AC/DC — Backtracks

Another holiday season, another AC/DC cash grab. The past few years have seen a raping of the Aussie band's vaults, with a seemingly endless supply of live material.

Thankfully, this new two-CD and DVD boxset includes a disc of studio rarities spanning the band's entire career, and is the driving force behind this set.

"Big Gun," the single from 1993's Last Action Hero soundtrack is classic Brian Johnson era AC/DC and is hands down the best thing here. The rest of the tracks were obviously left off albums for a reason.

But that's not to say these tracks are clunkers — the Bon Scott era material stands up particularly well. "Love Song" is a stunning shocker and is the closest the band ever came to writing a ballad.

The live CD again reaches back to the band's beginnings and is comprised of tracks previously released as B-sides and on compilations. As great as AC/DC are live, the on-stage versions of their songs tend to change little from tour to tour, so if you have one version of a track, you really don't need another.