A Wagnerian Orgasm (S&M - Metallica)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	S&M - Metallica
Date:	04/05/04 (959 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A great idea, many songs complimented by the orchestra, A Metallica live album with an interesting slant, A strong collection of tracks

Disadvantages: Some unwise decisions, Some songs would have worked excellently, but were not included, Often expensive

In 1999, Metallica released a live album that saw them performing twenty tracks spanning their musical career, accompanied by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. The idea of mixing hard, heavy metal anthems with soft, orchestral overtures had not been attempted often, and deservedly awarded the band an amount of media interest. S&M is a very interesting album that deserves a number of listens, and manages to recreate some great Metallica songs with great success, and some poor ones with little success.


GENESIS


The band?s former bass player Cliff Burton, who tragically died during the band?s 1986 tour, had a large impact on the style of the band?s earlier albums, his passion for classical music leading to more intricate and layered tracks than those of competing bands, with mellow guitar sections creating an epic and orchestral sound with only four instruments. Following Cliff?s death, the band were forced to pursue other avenues, which led to the eventual release of their more commercial rock album ?Metallica? (aka the Black Album) in 1991.

Many fans felt that the band lost the plot after this, and the next albums to be released after a lenghty gap of touring and enjoying their profits reflected a far more bluesy, soft-rock approach. It was obvious that the band?s appreciation for other musical forms was impacting on the music they enjoyed creating, and in 1998 their experimentation with orchestral accompaniment was seen by many metal fans as the ultimate sell-out act, despite the fact that their earlier works had such a classical and baroque influence, however much the surviving band members had not realised this.

Metallica?s founding member and drummer, Lars Ulrich, contacted composer and self-proclaimed heavy metal fan Michael Kamen with the band?s idea, and the composer set to work dec
iding which songs would most benefit from the orchestra?s input, taking into account that the band?s live set-lists reflected both their classic and contemporary tracks. Kamen had previously composed the soundtracks to a number of prominent films, while working with bands such as Queensryche and, yes, Metallica, in adding symphonic elements to some of their album tracks.


PERFORMER& #83;


VOCALS, RHYTHM GUITAR ? James Hetfield
LEAD GUITAR ? Kirk Hammett
DRUMS ? Lars Ulrich
BASS ? Jason Newsted
COMPOSER ? Michael Kamen, conducting many talented musicians on violins, violas, violincellos, basses, flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, trombones, tuba, harp, timpani, percussion and kayboard than I can list here.



THE S&M EXPERIENCE


DISC 1:

The Ecstasy Of Gold
The Call of Ktulu
Master of Puppets
Of Wolf and Man
The Thing That Should Not Be
Fuel
The Memory Remains
No Leaf Clover
Hero of the Day
Devil?s Dance
Bleeding Me

DISC 2:

Nothing Else Matters
Until it Sleeps
For Whom the Bell Tolls
- Human
Wherever I May Roam
The Outlaw Torn
Sad But True
One
Enter Sandman
Battery


FIRST HALF


The album opens calmly with the qu
iet roars of an expectant crowd, and the first notes of the orchestra for THE ECSTACY OF GOLD, a short and relaxing excerpt from the soundtrack to the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, performed here by the orchestra. As soon as that is completed and the band have taken their positions, the haunting guitar intro of THE CALL OF KTULU is played by Kirk and James, and the sound of Metallica and the symphony are shown to their full potential. Ktulu is an epic in its own right, and the orchestra only compliments its dark and moody sound, using horns to great effect. As with most of the band?s early material, Ktulu already felt complete and epic in its own right, so while the orchestra doesn?t make it any better it is a great track to begin with.

James? distinctive vocal growls begin on the third track, MASTER OF PUPPETS. One of the band?s most popular tracks, originating in their 1986 album of the same name, the progressive nature of this track means that the orchestra works in varying degrees of success. Personally, I find the orchestration a little over-the-top during the speedy verses and chorus, but the mellow sections of the song work excellently. It takes a while to get used to James? vocals accompanying such orchestration, but once he calms down on the band?s softer songs there doesn?t seem to be anything awry. There is some excellent use of violins towards the end of this track also, which is a nice touch.

OF WOLF AND MAN is what I consider the first ?mistake? of this album; taken from Metallica?s self-titled 1991 album, the less intricate style of this track doesn?t lend itself to the orchestra, and this is one of the unfortunate examples of a song w
here the rock element and the orchestration have clearly been planned independently. In contrast, THE THING THAT SHOULD NOT BE is one of their older and darkest tracks, and this works with the orchestra in the same way that the instrumental Ktulu did. Sounding better and more interesting with the orchestra in many places, this is one of the tracks that definitely does ?work,? and features an improvised rendition of the Funeral March before leading into the next tracks.

FUEL and THE MEMORY REMAINS were tracks released from the band?s 1997 album ?Reload,? the band?s most recent studio release at the time of this recording, and as such they seem mainly included out of necessity. Still, the symphony adds to the commercial rock sound a lot more successfully than in similar tracks, especially in the slower ?The Memory Remains,? but ?Fuel? still sounds a little forced, adding unnecessary depth and grandeur to what is essentially a fast-paced hard rock anthem. The melodic vocal sections on Memory are handed to the crowd, providing the album with that element of audience interaction. Overall, a couple of songs that were a little lacking, but aren?t really helped by this arrangement.

NO LEAF CLOVER is one of the most interesting tracks for the reason that is was released and performed for the first time with this CD. Much more impressive than releases from ?Reload,? this has been designed with the orchestra in mind and as such it really benefits from the addition. A great soft chorus has some of James? best vocals, while the hard rock isn?t lost in the verses and chorus. It seems Metallica only needed a little inspiration to start producing great songs a
gain.

I consider HERO OF THE DAY to be one of the best examples of S&M here, which is surprising as it took me a while to appreciate the original version of this ?Load? track. The band?s most commercial release, this mixes elements of very soft acoustics with a hard rock ending, but the orchestra gives it the depth necessary to elevate it into a beautiful piece of music. Very sombre.

An unfortunate return to failed efforts sees DEVIL?S DANCE, possibly the least memorable track on this whole album, getting the unnecessary S&M treatment. The orchestra is mainly comprised of horns here which is a nice touch, but can?t save the fact that this isn?t a very impressive track that could have been replaced with something much better.

The first CD ends with one of the longer moody tracks from the ?Load? album, the quite impressive BLEEDING ME. Interesting and a little moving, with great vocals on the chorus, this is helped by the presence of the orchestra, but it is so subliminal in places that I can never remember the orchestral additions unless I listen to the track fresh. Still, a nice end to the first half which promises that, if nothing else, there can?t be much more from the Load and Reload albums to follow.


SECOND HALF


The second disc opens in style with one of the band?s most popular tracks, NOTHING ELSE MATTERS. Their emotional, semi-acoustic number from the Black Album, the symphonic arrangement is so good here that there is plenty of debate amongst fans as to which is the best version. I personally prefer the album version, as the drums are used throughout and there is
some great background electric guitar work that is lost here, but in terms of beauty I have to admit that this is one of the best examples of the S&M experience. Following on is a track from ?Load,? the controversial UNTIL IT SLEEPS, which is only controversial for being the first sign of the ?new? Metallica in the mid-90s. The orchestra works very well with in adding atmosphere to this dark track, and it is another sign that the partnership is performing very well.

But no matter how loyal and appreciative the long-time fans are of the band?s musical changes, it is obvious from the appreciative uproar that their 1984 classic FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS is still considered a much finer work than anything from recent years. With great sections for the bass, guitars and drums, ?Bellz? (as it is referred to in shorthand on the album sleeve) is an excellent metal song, and while the orchestra is again largely unnecessary, it does add quite a nice Batman-esque feel to the song.

Following this is -HUMAN, the other original track on here along with ?Clover? from Disc 1. Not quite as classic or impressive, largely because it had been ?lingering around for some time now? according to Newsted and therefore not composed with the symphony in mind, is it a good hard rock song that shows signs of where the band may have headed if not for Newsted?s departure and their temporary time away from it all.

WHEREVER I MAY ROAM benefits from the orchestra more than I would have expected, considering it is again fairly recent, but I still don?t like this track too much in any incarnation, mainly as it is incredibly repetitive and seems to drag on for far too long. I think I
like this symphonic version more however, and as it follows some great tracks on here it is an excuse to listen to it more. Seemingly coming out of nowhere, THE OUTLAW TORN is quite a good track from ?Load,? but it feels a little annoying in its placement here due to its ten-minute length, along with the fact that the similar and equally lengthy ?Bleeding Me? has already featured. The orchestra don?t really add to this too much either, and it certainly suffers from its placement amongst the Metallica ?classics.?

SAD BUT TRUE is one of the band?s best hard rock releases, but the orchestra once again fail to make anything too grand of it due to the limitations of its original style. Still a great song however, but it is overshadowed by the next track. ONE was the band?s first music video release and has been a staple of their live shows for over ten years, and a great deal of effort has clearly gone into the orchestra arrangements of this track, although it has to be heard to be appreciated. The power of the drum sections towards the end do seem a little dampened, but the sombre first half benefits exceptionally well. One of the very best tracks on here.

The band?s most well-known track is always used as the crowd-pleasing ending, and ENTER SANDMAN is a good track, but isn?t really aided by the symphony. There are interludes and encores later in the track which keep it interesting, but it doesn?t work as well as it does with the band members alone. Fortunately, the band still have some tricks up their sleeve and an orchestral rendition of the start of their Master of Puppets album leads into BATTERY, one of their best thrash songs and a feature that probably came as a welcome surprise to those gathered. The orch
estra is good in this one, but it is completely stolen by Metallica?s power as a group.


AFTERMATH


Judging by the sounds on the CDs, the crowd were very pleased with the result of this unholy union of symphony and rock, and they even shout out their appreciation for the composer at the end. In his introduction within the album?s booklet, Kamen describes how the symphony were unused to receiving roars of approval from metal fans, and while at first being a little apprehensive about this it would evnetually fuel them into putting in even more energy. ?The crowd?s reaction was like adrenaline on stage, and we all thrived on it. That kind of approval is inspiring!?

In an interview, James recalls how Kamen would deconstruct some of their songs and point out the kinds of musical changes they had implemented; something he, Kirk, Lars and Jason had never even realised, which is a tribute to the late Cliff Burton. Lars Ulrich also criticises fans who condemn this album as far from the Metallica angle, pointing out that Cliff was the only one of them that used to be influenced by classical music, and that it is an element of their early albums. ?Cliff would have loved this.?


VERDICT


The inherent problem with live albums is that not all of the listener?s favourites are included, and this feeling is certainly present in S&M (Symphony & Metallica in case you were a little worried), but to a greater extent when considering which tracks did and did not ?work.? It is obvious that the band?s older and more intricate tracks, as well as their more modern mellow releases, work far better than their hard rock songs, but Kamen and the band did not seem to realise this. This leads to the disappointment that ?Devil?s Dance,? ?Of W
;olf and Man? and ?The Outlaw Torn? could have been replaced by songs that really would have added to this experience, such as the classics ?Sanitarium,? ?The God That Failed? and, especially, ?Fade to Black.? These seemingly bad decisions do dampen my enjoyment of the album somewhat, but once they have been accepted it is easier to appreciate this as a ?best-of? that takes and interesting approach.

I do like the orchestra accompaniment in general, even though at times it seems unnecessary or over-the-top, but when it fits it makes for more interesting songs, especially when the listener already owns the originals. The musicians are all very talented and the band themselves make no mistakes, although whether there was any Kiss-style studio tampering is unknown, and also irrelevant; the guys rock live anyway.

The album?s design is incredibly stylish, with a mostly black cover featuring a colourful photo of James? legs and guitar, with assorted musicians behind him. There are no lyrics which is a bit of a letdown, instead opting for far more blurred photos of the band than are really necessary inside the booklet. There is a section at the end which details the original albums that the songs are taken from, which would be very useful for newer Metallica fans to plan their next CD purchases and also gives insight into the band?s minds; apparently they did not find anything from their thrashy debut ?Kill ?Em All? would cut the symphonic mustard, and the thrash songs from ?Justice? are also ommitted. Thankfully the band do not use any of their cover tracks here, something which can get a little annoying on the band?s other live albums.

S&M was an interesting idea that involved the band putting in a lot of effort and extending their musical variety, and there is nothing ?sell-out? about it. There is a striking contrast betwee
n the melodic nature of this album and their next release, the hard and heavy St. Anger in 2003, but that?s evolution. Love them or hate them, Metallica may not know much about art, but they know what they like.

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Merchandise:

A double DVD version of S&M is also available, while ?No Leaf Clover? was released as a single. An in-depth documentary featuring interviews entitled ?Metallica: Four Men and an Orchestra? can occasionally be found on appropriate music channels, as can S&M live music videos of ?No Leaf Clover? and ?Nothing Else Matters.? The official S&M shirt, sold over the several performances and featuring a quite funny tuxedo design on the front, is still available from many retailers.

Summary: