Ballbreaker [Original recording remastered]

Issued as a tribute to the late, great Bon Scott - Bonfire is a mixed bag of rare live performances, and studio out takes featuring Bon. Overall, i'd say, its for collectors and stalwarts only.

Live at Atlantic Studios is a much sought after promotional recording which was made to push the band in the early days (c1977) in America. It features the High Voltage line up with Mark Evans on bass, and is a raw no frills performance typical of the band at that time.

Live in Paris (1979/80) is one of Bon's last live recordings and is essentially the soundtrack for the Let There Be Rock movie. Made at the tail end of the Highway to Hell tour its a blistering performance only marred by the breakdown of Angus's guitar during Whole Lotta Rosie.

Volts is the outtakes disc and is interesting more than enthralling. Mostly it is early unfinished versions of the Highway to Hell sessions, and is definately not for casual fans of the band. Finally you get a copy of Back in Black thrown in as i suppose it was dedicated to Bon, although it is widely reported he supposedly had no real involvement in the songs that appeared on BIB. To finish off the package there is a guitar pick, tattoo, poster, key chain, and photo booklet with some of Bon's hand written lyrics.

I gave it three stars as I felt it lacked substance. It feels a bit makeshift, and not all that great value for money, given BIB and the LTBR sound track are already available. Some of the tracks on Volts are not that rare ie the last two or three. Adding BIB takes away some of the achievements Bon made with the band, and shouldn't be included here even if it was dedicated to him.

I have always been a big fan of the Bon Scott era of AC/DC - nothing against Brian Johnson, I have and continue to enjoy the bands output post 1980 but the bands first six studio albums will be for me a series of definative statements in hard rock.

This collection is I suppose a tribute to Bon and in many ways it does work but the material although highly enjoyable is far from that rare in the main.

The first CD is a double live offering from the "let there be rock" movie which is a live set featuring Bon in 1979/1980? recorderd live in Paris- I have this on VHS (video for you younger readers?) from about 1986? released long after Bon's passing - the film is great and the live footage amazing, the cd represents the bands sound well and is full of energy.

The third disc is a live american radio broadcast from around 1977 which is very raw and shows the band in its true form. This recording is actually quite rare (I did use to own a bootleg copy on tape) and the CD mastering does improve the sound quality.

The fourth disc is entitled "volts" and contains some versions of tracks that would appear on albums but in a different format,mainly from the Highway to Hell sessions and a version of "whole lotta rosie" called "dirty eyes" - these are interesting but not really that great- they are remember out takes that the band themselves would have rejected at the time?
We also have a live version of "sin city", "she got balls" and a cover version of a Chuck Berry tune called "school days" taken from the bands 2nd Aussie LP "TNT" which has been available on import for a number of years (This album along with the bands first release "high voltage" were used as a source for tracks for the groups first world wide release also called "high voltage"), we also have two tracks that to my knowledge are widely available on other releases - "its a long way to the top" and "ride on" both great tracks agreed but both released worldwide on previous releases with the disc ending with a few radio interview clips with Bon.

The fifth disc is the "back in black" album - first release with brian johnson and the bands own tribute to the departed scott, a great classic hard rock album and one of the biggest selling lp's of all time- so again not exactly rare??

A decent effort but long term fans will be disappointed with the lack of any real rarities?

Got this JUST for the rare Bon stuff, and the Atlantic Studios recording.....both were brilliant!
The Live from Paris was decent, a better audio than the DVD, and a vital inclusion on ANY iPod......but why included Back in Black? There is far better stuff in the AC/DC vaults that COULD/SHOULD have been included.........or was Back in Black included because like so many fans think, that the best songs on that album WERE partially written by Bon?
Overall, Bons legacy deserved just a little bit better than Bonfire........but great booklet and photos.