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}} ''Black Ice'' is an album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It was the band's fourteenth internationally released studio album and the fifteenth to be released in Australia. Released internationally on 17 October 2008, it was produced by Brendan O'Brien. It marked the band's first original recordings since 2000's ''Stiff Upper Lip'', with the eight-year gap being the longest between AC/DC's successive studio albums. ''Black Ice'' has the longest running time of any AC/DC studio album. The album's development was delayed because bass guitarist Cliff Williams sustained an injury and the band changed labels from Elektra Records to Sony Music. The first composing sessions between guitarists/brothers Angus and Malcolm Young were in London in 2003. Recording happened during March and April 2008 at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, Canada. O'Brien tried to recapture the rock sound of the band's early work, as opposed to the blues orientation of ''Ballbreaker'' and ''Stiff Upper Lip'', with suggestions such as adding "soul crooning" to Brian Johnson's singing. The songs were mostly recorded live in the studio; engineer Mike Fraser used only sparse overdubs and effects to keep the tracks as close to the originals as possible. ''Black Ice'' was released exclusively in physical formats, as the group did not sell its music digitally at the time. Walmart got exclusive rights to distribute the album in North America. Its release was promoted with an extensive marketing campaign, which included displays of AC/DC memorabilia. The four singles issued from the album were, "Rock 'N' Roll Train", "Big Jack", "Anything Goes", and "Money Made". ''Black Ice'' peaked at number one in 29 countries, including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. It was the second best-selling record of 2008, behind Coldplay's ''Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends'' and had shipped 6 million copies worldwide by December. Critical reviews were generally positive, praising the music and its resemblance to the classic AC/DC sound, although some critics found the work too long and inconsistent. The track "War Machine" won the Best Hard Rock Performance category at the Grammys. The album itself was nominated for many awards, including the Grammy, Brit, Juno and ARIA Music Awards; and was supported by a world tour between 2008 and 2010. ''Black Ice'' is the final AC/DC studio album to feature founding rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young, who left the band in September 2014 after being diagnosed with dementia. ==Production== ''Black Ice'' is AC/DC's fifteenth studio album release in Australia and their fourteenth international release. The band took a break after finishing the Stiff Upper Lip World Tour in 2001, and resumed performing in 2003, with eight presentations that included AC/DC's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and they opened three concerts for The Rolling Stones' Licks Tour. During those two years, guitarists Angus Young and Malcolm Young wrote music separately, then met in a London studio to work on new songs. The production of ''Black Ice'' was delayed for several reasons. AC/DC left their label Atlantic Records, signed a deal with Sony Music〔 and changed labels within Sony from Epic Records to Columbia Records.〔 Bass guitarist Cliff Williams suffered an injury to his hand in 2005 and was unable to play for 18 months. While Williams was recovering, the Young brothers perfected the songs they had written. Angus revealed that there was no pressure from Sony for the band to release a new album, as the label was releasing DVDs and remasters of the AC/DC catalogue, and thus the group "could afford to sit back and say we'll do another album when we think we've got all the goods."〔 In a 2004 interview, vocalist Brian Johnson said that Angus had written harder riffs than those on ''Stiff Upper Lip'' and that he would be writing song lyrics for the first time since the band's 1988 album ''Blow Up Your Video'', but his input would end up minimal, with all tracks on ''Black Ice'' credited to the Youngs. Johnson explained that the brothers had done most of the lyrical job, and his collaboration was that he "helped with melody and just filling in gaps that I thought needed filling in". While producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange expressed an interest in working again with AC/DC, his schedule did not allow this.〔 When the Young brothers called Columbia Records' president Steve Barnett to announce the making of a new album, Barnett recommended producer Brendan O'Brien. Angus said the band had considered talking to O'Brien since the 1990s, as "he seemed to us a very competent professional" and because he and the band would benefit from working with a producer they had not worked with before.〔 On 3 March 2008, recording started at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, where ''Stiff Upper Lip'' was recorded,〔 and lasted for eight weeks.〔 Engineer Mike Fraser, who has mixed all AC/DC albums since ''The Razors Edge'', said they recorded in batches of three songs to "keep things interesting" and to avoid overextended sessions. According to Fraser, the band had not rehearsed the songs before entering the studio. Despite "a couple of tweaks in the writing, sparkling up the choruses a bit better" during the recording, the compositions were mostly complete. Still, the Young brothers had new ideas during production, including the song "Anything Goes", which was written when the studio sessions were nearly finished.〔 The songs were mostly recorded live in the studio; the instruments and backing vocals were recorded in the live room and the vocals at both the control room and an overdubbing booth. The performances were first recorded with analogue equipment, as Fraser considers that tape conveys "the sound of rock & roll", and then digitised for mixing and overdubs. Fraser tried to not alter the original recordings – "I used Pro-Tools purely as a tape machine" – with no effects on the bass and rhythm guitar, sparse delay and reverb effects on the vocals and other instruments and overdubs were only used for the lead guitar and vocals.〔 The first title considered for the album was ''Runaway Train''. Malcolm suggested using a photograph of a famous 1895 derailment for the cover, but reconsidered after he found that Mr. Big had used it for their album ''Lean into It''. According to Angus, ''Runaway Train'' was rejected was because it had been used by many musicians, including Elton John, Tom Petty and Eric Clapton, and he "wanted something unique, new, different". So he suggested ''Black Ice'', which refers to gigs played during winter in Scotland. He said, "it rolled off the tongue" and it reminded him of "radio warnings up north of black ice." Angus was inspired to write the eponymous song by a similar warning heard on his car radio during production.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Black Ice (album)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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