Iron Man 2 (Deluxe Edition) [CD + DVD] [Deluxe Edition, CD+DVD, Soundtrack]

For the second time, AC/DC have supplied the soundtrack to a movie (see: Who Made Who, the soundtrack to Stephen King's Maximum Overdrive). This release basically amounts to a cool "best of" CD. While Who Made Who had some new material, Iron Man 2 is the straight classics, with a few unexpected surprises thrown in. Since AC/DC have never released a "best of" CD, this is about as close as you're likely to get. And it's just fine.

I'm guessing Jon Favreau had a lot to do with the picking and choosing and sequencing of songs, and he's obviously an AC/DC fan. I mean, "Evil Walks"? There are even songs from the Backtracks box set and the most recent AC/DC opus, Black Ice. As such, Iron Man 2 is a pretty damn good single disc overview of the whole AC/DC shebang. It flows well, it has an excellent mix of Bon and Brian, and the sound is as good as any of the AC/DC remasters available. Lyrically, it even (very) loosely relates to Iron Man 2 ("War Machine", "Evil Walks", "Back In Black", use your imagination). In short, it rocks. Buy this with Who Made Who, you will essentially have all the AC/DC that a newbie would need, and a fair chunk of deep cuts as well.

The deluxe edition packaging is awesome to behold, with shiny cover art, a generous booklet (loads of Iron Man and band photos in here) and a DVD. The DVD is nothing to write home about, the new video of "Shoot To Thrill" and a making-of featurette being the main features. The live stuff is great, but a fair bit has been previously released on official AC/DC DVDs before. Still, I have no complaints. It's good viewing and you way as well consider it a freebie at this price.

Fans who already own the whole AC/DC back catalogue won't need this, but I bought it anyway. As a car disc it's fun, and probably a lot better than any actual "best of" CDs you can think of, due to the inclusion of obscure tracks. But it works. The album flows and rocks, and those obscure tracks deserve a second look-see. I'd forgotten how cool the song "The Razors Edge" is, and it totally fits the Iron Man vibe.

If you need some more AC/DC in your life, some more iron in your blood, go for it. You won't be let down. Personal highlights for me include:
"The Razors Edge"
"If You Want Blood (You've Got It)"
"Cold Hearted Man"
"Rock n' Roll Damnation"

But the whole thing is great, not a weak track in the bunch. 4 stars.

I have to start by saying that it truly surprises me that this isn't a bigger seller. I expected it to be topping Amazon's charts easily. Afterall, it is essentially a flawed Greatest Hits collection. But hey, a flawed one is still better than nothing.

Perhaps the marketting issues are related to the title of the record, and the conditions surrounding its creation. But, the similar release "Who Made Who" was massively successful, exchanging a lot of classic tracks for just a few tired new tracks.

Regardless of all these things, the fact is that this collection contains a lot of AC/DC's biggest songs, and this selection will come down to a matter of personal taste. The record does contain 6 out of AC/DC's 10 most played tracks on music tracking giant Last FM though (marked with a *):

*1 Back in Black
*2 Highway to Hell
3 You Shook Me All Night Long
4 Hells Bells
*5 T.N.T.
*6 Thunderstruck
*7 Shoot to Thrill
8 Big Gun
9 Jailbreak
*10 Let There Be Rock

The bottom line is that this contains a lot of great tracks from one of hard rock's greatest bands. Diehard fans might find no use for this collection, and might hold out for a proper hits record, likely to surface after the band dissolves. People who are just looking to grab a few of AC/DC's radio staples (along with a bunch of other good lesser-known tracks) might find some value in this album.

Personally, I am of the opinion that this record when coupled with Back In Black pretty much gives me all the AC/DC I would ever want. If you're one of those people that just wish Back In Black had "TNT", "Highway To Hell" and "Thunderstruck" on it, this is a perfect place to find a decent compromise.

RECOMMENDED FOR: fans of AC/DC that are sick of spinning burnt collection CDs in the car, or who want most of the band's radio hits on one disc, fans of Airbourne, Guns N' Roses, Led Zeppelin, and other 80's style hard rock

Am I a hardcore AC DC fan? Not really but I still like and own most of their albums and find them to a highly enjoyable band and consider them one of the true classic bands. The thing with AC DC is that they made timeless music and each album brings up a few hits and therefore more classics, that's how it's been for quite some time. However no real greatest hits package have ever been released to this day, in fact I don't really consider this soundtrack to the Iron Man 2 movie or even the soundtrack from the "Maximum Overdrive" movie "Who Made Who" of 1986 a best of package, they don't cover enough of the band's music. I know that those are just soundtracks and they release songs that were played in the movie but I feel that the band would need a proper greatest hits just for the sake of it and because almost every other band has one or more. I think a 2 disc album (perhaps even 3 discs?) covering the band from beginning would be appropriate and would truly honor the band's legacy, plus I think casual fans who are not really big fans (and there are many!) would definitely want to get it.

Iron Man 2 has 3 songs from their best-selling album, 1980's "Back In Black" (which is often pointed out as the best album made by the band), 2 from "Highway To Hell"(1979), "Let There Be Rock"(1977) and "The Razor's Edge" (1990) , 1 from "T.N.T"(1975), "Powerage"(1978), "For Those About to Rock" (1981), "Flick the Switch"(1983),"Black Ice"(2008) and "Backtracks" (2009) each. Totalling 15 songs from different eras and albums, this soundtrack gives you a fair review of the band and has a pretty solid selection of songs. The soundtrack has certainly many classic songs but it misses others such as "You Shook Me All Night Long", "It's A Long Way To The Top(if you wanna rock'n'roll) and more recently "Stiff Upper Lip" and "Rock'N'Roll Train". Point is there are many great songs that are not included here, perhaps it's because it's a soundtrack but it doesn't change the fact that it's a good enough compilation, I say this and I feel fans will agree with me, if there should be an AC DC compilation it should at least be done properly.

The DVD has the video of the Iron Man 2 "Shoot to Thrill" version it's making of and 7 other live performances of the band over the years. It's a not a bad DVD, it could have been better but at this price there really isn't any reason to complain. The deluxe edition of the soundtrack has a reprinted Iron Man #1 comic book with an AC DC cover, a big hardcover booklet with liner notes and stickers. For the hardcore fan I don't feel like there is much as I thought there would be more, I'd just stick with the regular version of Iron Man 2 but that's just my opinion.

I say this is a small taste of the band if you really want the best you have to buy the albums as no greatest hits album quite covers the band as best as possible. Seeing how there are no real AC DC compilation out there this is better than nothing and it does give you a few of the best and classic songs. The DVD is a great addition and it does make this soundtrack/greatest hits package a better value. One thing I command AC DC: Iron Man 2 for is the half-half balance between the Bon Scott era of the band and the Brian Johnson one, I think it brings out good things out of both world and is a fair compilation. I give it 3 stars because of the CD/DVD combo, the even representation of both eras of the band, and a not perfect but good selection of songs.
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