When I first got into AC\/DC in the mid-\u201880s, I was thrilled to learn that a movie featuring the late Bon Scott had once been released. Once I got my hands on a copy of Let There Be Rock<\/i>, I watched it enough times where I damn near wore out one VHS copy. Yet, as technology moved forward and people ditched their VCRs for DVDs and Blu-Ray players, this 1980 film remained frozen in time\u2026 until now.<\/p>\n
Let There Be Rock<\/i> finally has seen the digital light of day \u2013 and while the performances from that night in Paris, just a few short months before the death of Scott, still shine today, some chinks in the armor \u2013 some old, some new \u2013 have appeared.<\/p>\n
For starters \u2013 I sure as hell don\u2019t remember either a narrator telling me how much gear AC\/DC was using on this tour, or a laundry list of cities that the Highway To Hell<\/i> tour had visited. So, hearing a narrator \u2013 apparently the same person conducting the interviews \u2013 talking about this is, to me, an intrusion on my memories of this film. Likewise, there definitely was not crowd noise pumped in over the Angus Young guitar solo that plays in the title credits. If I could turn both of these annoyances off, I would\u2026 but I haven\u2019t found a way to do so yet.<\/p>\n
While I\u2019m complaining, whoever came up with the bonus features for this set needs to be drawn and quartered. Every single bonus is essentially an interview with an author (such as Anthony Bozza) or a musician, almost all of whom probably never met Bon Scott. There is zero \u2013 zero!!!<\/u><\/i><\/b> \u2013 input from members of AC\/DC, which to me is criminal. I\u2019d have greatly preferred watching some documentary about Scott\u2019s life, or hearing from people like Angus and Malcolm Young regarding their memories of Scott. Or, for that matter, they could have negotiated with VH-1 to include the \u201cBehind The Music\u201d episode that featured AC\/DC. Simply put, the bonus features are an incredible waste of time.<\/p>\n
Now, then\u2026 the remainder of Let There Be Rock<\/i>, narration from the interviewer and piped-in crowd noise aside, is exactly as I remember it. Featured onstage in Audio-wise, this has never been the most pristine example of the live concert film \u2013 and the Blu-Ray release doesn\u2019t do much, if anything, to try and correct that. This, however, is more of a limitation of the source material \u2013 and, if anything, the rawness of the audio almost adds a layer of charm to the film.<\/p>\n It has been said that the interview segments of this movie are insipid, daring to ask asinine questions like preparing for the Third World War instead of getting any insight from the band on their music. Likewise, the live-action sequences, such as Phil Rudd\u2019s racing a plane that is made to look like Cliff Williams flying it, revert back to the dream sequences of Led Zeppelin\u2019s concert film The Song Remains The Same<\/i> \u2013 but, with the exception of during \u201cWalk All Over You,\u201d they don\u2019t interfere with the concert experience.<\/p>\n Is there anything to be gained by\u00a0choosing the Blu-Ray over the DVD\u00a0version? Truth is, I don’t know – even though my deluxe copy included both, I chose to watch it on Blu-Ray. If the only benefit is the “special features,” then I’d advise you\u00a0to stick to the DVD. (The deluxe copy\u00a0comes with a few other bonuses, such as a booklet – which was kind of fun to read, postcards featuring pictures from the concert and a guitar pick, all packaged in a numbered tin.)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Let There Be Rock<\/i> was unintentionally the swansong for Scott, and remains a poignant portrait of both the singer and of AC\/DC, right before fate played out its cruel hand. It is a welcome addition to the digital world, and it is great to see it again after all these years without having to lug out my VCR\u2026 but for such an anticipated release, it just feels like more attention could have been paid to the bonuses. And, unless I was watching a foreign cut of the film, it\u2019d be nice to have the option<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5683],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-42369","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-ac-dc","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42369"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}