They failed big time with "whiskey in the jar" They have nothing close to the groove of the Lizzy version and James doesn't sale the story like Phil did, sorry folks. Disc One pretty much sounds like a bunch of old dudes at a local biker dive who got kicked down some studio time for building a patio cover in someone's back yard. Disc 2 :metal:

Movin' on...



1999's S&M live album is a collaboration between Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Other bands (including Deep Purple and Rage) had done similar symphonic collaborations prior to S&M (and a rash of other artists, including KISS, did it afterwards) but this is probably the most well known project of its kind. It was recorded in April of '99 at the Berkely (California) Community Theatre and the SF Symphony Orchestra was conducted by the late Michael Kamen, a composer who was no stranger to the rock world, as he'd previously done orchestration work for bands such as Pink Floyd, Queen, and Queensryche (to name just a few). He was also known for his film score work, having written/conducted the music for movies like the "Lethal Weapon" series, several of the "Die Hard" films, "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" and many others.

I'll be honest with you, I have never owned this album but I have seen the concert video (released on VHS and DVD) several times and it's pretty neat stuff. It's probably more fun to watch the video version than it is to listen to it on CD anyway. The LOAD and RELOAD era songs work pretty well in this format and even the thrashier classic stuff like "Master of Puppets" and "Ride the Lightning" take on a whole 'nother bizarre dimension with the bombast of the orchestra behind them. I believe Metallica did a short tour (or at least a few additional shows) with the Orchestra to pimp the release of this album because I vaguely remember reading a review in the newspaper of an "S&M" gig at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The album is also notable because it contains two then-new Metallica compositions ("Minus Human" and "No Leaf Clover") that were not recorded on any of their past albums, and have not been laid down in the studio since then either, so this is the only album on which they appear.

According to Wiki, this album has sold 6 million copies (!!) and the version of "The Call of Ktulu" found here won a Grammy in 2001 for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

S&M was the last Metallica album to feature Jason Newsted on bass, as he left the band in 2001 (following the band's appearance on the "Mission Impossible II" soundtrack with the song "I Disappear").

I haven't seen the concert video in a while but it turns up on VH1 Classic every so often and I always enjoy it when it comes on. Maybe one of these days I'll pick up the CD version but haven't gotten round to it yet. And that's pretty much all I have to say on this one.

I really enjoy S&M (the Metallica album - not the act! I'm not a sick ba*****!!!!) I don't play this one too often, but it's a great play on a long drive. At the time, it was the "thing to do" and Metallica jumped on the band wagon. The weren't the first band to do this, but one of the first bands.

I'm BEHIND!!!!!

Garage Days:

To release all the obscure cover-songs, recorded by Metallica, on one CD, is an AWESOME idea! And then also recording a whole new CD, to give the die hard something as well (they usually have all the b-sides etc. anyway), is just a stroke of genius. I like this album very much, and almost all the new stuff pleases me too. I think James does a splendid job on songs like "Loverman" and "Astrology". Not your common picks, but I like them. I also love the Bob Seger tune a lot. I hate "Die, Die My Darling", though. A cool double disc, well worth it's price! I also used to own a bunch of CD-singles by this band. But when they started releasing 3 different versions of each single, and with nothing more interesting on them than demo-versions and live-tracks, I stopped, and sold them. Now I don't need the b-sides, the ones worth having, are all here.
I also think this covers album shows us why Metallica changed so much on the load albums. They used to be a band all about enrgetic bands, punk and vicious NWOBHM. But now they listen to Bob Seeger, southern rock, Nick Cave and Oasis (what a releaf that they didn't cover them! My guess is that Lars wanted to).

S&M:

Metallica were on a roll with releasing original material. Not original as in new material, but original as in obscure, or innovative. The first heavy metal band to do a entire concert together with a symphonic orchestra (if you do not count Deep Purple as metal, that is). Michael Kamen (R.I.P.) was the only conductor to pull it off, in fact it was his idea to start with. Having worked with the band before (he also arranged a version of "Nothing Else Matter" with orchestration, on a b-side to that single), and also done stuff with Queensrÿche and Aerosmith, Metallica trusted him to pull it off. And in my opinion, they pulled it off just fine. Maybe this double disc does not do this project justice, but if you watch the concert on video, I really feel a vibe, and a feeling no one else has captured. There are also 2 new songs on it, and between "-Human" and "No Leaf Clover", I like the latter best. The lyrics aren't quite finished I think, but the song is absolutely Metallica. It's also cool to finally have Metallica's live-intro on CD. "The Ecstasy Of Gold" is off course written by Ennio Morricone, to the soundtrack for the spaghetti-western 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly'. They have even blown the dust of the old instrumental, "The Call Of Ktulu"! Another treasure item in the Metallica catalogue! And you never thought you would hear "Battery" being played together with flutes and violins, did ya'?
Last time I saw Metallica in Oslo, tey played "No Leaf Clover" again. I've since bought that concert from the Live Metallica download site. That song is very cool.

I think this is a great live album and I love the mixture of Metallica and the orchestra arrangement. On paper it sounds like a complete disaster but it works.

The late Michael Kamen was a very talented individual and as FF stated worked with a number of rock bands through out his career.

Other bands since Metallica have tired this not all of them have been successful, but Metallica's was on both a commerical and artistic level.

I have both the CD and DVD and the DVD is prefered, it is just an excellent show to watch.

I was kind of surprised by how much I liked this one. I can't say I'm much of a Michael Kamen fan but I guess if a project like this was going to be done it most likely would have been him because of his prior experience reaching out to rock musicians, but he did a nice job of enveloping the original songs with the orchestra. The older songs tend to work better, IMO - Call of Ktulu is really fantastic - as I think the newer songs were just too simple to provide a satisfying mixture.

I always found the "Explicit Content" caution next to the title amusing......

Loks like there are some different covers for this one. The one I have does not have the PA sticker, nor the text under the Metallica logo

I got this one so I could hear how Metallica sounded with an orchestra. Turned out to be great and I even enjoyed the Load songs in that format. Unfortunatly, I don't have this one anymore. I think I might have left in on the U.S.S. George Washington or it was stolen. Never replaced it but I do keep an eye out for it in the used CD stores.

No Leaf Clover kicked butt

I like it.

This is the lone disc in the Metallica discography that I do not (and in all likelyhood will not ever) own. It just never interested me. At the time of it's release, I was pretty much over my fan-boy love affair with the band. Combined with my overall feeling of "meh" over live albums, I figured "Why bother?".

Another thing that alwyas kinda bothered me about this was the combination of Metallica with an orchestra. I don't have a problem with orchestra music per say, I just don't think it belongs in my heavy metal. I'm not saying it can't work in some instances. I liked when Aerosmith di it with 'Dream On'. Metallica as a 4 piece band is a powerhouse, much like a 75 piece orchestra can blow the roof off a building. Putting those 2 forces together seemed unnecessary to me. Like my granpa used to say "It's like tits on a bull. They serve no purpose and don't belong."

Next up....



Metallica's next release was the single "I Disappear," which they recorded for the soundtrack of the Tom Cruise action film "Mission: Impossible 2."

XYZ had recommended to me that I skip mentioning the band's various singles when he asked me to take over this thread, and honestly the song itself is nothing really special (it pretty much picks up where the LOAD/RE-LOAD combo left off IMO) but I felt this particular single merited special inclusion because it was part of several important moments in Metallica history: first, it was the last thing Jason Newsted recorded with the band before he departed in January of 2001. It was also the first time Metallica recorded a "made to order" song for a movie soundtrack.

Perhaps the reason "I Disappear" is most important is because it ignited the now-infamous "Metallica Vs. Napster" firestorm. Prior to the single's release, the band found out that a demo of the song was already being passed around on the Internet by users of the Napster P2P service, and that version was even getting played on some radio stations. Metallica filed a lawsuit against Napster and in doing so, created a controversy that still lingers to this day. There was a pretty big backlash against the band at the time by fans who thought Metallica were acting like "spoiled rock stars," especially when they reported for court one day and presented the judge with the names of several thousand Napster users who had illegally downloaded Metallica's music from the service. That seemed like kind of a douche-y move on Metallica's part, especially considering that the band's initial underground fame was gained by people trading their demo tapes back and forth around the world. Several other artists including Dr. Dre (who shared a legal team with Metallica at the time) and Madonna followed Metallica's lead in filing suits against Napster, which eventually led to the service's bankruptcy and shutdown. (The current "Napster" is a paid service owned by a different company.)

I personally had just started using the Internet in 2001 (Yeah, I got on the world wide web a little later than most folks...haha) so all the brouhaha meant little to me at the time. Back then I probably sided with the "What a bunch of rich rock star d!ckheads" crowd, but over the years I've come to realize that they probably had the right idea. They were the first major band to come out and tell the world "Once this genie is out of the bottle, you're never going to be able to get it back in," and in light of the recording industry's ongoing struggle to deal with illegal file sharing ever since, obviously they were on the right track.

The "I Disappear" video was directed by Wayne Isham and featured the four members of the band in separate vignettes inspired by some of their favorite movies -- James was in a car chase similar to the one in the Steve McQueen film "Bullitt," Lars leaps from a skyscraper explosion ala "Die Hard," Jason Newsted is overpowered by suit-and-tie guys in a scene inspired by Terry Gilliam's "Brazil," and Kirk is pursued across a field by an airplane in an homage to Hitchcock's "North By Northwest."

I agree that song is a good song but not a great song. At the time, I also sided against Metallica, and took up Napsters side. Looking back I realize how wrong I was and that while Metallice my or may not be riched spoiled rock stars, what they were correct iabout is the dangers of illegal downloading, and the effects it would have on record sales and the industry itself.

Record labels are now in a free fall depending more and more on their back catalog and older artists. Major bands have choosen to go the independant label route and the music industry is unwilling or maybe unable to help build careers.

I think I dabbled with Napster in college but never really got into using it - in fact, I don't even bother with any kind of digital downloading now - so the whole Metallica vs. Napster thing seemed like much ado about nothing to me.

I like this song - I remember when it first came out, thinking it was better than "reload". Having just listening to it now, Lars' snare sound has the seeds of St Anger on it. Come to think about it, if you listen listen to the song, you can hear the seeds of St Anger throughout.

Was 'I Disappear' also produced by Bob Rock or did they produce this tune themselves? It sounds, at least to my ears a little bit heavier then the Load and Reload albums.

I liked the song, just not what came from it (NAPSTER).