Here’s the question. At what point do you find yourself liking an album so much that you want to spend two hours of your life watching a documentary of people talking about that album? 

More specifically, at what point do you find yourself liking an album so much that you want to spend two hours of your life watching a documentary of people talking about that album, only one of which was even remotely connected with its production?

Ask yourself this question before picking up AC/DC A Classic Album Under Review: Back in Black. After you’ve asked yourself that question, if you still decide to pick it up, stop yourself and ask the question again.

After you’ve done that three times, if the answer is still yes, then you deserve your fate.

The story of AC/DC’s Back in Black is a great story. The band was at a point when it easily could have fallen apart. Their charismatic lead singer, Bon Scott, had died tragically a few months before and they were right at a turning point in their career. Instead of imploding or just hanging it up, the band sought out Brian Johnson, the ex-lead singer of Geordie, and made an album that ranks as the second best-selling studio album of all time, right behind Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

That is not boring subject matter. What is boring is going track by track through this album and hearing a bunch of blowhards talk about why each track is great. What’s worse is hearing it overanalyzed to a degree you’ve never thought possible. On some songs these guys literally go note by note, riff by riff and explain something to you that need not be explained.

... That would be the fact that AC/DC’s Back in Black is a really good album. You know the best way to find that out? Go fucking listen to it.

Now that might seem a bit flippant, but please understand that when I use the word “blowhards” I’m not talking about a documentary featuring the band themselves or the producer of the album. I’m talking about a bunch of self-professed AC/DC experts. Many are knowledgeable but they are the music equivalent of comic nerd fanboys.

Who are they? Well, we have a couple of biographers of the band, the guy who engineered the album (the only one on this disc who really gives any insight into the actual recording), and three guys from an AC/DC tribute band.

Did you catch that? Let me reiterate. We get “valuable insight” into the recording of the album Back in Black by three guys in a fucking cover band. Sure, they know how to play the whole album from beginning to end, but so do half the guys I went to high school with, and the last thing I want to do is hear them wax poetic about the subtle complexities of Malcolm Young’s riff in “Giving The Dog A Bone.” Here’s an example of what they have to offer.

Guitar guy:  “AC/DC’s songs sound simple but they’re harder to play than they sound.”

Twenty minutes later and he’s talking about the next song.

Guitar guy:  “It sounds simple but it’s harder to play than it sounds.”

Loop that ten times and add in something about the title track being a spiritual song and you’ve got the jist of what it takes them two hours to convey.

I love Back in Black. I cannot imagine how many times I have listened to it. I’ve owned it on vinyl, cassette and CD. It gets my mad love and respect, as does the band who recorded it.

That said, I fell asleep twice during this documentary and had to go back and watch what I missed. This is mostly due to the fact that AC/DC A Classic Album Under Review: Back in Black is generally a talking-head fest. There are a few publicity photos thrown in the mix and some footage from a couple of concerts, but not nearly enough to carry your attention through two hours of this.

Unless you are an aspiring rock journalist and want to know exactly what mannerisms you should adopt in order to be annoying as hell, or if you are an aspiring AC/DC tribute band and need a primer on how best to play “Shoot To Thrill,” stay away from this release.

Presentation
There is nothing especially noteworthy about this. Simply too little actual AC/DC music is used to make you give a damn about the stereo mix. The majority of the music you hear is performed by the tribute guys demonstrating why the riffs work so well. The camera work is nothing special either. How many slow pans across the same publicity photos can there be? I didn’t count, so you’ll have to watch it yourself if you really want the answer.

Extras
The folks who put this together seem to understand that they have an underwhelming group of “experts.” That’s the only reason I can think of that they put an extra feature on here where you can access all of the parts where Tony Platt, engineer on the album, discusses the recording process.

Other than that, they have the requisite Hardest AC/DC Back in Black Quiz in the World Ever, and the biographies of the “experts.”

The Bottom Line
I can highly recommend this as a sleep aid. It did wonders for me, and I was watching this at 3 in the afternoon. Otherwise, I really didn’t get much out of this, apart from the fact that AC/DC made a great album. I already knew this, but if you didn’t, discover it for yourself instead of listening to these guys tell you about it.