Big guns ready to rock

Now that Thanksgiving is out of the way — well, our version of it anyway — it’s time for the deluge of big-name fourth quarter releases to hit the stores in time for Christmas. Let’s take stock, shall we?

• Black Ice — AC/DC (Tuesday):  
This is a monster.  By the time this record hits the stores, it will have been eight years, seven months and 23 days since we last saw a new AC/DC record. 

My sources say that Canadian record stores have ordered insane amounts of AC/DC products — both new and old — to meet the anticipated demand. Plans include releasing four different covers and then having fans vote on which one should be the permanent one. Once that decision is made, the other three will become instant collectors’ items. Crafty, no?

AC/DC may be aging — singer Brian Johnson is 61 and Angus Young is 53 (all five-foot-three, 110 pounds of him) — but they have no intention of slowing down. Nor are they interested in entering the digital age by doing a deal with iTunes.  The message from them is “You want this album? Then you buy the CD.”

Word is that Wal-Mart — the exclusive source for Black Ice in the U.S. — has guaranteed that it will move 2.5 million copies. The chain will also sell millions of copies of Back in Black, which has already sold 49 million copies and counting.

• A Hundred Million Suns — Snow Patrol (Oct. 28):  
As the title suggests, singer Gary Lightbody is a bit of a science nerd. When I spoke to him a few weeks ago, we had a nice conversation about the issues surrounding the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland (He swears he had nothing to do with the melting of the magnets.) I’ve heard the album and I can tell you that if half the songs don’t appear on Grey’s Anatomy during Meredith’s voiceovers, I’ll be surprised. A solid record.

• Chinese Democracy — Guns N’ Roses (Nov. 23, the Sunday of the American Thanksgiving weekend. We think. Or maybe it’ll be Tuesday, Nov. 25.):

After 13 years, we’re go for launch. Best Buy has apparently snagged some exclusive rights to release the 13-years-in-the-making opus from Axl Rose on the Sunday with everyone else getting to sell the record on the usual Tuesday. And as with the AC/DC release, there will be three different covers. Watch for special reissues of Appetite for Destruction, as well.

– The Ongoing History of New Music can be heard on stations across Canada. Read more  at www.exploremusic.com and www.ongoinghistory.com