| Average Rating: |
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| Sales Rank: | 486 (lower is better) |
| Price as of: | 12/01/2008 10:09:08 PM MST |
| Price Used: | $5.94 |
| Shipping: | Free Shipping on most orders over $25* |
| Availability: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| Release Date: | 2003-04-29 |
| Label: | Sony |
| UPC: | 696998021327 |
| Binding: | Audio CD |
| Published By: | Sony |
| ASIN: | B00008WT5M |
| Category: | Music |
Tracks on The Razor's Edge by Sony
- Thunderstruck
- Fire Your Guns
- Moneytalks
- The Razors Edge
- Mistress for Christmas
- Rock Your Heart Out
- Are You Ready
- Got You by the Balls
- Shot of Love
- Let's Make It
- Goodbye and Good Riddance to Bad Luck
- If You Dare
Editorial Reviews and Product Descriptions
Album Description
2003 remastered reissue of 1990 album packaged in a digipak with 16 page full color booklet containing all original album art, many unpublished photos, classic memorabilia, and liner notes. Epic.
Customer Reviews
A couple of brilliant songs, but overall, a little lame - Reviewed on 2008-10-30
1 customer found this review helpful.
This rating for this CD is within the context of comparing it to Back in Black, possibly the greatest hard rock album of all time. Let's face it, AC/DC set a standard so high with that album that even they haven't been able to match it since. Thunderstruck is by far the best song on Razors Edge--a great song, too--as good as most of the songs on Back in Black. And the title song, Razors Edge, is pretty good. But the rest, ehh--they don't quite cut it for me. I must say that when a band hones on one specific sound in one specific type of music with almost no variation in those areas (which I commend them for), the world's greatest songwriter will struggle with coming up with ALL KILLER SONGS on a dozen or so albums over the space of 20-25 years. AC/DC were truly inspired and full of magic when they wrote and recorded the Highway to Hell and Back in Black albums, but I think time has proven that those two efforts were their peak. I think it's great that they're still doing it, sticking to their guns music-wise and everything, but if you're expecting their more contemporary releases to rival Back In Black, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed, including Razors Edge, unless you're not quite as picky as I am, which I admit I am....
A return to form - Reviewed on 2008-10-23
Why do I say that this album is a return to form for the band? Well, as a child I had bought a few of their albums and always found at least two songs that I considered 'classics' as well as 'discovering' other songs on those albums which were good or fun or had some sort of appeal. Those albums would be "T.N.T" (which I bought new in Australia recently, after hearing that it was no longer being made...having been replaced by the US version of it, "High voltage", which had minor track variations), "Dirty deeds done dirt cheap" (I mean the original Australian release, not the US version, which, for some reason, omitted one of their all time great songs, "Jailbreak". Go figure) and, of course, "Back in black", which is my pick as the greatest album of all time in the pop/rock field.
After these classic albums, AC/DC seemed to go downhill...releasing albums which you would consider yourself lucky to hear one great song, and unlucky if no song was great. Those kind of albums would include "Flick of the switch" and "Fly on the wall". In other words, those albums didn't have a song which you might want to include in any proposed compilation album by the band...or, if you did, you might change your mind years later, thinking that the song didn't have the legs that you thought it did.
So, despite knowing that this album had two songs that I really liked on it, I finally took the plunge years later and bought it...probably due to the discounting of this band's back catalogue at the time. What can I say about it? It has two classic songs on it and is otherwise rock sollid. Really, that's all you need to give an AC/DC album 5 stars, which is what I'm doing.
Here are my picks as the best songs on the album-
The classics-
Thunderstruck: combines the best elements of AC/DC...really cool lead guitar, laddish backing vocals and growling lead singing by Brian Johnson, who seems to be channeling ex lead-singer Bon Scott (who tragically died whilst still in the band).
Money talks: another classic AC/DC song and sound. Great intro and riff with a great chorus and backing vocals. I'd always mishear the song lyric as "Love before the money" but it turns out Brian is singing "Love me for the money". So, this song is about hookers. It's a theme the band returns to in this album...perhaps they sing too much about hookers in this album? The other song to do with hookers on this album is "Got you by the balls".
There really aren't any bad tracks on this album, but the best of the rest are-
The razors edge: for me, this song breaks the mould, to a certain extent. It doesn't have the typical AC/DC sound. It's quite moody...adventurously so. Reminded me a bit of, say, Metallica via Black Sabbath, or Aerosmith's song "Living on the edge".
Are you ready: a good, rowdy pub-rock song with a strong chant by the backing vocalist of the band.
Let's make it: a nice riff from Malcolm on rhythm guitar and good melodic singing by Brian...more melodic than is usual for him.
If you dare: has a noticeable bass guitar (unusual for the band) and the song sounds a little bit like an Aerosmith song, with its boogie riff. The backing vocalists chanting is good too.
Of all the AC/DC albums that I've heard (about half a dozen), this one has the most noticeable bass guitar. In fact, I would have been hard pressed to know that AC/DC actually had a bass guitarist if it wasn't for an album like this.
Like I said, this album doesn't really have any bad songs on it...okay, some people may find "Mistress for Christmas" not pretty, but then again, others may like its playfulness. It utilises 'jingle bells' as found in Christmas songs.
This album has all the qualities of a five star AC/DC album: at least two great songs and some other songs which are a pleasure to listen to. Essential purchase.
If you like music more towards the heavy metal end of the spectrum, I recommend Coldseed's debut album "Completion makes the tragedy". I've reviewed that here at this site, as well as a handful of other AC/DC albums which I've given 4 or more stars out of 5 too.
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Book Subjects
- Album Rock
- Arena Rock
- Aussie Rock
- Hard Rock
- Heavy Metal
- Pop
- Pop/Rock Music
- Rock
- Rock/Pop