AC/DC – Dutch Damnation (Godfather Records GR 364)

Dutch Damnation (Godfather Records GR 364)  

Jaap Edenhal, Amsterdam The Netherlands November 12, 1979

(79:56) Tracks 1-9   Vreenigning Hall, Nijmegen The Netherlands October 23, 1978 Tracks 10-14  

This new title from Godfathers Records contains two recordings from radio broadcast done in the Netherlands. The first nine tracks see the on the European leg of the tour to promote the Highway To Hell album. It comes from a rebroadcast of the show on Dutch radio “Legendarisch Live” May 11, 2007. The recording is excellent stereo and captures the band in fine form. The recording is not complete, three tracks are missing, the opening song Live Wire and the final two songs Rocker and Let There Be Rock. The songs were on the rebroadcast and am not sure the reason for the omission and is unfortunate that they are not present.

The recording starts with Bon asking “how you doing tonight? Down to business a song from out new album, Shot Down in Flames”. The band would play four songs from the Highway to Hell recording and they fit in well with the classic tracks. Cliff Williams bass in nice and clear in the mix and is nice to hear his contribution in excellent quality. After Hell Aint a Bad Place we get a song about Amsterdam, the sin capital of the world, a smoking hot version of Sin City, again the bass drives this song and the band delivers a strong rendition. Walk all Over You is one of the stronger tracks from the new record to be played live, the initial riff of Malcolm and Angus is aggressive then the entire band kicks and you are left trampled.

Bad Boy Boogie is next and has the long middle parts so Angus can slip into something more comfortable and is followed by one of the finest examples of electric blues, The Jack. A set list stalwart , Bon includes a great line before Angus’ solo when he screams “pass it around” and has the audience “in your best english” chant the Jack. Highway to Hell a note for note version of the recorded version that leads into the classic High Voltage Rock and Roll, a song not on the first release of High Voltage but on its follow up TNT. It is probably the best example of the ass kicking boogie style from the early years. Whole Lotta Rosie is the final track and a nice version of the song, all in all a excellent played show and a spectacular recording.

The last five tracks are from another radio broadcast from Vreenigning Hall, Nijmegen October 23, 1978 and has been released many times before, on vinyl as Problem Child (The Moneymaker Pig 001) and on cd Live 78 (Men At work 5514.2) and Going Dutch (Holy Smoke 10402) in similar quality. The recording here is unfortunately incomplete, missing five songs, Sin City, High Voltage, The Jack, Whole Lotta Rosie, and rocker. The recording is very good to excellent stereo of again a superb performance. It is nice to have great live renditions of Gone Shooting and Rock and Roll Damnation and the final crushing blow of Let There Be Rock closes the cd.

The packaging is again what we come to expect from Godfather, a trifold case with superb pictures relevant to the period, mainly focusing on Bon Scott and Angus Young. My only beef would be with the incomplete tapes used, I would have preferred to have either a two cd release or separate releases giving us the full shows as both deserved to be heard, and at loud volumes. Again it is a small complaint and did not take away from my enjoyment of this title, I am a huge fan of the Bon Scott era AC/DC and it is nice to see silver releases coming out of excellent quality in sound and packaging. Thumbs up !