Treasures Of AC/DC

This glossy, hardcover package of AC/DC fan stories, photos and 'memorabilia' is sure to run off shelves this Christmas, straight into the pool rooms and garages of a suburb near you. There are only two reasons you'd ever buy this – as a gift for some special someone you know with an unhealthy AC/DC obsession; or for yourself because you are that special someone. That's a shame because the real value here is in educating AC/DC newcomers to the basics of the band, as an AC/DC tragic will glean very little from the sparse content.

The photos are excellent, with the best fun taking in the changing faces of the band members as the years roll on. The fan stories are written by a bloke called Jerry Ewing and he's obviously some kind of fucking AC/DC disciple – and a pretty decent writer – but the meagre space allotted to text limits the depth of the work severely. Given that no one really cares what happened after 1980's Back In Black (and even then it's pretty well all about 'who's this new bloke?' and Hells Bells) another approach would have been to dedicate more of the first half to 'the story' and cramming the back end with pics. There are also some weird fake ticket stubs and poster recreations. Meh.