AC/DC - Plug Me In (2007) [Collectors Edition 3-DVD Set] [PROPER]

Given their longevity and consistent popularity, it's surprising that AC/DC have never gotten around to releasing a comprehensive career-inclusive box set (1997's fine Bonfire focused exclusively on their early years with Bon Scott, including the album they'd begun to make when he died, the masterpiece Back in Black, as an afterthought). But 2005's double-DVD set The Family Jewels was a superb audio-visual overview of this great band's career, and two years later AC/DC's archivists have unearthed enough material for a second two-disc DVD set that captures one of the world's finest hard rock bands in solid, rowdy form for close to five hours. Disc one of Plug Me In is devoted to material from Bon Scott's years from the band, and while the first few tunes find the group still working out its glam influences (especially the clip of AC/DC miming "It's a Long Way to the Top" on the Aussie music show Bandstand, with Scott faking the bagpipe solo), by the time footage from 1976 gig at an Australian high school comes up, the group had become an unstoppable force live, and though the St. Albans High show was documented with a single low-tech black-and-white video camera, it leaves no doubt this group was on the cusp of major stardom, and it's a great find.

The performances with Bon Scott are generally harder, wilder and edgier (even if they often include extended show-stopping closing numbers rather than capturing the natural flow of a concert), but the consensus among serious fans that AC/DC started going downhill after Brian Johnson signed on as lead singer (following Scott's death in 1980) gets a serious kick in the ass with the first four songs from disc two. Shot during one of Johnson's first tours with AC/DC, the footage of Johnson and AC/DC driving a crowd of Japanese fans absolutely nuts with a flamethrower concert in Tokyo is arguably the best stuff in this box, tight and relentless, and while disc two hits a bit of a dip in the middle, that has more to do with some unfortunate MTV-style editing and the grand-scale outdoor staging of the shows than any real deficiencies in their performances. AC/DC have always been a tough, lean, no-frills rock band, and the sheer sweat and power of their shows is consistent from front to back; Angus Young is a bit less manic in the 21st century than he was in 1975, but he still scrambles admirably well for a guy pushing 50, and the band – Johnson, Angus Young, Malcolm Young, Cliff Williams, and Phil Rudd, the same lineup that cut Back in Black – can still seriously shake a crowd of over 400,000 at Toronto's "SARS-Stock" in 2003. The set closes with a bonus clip of Brian Johnson and the Young brothers jamming with the Rolling Stones at a German show in 2003, and in many respects AC/DC have stood the test of time better than Mick and Keef – Plug Me In proves they still command the power of basic, hot-rodded hard rock as well as anyone of their generation, and they lose precious little muscle and intensity during the 28 years covered in this set. The video game-influenced graphics may be a bit cheesy, but Plug Me In is undiluted testosterone-rich rock at its finest, and it wouldn't be at all shocking if AC/DC had another great two-disc DVD package lurking in their tape vaults.

~by Mark Deming, allmusic.com

DVD 1 (1975-1979) ~2 hours 22 mins:

High Voltage [King Of Pop Awards, Australia, October 1975]
It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock `N' Roll) [Bandstand, Australia, February 1976]
School Days [St. Albans High School, Australia, March 1976]
T.N.T. [St. Albans High School, Australia, March 1976]
Live Wire [Super Pop/Rollin' Bolan, London, July 1976]
Can I Sit Next To You Girl [Super Pop/Rollin' Bolan, London, July 1976]
Baby Please Don't Go [Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne, December 1976]
Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be [Sight & Sound In Concert, London, October 1977]
Rocker [Sight & Sound In Concert, London, October 1977]
Rock 'N' Roll Damnation [Apollo Theatre, Glasgow, April 1978]
Dog Eat Dog [Apollo Theatre, Glasgow, April 1978]
Let There Be Rock [Apollo Theatre, Glasgow, April 1978]
Problem Child [Rock Goes To College, Colchester, October 1978]
Sin City [Rock Goes To College, Colchester, October 1978]
Bad Boy Boogie [Rock Goes To College, Colchester, October 1978]
Highway To Hell [Countdown, Arnhem, August 1979]
The Jack [Countdown, Arnhem, August 1979]
Whole Lotta Rosie [Countdown, Arnhem, August 1979]

Bonus Features
Interview at Sydney airport, April 1976
Interview in Covent Garden, London, July 1976
Baby Please Don't Go [Szene 77, Munich, September 1976]
Problem Child [Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne, December 1976]
Interview/Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap [Promo film for Melbourne Radio, December 1976]
Bon Scott Interview [Countdown, Australia, November 1977]
Rock 'N' Roll Damnation [Top Of The Pops, London, June 1978]
Live and Interview [Australian Music To The World, Atlanta GA, August 1978]
Live Super 8 Bootleg Film [Theatre De Verdure, Nice, December 1979]

DVD 2 (1981-2003) ~2 hours 30 minutes:

Shot Down In Flames [Nihon Seinenkan, Tokyo, February 1981]
What Do You Do For Money Honey [Nihon Seinenkan, Tokyo, February 1981]
You Shook Me All Night Long [Nihon Seinenkan, Tokyo, February 1981]
T.N.T./Let There Be Rock [Nihon Seinenkan, Tokyo, February 1981]
Back In Black [Capital Center, Landover MD, December 1981]
T.N.T. [Capital Center, Landover MD, December 1981]
Shoot To Thrill [The Summit, Houston TX, October 1983]
Guns For Hire [Joe Louis Arena, Detroit MI, November 1983]
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap [Joe Louis Arena, Detroit MI, November 1983]
Flick Of The Switch [Capital Center, Landover MD, December 1983]
Bedlam In Belgium [Capital Center, Landover MD, December 1983]
Back In Black [Tushino Airfield, Moscow, September 1991]
Highway To Hell [Tushino Airfield, Moscow, September 1991]
Whole Lotta Rosie [Tushino Airfield, Moscow, September 1991]
For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) [Tushino Airfield, Moscow, September 1991]
Gone Shootin' [VH1 Studios, London, July 1996]
Hail Caesar [Entertainment Center, Sydney, November 1996]
Ballbreaker [Entertainment Center, Sydney, November 1996]
Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution [Entertainment Center, Sydney, November 1996]
Hard As A Rock [Stade De France, Paris, June 2001]
Hells Bells [Stade De France, Paris, June 2001]
Ride On [Stade De France, Paris, June 2001]
Stiff Upper Lip [Circus Krone, Munich, June 2003]
Thunderstruck [Circus Krone, Munich, June 2003]
If You Want Blood (You've Got It) [Downsview Park Toronto Rocks, July 2003]
The Jack [Downsview Park Toronto Rocks, July 2003]
You Shook Me All Night Long [Downsview Park Toronto Rocks, July 2003]

Bonus Features
Beavis and Butt-Head "Ballbreaker Tour" intro film, 1996
Hells Bells - Interview and Live [Countdown, Brussels, January 1981]
Interview [Monsters Of Rock, Castle Donington Park, August 1984]
Gone Shootin' [Rehearsal, VH1 Studios, London, July 1996]
Rock Me Baby (The Rolling Stones with Angus and Malcolm Young) [Festwiese, Leipzig, June 2003]

DVD 3 ("Between The Cracks") ~ 2 hours 7 minutes:

She's Got Balls [St. Albans High School, Australia, March 1976]
It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock 'N' Roll) [St. Albans High School, Australia, March 1976]
Let There Be Rock [Sight & Sound In Concert, London, October 1977]
Bad Boy Boogie [Apollo Theatre, Glasgow, April 1978]
Girls Got Rhythm [Top Pop, Holland, November 1979]
Guns For Hire [Band rehearsals, Los Angeles, October 1983]
This House Is On Fire [Joe Louis Arena, Detroit MI, November 1983]
Highway To Hell [RDS, Dublin, June 1996]
Girl's Got Rhythm [Entertainment Center, Sydney, November 1996]
Let There Be Rock [Schleyerhalle, Stuttgart, October 2000]
Angus Statue Intro [Stiff Upper Lip Tour Film, June 2001]

AC/DC Live at Houston Summit, October 1983:
Guns For Hire
Shoot To Thrill
Sin City
This House Is On Fire
Back In Black
Bad Boy Boogie
Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution
Flick Of The Switch
Hells Bells

Management/executive producer - Alvin Handwerker, Steve Barnett.
Produced by Rocky Oldham. Edited by Nick Morris.
Associate producer - Arnaud Durieux, supervising producers - John Jackson and Richard Alcock.

Associate producer - Dione Orrom. Production manager - Sined D'Arcy
Researcher - Ed Slateford, audio producer - Mike Fraser.
Audio coordinator & restoration by Al Quagliery.