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A lot of buzz up here in Cascadia about Ac/Dc allegedly working on a new album in a Vancouver studio. Brian Johnson & Phil Rudd are apparently both involved, and Stevie Young (who has filled his uncle Malcolm's shoes) has also been seen. No word from Angus yet, and with Cliff Williams officially "retiring" after the end of the AxlDc tour, it's anybody's guess who would be playing bass. Is Mark Evans still alive?
Get Pete Way on bass!
:metalbang:
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Is he still working? Last I heard of him doing anything was a UFO reunion about a decade or so ago, and I don't think that lasted too long.
I dunno.
Even if Johnson rejoins, AC/DC...that band still chugging along...to me with each passing year it feels more and more like some aging relative I love - and the memories of those long ago better days (in AC/DC's case, the music) I still cherish - who can't really exist anymore without a lot of medical procedures (new members) because the original parts can't get the job done anymore. And even with the medical procedures/replacement parts, the relative with every passing year becomes more of a shadow of what they once were. It's not a perfect analogy, but I think my point is clear (?)
At some point, it seems kind of selfish on my part to insist the aging bands continue just because I don't want to let go of the memories of their heydays, or imagine life without them.
Am speaking strictly for myself here, in that if others still get enjoyment out of these older groups then more power to 'em. I've just reached the point where if a band either has less definitive/original members than replacements/hired guns, or can't cut it live without tuning down to the point where the songs sound weird, or even if they just plain can't cut it...I have no problem cutting them loose. Like, I wanted Roth to reunite with Van Halen in a substantive way since 1996, which was the first year such a reunion even seemed possible. When it finally came to pass, it was...okay. Sometimes good, some great spots here and there. But overall...just okay to good. And I don't think Mike Anthony would have made it much better. 2015 rolled around, it was clear Roth wasn't up to it anymore, I cut 'em loose. No big deal. The band will go on to do whatever they do regardless of my participation as a paying customer. I've got no more use for the band in terms of their present and future because as a band they can no longer live up to my standards in terms of what I am willing to pay for and accept performance-wise, and that's what it is.
AC/DC is right there in that same boat for me. I don't really think getting rid of Rose and Slade and bringing in Rudd and Johnson - and even Williams - at this late date is going to make a lick of difference other than in a "well, at least what is left/living of the Back In Black era is still onstage" kind of way. I've never thought bringing in family members of original/definitive members as replacements makes any sort of difference in a "it's okay to see them because so-and-so's brother replaced him" kind of way if the band as a whole can't cut it.
Lot of these old bands...they're just chugging along because they can. Not because they should.
Yeah, I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. To me that whole AxlDc thing was more like an Angus "side project" than anything resembling an actual Ac/Dc tour. The last Ac/Dc studio album I bought was The Razor's Edge, and I still like Ac/Dc's "6 pack" (the original Bon Scott albums) better than Back In Black or anything that came after it. If they're really bringing Johnson & Rudd back in, they should probably talk Cliff Williams into doing it one more time and call it a farewell tour.
Ac/Dc without Malcolm is almost like imagining the Stones without Keef. And Keef probably wouldn't mind that comparison, as he saw Malcolm's role in Ac/Dc similar to his own. I would hate to think of Jagger attempting a Stones tour without Keef... even if he managed to bring back Mick Taylor full time and had him playing with Woody.... it would technically be a "legitimate" Stones lineup, at least on paper. But it damn sure wouldn't sound like one.
Not that I think it would ever happen. Because there's no way in Hell Charlie would ever go for it.
Which...I mean, the clips I saw of the AxlDc thing...it didn't sound bad. Axl has been reasonably disciplined with his live vocal approach, both on the Guns reunion tour and the AC/DC stuff. The lead vocals with the AxlDc shows sounded a bit better than I thought they would, to be honest. I'm not an AC/DC "purist" or whatever in terms of Bon compared to Brian. I do think the first album they made with Brian was the best, although the first three up to and including Flick Of The Switch were all good really only Back In Black was a great album from start to finish. I kind of prefer the band before Mutt Lange got his hands on them, in terms of the records prior to his involvement not having the energy as...tempered, or whatever. I can't say as I have a tremendous amount of use for the band post-Flick. A few good tracks here and there post-Flick, but a lot of in one ear out the other/heard this type of stuff before kind of material.
But even if Malcolm hadn't passed...the band has sounded tired to my ears for quite some time. At some point, just the bare bones fact that they're "still out there doing it" or getting points for merely existing, that just isn't good enough for me.
With the Stones, on the creative front I haven't had much use for anything they've done post-Tattoo You, and half of THAT album was revamped leftovers from the 1970s. Saw 'em on the Steel Wheels tour, but they had more augmenting/supplementary musicians onstage than actual band members. It was a slick, professional show with one of the largest stage productions I've ever seen and one of the better sounds from a mixing standpoint that I've heard in a football stadium, but I'd be hesitant to say it was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. One of the biggest, to be sure, but there is a difference.
And even with the Stones...I recall reading a lot of people raving online about how great the Shine A Light film was when it was first released. For myself, I thought it was uneven at best. Jagger's performance was full of the same lazy live vocal shortcuts he has been utilizing since the Still Life tour, and Richards was just awful. At more than a few points Elton John's comparison of Keith Richards to an arthritic monkey came to mind, and about the kindest thing I can say is that it was clear Scorsese didn't engage in a lot of post-performance re-recording a la Richards guitar work: it was slipshod and at parts literally sounded like someone who hadn't been playing the instrument for more than a year, and I don't know if it was supposed to be Richards cache as a former bad boy rock and roll cool junkie outlaw that was supposed to make up for the poor quality of his playing or what, but it flat out stunk. Unlistenable at times. Only Ron Wood and Charlie Watts were able to hit and play the right notes. Keep in mind these were 2006 performances.
So, much like Van Halen, the Stones as a contemporary act or regarding their future viability - will the next tour be the last?!? - none of that means much of anything to me anymore.
Steel Wheels was the first tour the Stones did soundchecks. Supposedly they never did. Benji Lefevre mentioned it in one of the books: "The Stones doing a soundcheck? Unheard of." Lefevre ran sound on the Steel Wheels and Voodoo Lounge tours.
I think if Mick, Keith, or Charlie die then the Stones are over. Maybe they'd replace Ronnie and keep going.
All these mentions of the Stones & Tattoo You seem a little more appropriate now, apparently. This just popped up in my morning news feed. Usually I give "blabbermouth.net" about the same level of credibility as MelodiCrock or the National Enquirer, but this actually sounds like a plausible explanation for what's going on with Ac/Dc and why Johnson & Rudd would be involved....
blabbermouth.net
Rumor: New Ac/Dc Album To Feature Malcolm Young's Rhythm Guitar Playing On All Songs
September 1, 2018
Texas-based publication JAM Magazine has cited a "reliable source inside the AC/DC camp" as letting them know that Angus Young is working on a new AC/DC album that will be dedicated to his brother, the late Malcolm Young.
According to the site, the new recordings will include "Malcolm playing rhythm guitar on all tracks!"
A posting on the JAM Magazine Facebook page reads: "Turns out, five years prior to the 'Black Ice' LP, AC/DC's 15th studio release, Angus and Malcolm Young lived to together where they literally wrote hundreds of songs, many were recorded and have been stashed away until now. Angus has decided to selected the best tracks from those recordings that Malcolm played on and is now back in the studio recording and mixing them with fellow bandmates Phil Rudd, Cliff Williams and, yes, Brian Johnson on vocals."
Malcolm, who co-founded AC/DC with Angus in 1973, died in November 2017 at the age of 64 after suffering from dementia and failing health for several years.
Two weeks ago, a new photo of Johnson and Rudd sitting on the deck of Vancouver's Warehouse Studio with AC/DC's longtime mixer, engineer, and producer Mike Fraser was posted online.
The picture was once again snapped by Vancouver residents Crystal Lambert and Glenn Slavens from Lambert's apartment, which overlooks the studio's outside deck.
In recent weeks, Lambert and Slavens have taken other pictures of Johnson and Rudd, as well as guitarists Angus and Stevie Young. The assumption is that AC/DC is making a new studio album, with Rudd and Johnson both back in the lineup after both departing at different points during the tour cycle for 2014's "Rock Or Bust".
Rudd was dismissed after completing that LP and before its accompanying tour got underway, after he was arrested on charges of drug possession and threatening to kill someone. Johnson left a little over midway through the tour when he was faced with the possibility of permanent hearing loss.
A lineup consisting of the Youngs, longtime bassist Cliff Williams, drummer Chris Slade and GUNS N' ROSES frontman Axl Rose on vocals completed the trek, but Angus has been silent ever since on whether he intended to use that lineup for recording purposes or even keep AC/DC going.
Fraser mixed and engineered several LPs by AC/DC, including the last three — 2000's "Stiff Upper Lip", 2008's "Black Ice" and 2014's "Rock Or Bust" — all of which were recorded at Warehouse.
Quote:
AC/DC SCOOP!
We are hearing from a reliable source inside the AC/DC camp that Angus Young is working on a new AC/DC...
Posted by JAM Magazine on Thursday, August 30, 2018
They definitely didn't do a soundcheck before that Hyde Park gig in 1969 :biggrin:Quote:
Originally Posted by twonabomber
All Angus has left to do is go solo... Problem is, who would he hire on vocals?
Maybe the guy who sang Led Zeppelin's Rock and Roll with Dave Grohl a couple of years ago on stage.
http://www.vhnd.com/wp-content/uploa...ary_slider.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by Jérôme Frenchise
Something tells me Gary wouldn't want to sing a bunch of songs about "Hell".
I agree that this would be a nostalgia tour, but would love to see them with Brian one more time so I could go with my father. When I was a kid, I was raised to stories of seeing Angus electrocute himself mid show. Music is still the only thing Dad and I can agree on.
Maybe Eddie Van Halen. I mean after his masterful vocal musings in "How Many Say I", his angelic voice has been sorely missed...Quote:
Originally Posted by Jérôme Frenchise