AC/DC Black ice


Well, there been three important releases in recent weeks:
Metallica "Death Magnetic"; Guns N' Roses "Chinese Democracy" and AC/DC "Black Ice".
I posted on the first two, and now just completed my first listen of the "Black Ice".
What a huge difference!!!
The best AC/DC in ages: unmistakable feeling of inspiration and spontaneity, all 15 tracks are done on a single breath, and not a single bad one.
Absolutely impeccable sense of rhytm and melody, if you will.
Music is stripped down to it's bare essentials, as truly great rock supposed to be like, IMHO.
There is nothing there, that detracts from the musical message, not a single slow down, no annoying moments whatsoever.
I have to give it to Angus and Malcolm, who wrote all the tracks- they are some of greatest R&R songwriters ever.
honest and inspired album.
What a stark difference with the other two- Metallica is pretty much unlistenable, very tiresome and calculated.
If I had to sum it up:
Metallica- FINISHED!
Axl is a pompous, pretentious ass
AC/DC- outstanding!
P.S. AC/DC recording quality- miles ahead of the other two
maril555
Not sure what happened with Springsteen, but then again I don't really listen to him. The other O'Brien discs are not diminished by one aberrant result.
Ozzy,

Springsteen uses Bob Ludwig for Mastering - Bob uses Eggleston Ivy's (his own custom design) - might that explain it? ;-) Magic was particularly bad. Anyway if you use Egglestons for mastering...just kidding ....but it is true that Bob Ludwig has moved more to the dark side of the loudness wars recently (producers and artists demand it)

I think it is definitely intentional with Springsteen - I would guess he insists on it - it is always over compressed even Born to Run was bad long before compression became a terrible problem in the industry. It is probably because Bruce's mainstream audience are those who drive Ford pickups with huge towing capacity - noisy cabs on rough roads make compressed music the natural choice...
BTW - The Warehouse Studio including the main monitors was designed by Ron O Vermeulen (Bryan Adams technician for 30 years). The studio has a custom Neve that has George Martin's touch and orginally came from Air Studios in London. Bryan paid for it all...only a star could afford all this as we are talking tens of millions for the facility. I find Bryan Adams recordings are top notch too - thanks to Ron's hand.
Bongofury,

I looked at Capzles - neat stuff - kind of like Time Machine or iphoto on mac taken to the web - what a great tool for pulling everything together.
We are building a 30 year history of the band--the first major band on the site.

PS: Zack Brown is the first minor band up on the site.