BOOK REVIEW: AC/DC Revised & Updated by Phil Sutcliffe

BOOK REVIEW: AC/DC Revised & Updated by Phil Sutcliffe

Quarto Group USA
September 2015
Paperback, $29.99
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar

Music Biography

9/10

Phil Sutcliffe’s 2010 biography is a far less wordy tome than most of its contemporaries, instead presented as a coffee table-sized book letting the pictures do much of the talking.

And what pictures they are: alongside the album covers and promo shots we have all seen dozens of times over, are alternate single and album covers from the most obscure corners of the globe, ticket stubs and posters, rare photographs and much more covering the band’s long and often-glorious career.

Sutcliffe’s history is concise, covering all the important bases without ever resorting to padding or filler (always a problem when a writer has a word count to achieve in a more traditional bio, and prattles on endlessly to make up the numbers), and in many cases the stripped-back chronology makes the history a lot more digestible.

Of special note are the ‘celebrity journo’ reviews of each album, from the likes of Robert Alford, Anthony Bozza, Robert Ellis, Martin Popoff and Sylvie Simmons. You won’t agree with them all, but it’s interesting to see the perspectives on show and they just might lead the reader back to some forgotten gems, especially in the late ‘80s and ‘90s material.

Category: Book Reviews