A Tribute to AC/DC-2008 Legacy Entertainment Inc.

Back In Black-Joe Lynn Turner, Phil Collen, (uncredited on album cover-Simon Wright, Jeff Pilson) : Right away you will not recognise Phil Collen. This isn’t a Def Leppard song. He is free to roam. This sounds more Malmsteen meets Satriani improv than Def Leppard. It’s a good thing, believe me. The man can shred. This is the first of a few songs on the album that don’t mention Simon Wright. I mean, this is an AC/DC tribute album, and the only person on the album that was ever in the band, is not listed. Ok then. Jeff Pilson does a great job here, holding up his end of the rhythm. The vocals are mastered by Joe Lynn Turner. This isn’t like his Rainbow and Deep Purple stuff. He lowers his voice to a deep, smoky, Brian Johnson-like growl, but it is mixed with an 80’s hairband like wail. It really is a great first song on an album.

Highway To Hell-Angry Samoans : This California punk rock band went through a few phases in their career, and it shows on this song. A mix of punk and hard rock melt together in an enjoyable version.

Walk All Over You-Dee Snider with Scott Ian ( uncredited other Anthrax members Frank Bello and Charlie Benante) : This sounds like a Dee Snider 80’s rocker. It has energy, snarl and basically kicks ass.

You Shook Me All Night Long- Jetboy : This California hairband had its biggest heyday in the 80’s. However, they didn’t reach near the success level of many of their peers. Great guitar work here. A little slower than Angus, but still great. The drums were too slow and not pounding enough for me. They sound muted. The bass was hidden in the track. The vocals were 80’s hairband goodness. This song was both good and bad for me. Maybe the mixing was to blame. If so, too bad.

Thunderstruck-Birmingham 6 : So far we have rock, metal, hairband, and punk. Now we have a Danish Electro-Industrial/EBM band. I mean, when I think of AC/DC, the first thing that pops into my head is Danish Electro-Industrial/EBM bands. Basically, to the non expert in this field, it is as if Kraftwerk and NIN were joining together to cover AC/DC. WTF? Who thought this would work? Starts off with Angus’ guitar replaced by keyboards, but seems kind of catchy. This would be the version that would get the dance club crowd moving. The lyrics have kind of a Trent Reznor meets Lemmy sound. I actually liked this a lot better than I thought I would.

Shake a Leg-John Corabi, Bruce Kulick (uncredited Billy Sheehan, Pat Torpey) : With this line up, this song should kick ass. And it does. The guitar work wails. The bass is thumping. The drums pound. And John Corabi screams. Screams in a good way. His voice is awesome here. Something special about an expert guitar master going nucking futs and a singer screaming with all his might. Realllly good song here.

For Those About To Rock-Godflesh(listed as Goldflesh on album) : Now we have an industrial metal band. What next? This bands style is heavy, dark and dreary. It kind of sounds robotic, but for me just heavy enough to keep my interest. I personally am not into the vocal styles of Justin Briadrick, but the musicianship of the other band members sort of make up for it.

Rock ‘N’ Roll Damnation-Dr. Know : This former California punk band saw its heyday in the 80’s, never gaining the success of some of its counterparts. You thought Bon Scott was wild in concert. I can only imagine how awesome these guys would have been. The entire song feels like it was injected with caffeine and sped up. The playing is frenetic, angry and brash. It is punk rock at its best. I looked with all my might and could not find a link to add to this post. Suffice it to say, if you love punk, you will love this song.

Sin City-Great White : If Joe Lynn Turner’s voice suited Brian Johnson, then Jack Russell’s voice best suits Bon Scott. The recording and mixing on this song are awesome. The bass and drums are loud and crisp. The guitar work is great, and the vocals are well suited to this song. The version I found here is different(not as good in my opinion) as the one on my disc, but you should get the basic idea.

It’s a Long Way To The Top- Lemmy, Jake E. Lee(Simon Wright again uncredited) : This sounds as awesome as it should. The drums are pounding, Jake E Lee is in prime form, and Lemmy is growling and snarling. There are no bagpipes here, but they make up for it with juicy bits. Lemmy has some cool bass licks, Jake E. Lee has roughly 10 million wails and some really cool spots where the guitar abruptly stops, and Simon pounds the shit out of the skins.

Who Made Who-Terminal Sect featuring En Esch (Ex – KMFDM) : My first question is who, featuring who? Good thing they covered Who Made Who. Industrial musicians that were most popular in the 90’s. It kind of has a Depeche Mode meets Marilyn Manson feel to it. Very upbeat and danceable. Kind of a catchy beat that stays in your head.

T.N.T. – Sebastian Bach, Kelly Deal (uncredited Jimmy Flemion, Jimmy Chamberlain. Collectively they were known as The Last Hard men) : This again sounds as awesome as it should. The only 2 things I have to nit pick is the oi sounds like a creepy robot, and there is a constant crackle noise that is barely noticeable, but it is there. It seems to come from the creepy robot noise as well. There are times when it goes away completely, and the song really shines. Sebastian is in peak form here, and he does a good job and echoing his inner Bon Scott. The guitar work is great. The background vocals I may even prefer over the original. It is a great song, only marred a bit by the electronic interference.

In closing, I really enjoyed this album. I would never have guessed that punk, Industrial, metal, rock, and hairband don’t usually go together, but in this case they mesh fairly well. I have to knock off some points for the spelling errors and omissions, but I would recommend this to anyone.

Would have been a 9 so with the subtractions, lets say 8.5/10.

17 thoughts on “A Tribute to AC/DC-2008 Legacy Entertainment Inc.”

  1. Interesting album! I hadn’t known of it and it seems like one I’d enjoy.
    T.N.T…what is going on? Is it intentional? It sounds like they’re playing in an abandoned military compound where radiation or zombies are interfering with their equipment. This track may turn out to be my favorite. 🙂

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  2. I’m really not a fan of these “featuring members of” tribute CDs. They scream “cash grab”. I bought a prior one, Thunderbolt, because the full Quiet Riot was on there and I collect Quiet Riot. Otherwise, even if you said this was 10/10 I honestly couldn’t buy it. There’s no too much music I would rather hear.

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    • I agree to an extent. When I see a bin of cd’s for $1 used, sometimes there is crap, sometimes gold. I have bought a few of these used, and most are crap. However, I enjoyed this one. I might have given it a 8.5, you might have given it a 2. But maybe that 2 would have been a 7 or 8 if the members of AC/DC were on this and endorsed it. Who Knows?

      I wonder if it seems better when the members of the band are on the cd? Encomium. Nativity In Black and the Alice Cooper one you reviewed recently. Does that make it seem better some how? I really like Nativity in Black, Encomium is due for another listen, and I have yet to hear the Alice Cooper. I was almost thinking of doing a cover album string of reviews.

      One thing this disc, and others of its kind do is get me to appreciate other forms of music. I may not like these cover albums, but I can tell you that I will check out the back catalogue of some of these bands/musicians.
      As far as a cash grab goes, most bands do this themselves, and strongly oppose others from doing tributes because they see little or no money from it. I bet Sabbath got way more from Nativity in Black since they were on it and therefore endorsed it, than other potential tributes.

      I did notice that Thunderbolt album, and many others with some of the same songs as this, done by the same artists. I assumed checking into this album, that it was all robbed from previous tribute albums. One metal, one industrial, one punk, but that maybe the mash up was what made me enjoy the differences.

      I assumed this was going to be crap, so it is sometimes nice to be pleasantly surprised.

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      • Very interesting indeed!

        For me, I want actual bands. Not just guys thrown together who may never have met. Like you know for certain on many of these albums, the artists all recorded separately and you know they were not in the same room at any point.

        I would rather get Twisted Sister doing Sin City than just Dee and some other guys. One has value for my collection, the other does not.

        There is one exception for me : The Rush tribute Working Man. I love almost every note on that bad boy. Portnoy, Sheehan, Lynch, Bach, Devin Townsend, Fates Warning, Stu Hamm…it was a who’s who of the best players in the world. Rush tried to stop its release but Iron Tom felt that was because it kicked so much more ass the their Test For Echo.

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  5. Really interesting and so much of its time too. I have an equally strange double 7″ of AC/DC covers by oddballs like Shellac, came with a bizarre comic too.

    Ever heard Mark Kozeluk’s acoustic AC/DC cover LP ‘What’s next to the Moon?’ – that’s just brilliant.

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  6. I’ve bought a few of these things, over the years. Always from cheap/bargain bins in stores. A lot of them are crap! But your wrote-up up this one makes it sound pretty damn OK!

    Also: Angry Samoans! Holy hell, I’d forgotten about those guys! Thanks for the reminder!

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    • You also have to check out Dr. Know.

      Their song was on a punk rock tribute album I want to find as well.

      I know Mike doesn’t like this kind of stuff, but I like the fact that they can lead me ob all kinds of musical ventures trying to find out about bands and musicians I may have never known about otherwise.
      Also, like in the case of Phil Collen, it is can be an outlet where a musician experiments a little more than they do with their own band.

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