath.

A giant bell descended for "Hell's Bells" and Young climbed the ringing rope to open the song. A plus-sized blow-up doll was deployed for "Whole Lotta Rosie," straddling the train prop and manned by a tech tasked with tapping her car-sized foot to the beat. Besides "Rock N' Roll Train," the title song from "Black Ice" was the only other new tune played.

The show came on the heels of blockbuster first day sales of the Wal-Mart-exclusive "Black Ice" album, which sold an estimated 193,000 copies on Oct. 20th, according to sources.

Here is AC/DC's set list:
--Rock N' Roll Train
--Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be
--Back In Black
--Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
--Thunderstruck
--Hell's Bells
--You Shook Me All Night Long
--TNT
--Black Ice
--Whole Lotta Rosie
--Let There Be Rock

Encore:
--Highway To Hell
--For Those About To Rock

Here is where the Blabbermouth story ends and I pipe in. This set list is crushing. Nice to see some older stuff like Let There Be Rock. And somehow there is a pretty high quality YouTube up already of the first number:

New AC/DC Album Will Truly ROCK Wal-Mart

Rolling Stone posted a short item on AC/DC's forthcoming album Black Ice. (Yes, only available at Wal-Mart, starting October 21 - argh):

Sweet vindication! Last year in this column, AC/DC singer Brian Johnson promised that they’d tour in 2008. Well, he wasn’t kidding. Soon they’ll begin rehearsals in a secret location, before hitting U.S. arenas in late fall. We heard this news at the Sony HQ on New York’s Madison Avenue, before hearing all 15 tracks of the band’s earthshaking new Black Ice, recorded in Vancouver in just eight weeks with Brendan O’Brien. On it, Brian wails about skies on fire, blood in his eyes, storms raging, lightning flashes, hard rain and pretty women. Angus Young shreds throughout (we dig his slide work on “Decibel”), and the rhythm cats — Malcom Young, Cliff Williams and Phil Rudd — are solid as a rock. The first single is “Rock ‘N Roll Train”; “She Likes Rock ‘N Roll” will be a stripper anthem; and “War Machine” (our favorite) will tear you to pieces.

Sounds pretty promising...

Walmart Snags New AC/DC Album

There is some kind of conspiracy going on to get me to go to Walmart.

On the heels of the Eagles' out of the park success in ditching their record company and making their new album available only at Walmart, and the new Journey album also being available only at Walmart, now AC/DC is doing the same thing with its new CD.

Chicago Tribune writer Mark Caro posts about the news in an installment of "Is This A Sell Out?" called "For Those About to Rock - Shop At Walmart" saying:

The Eagles and Garth Brooks previously have sold CDs exclusively through Wal-Mart, with last year’s Eagles album, “Long Road Out of Eden,” considered a success story with about three million copies sold. But AC/DC? The classic headbangers’ new album won’t be available at any sort of rock music store, but you can pick it up along with a box of Huggies? Maybe this isn’t about AC/DC. Maybe this is about the death of the record store.

Other tidbits from the story in the Wall Street Journal (as picked up by the AP) include:

AC/DC is one of the few major acts yet to make its music available via Apple's iTunes Music Store. In August 2007, Verizon Wireless snagged the exclusive rights to sell the band's entire back catalog through March 2008, becoming the first and only digital music store to offer AC/DC's content.

But the deal was limited to full-album downloads. That requirement is one of the reasons that AC/DC's music has not appeared in digital form to date. Because full-album downloads are too large and too expensive to sell from mobile phones, Verizon sold them only from the PC version of its VCast Music service, for $12 an album.

This shite is big business, people. But I gotta say, while I will be only marginally OK with buying the new Journey CD at Walmart (because I HAVE to), I WON'T be buying anything else while I am there. Not even a Twix bar.