S&M

Continuing on with Live album that were sort of a bands swan song, we pick up with Metallica's '99 release with the San Francisco Symphony 'S&M'. I say this could be looked at as a swan song only because it was the last album til 03's 'St. Anger' and it was the beginning of what may have been the end for the band.

Recorded at The Berkeley Community Theater in Berkeley California on April 21 & 22 1999, Metallica did what very few bands had tried before, playing with a full symphony. In the years since it seems to have become a rather common thing. But in '99 a handful of other bands did it with limited success. Back by Michael Kamen and the San Francisco Symphony, the band too a handful of songs they thought would work well with a backing symphony. In addition the band premiered two new tracks that had been leftovers from the 'Load/ReLoad' sessions. "No Leaf Clover" and "- Human" were added into the setlist. The former occasionally is still played live, while the latter has yet to be ever performed again. The album opens with the classic "Ecstasy Of Gold" and then kicks into the wonderfully done "The Call Of Ktulu". From there the next two hours are filled with hits and misses. The accompanying DVD does however work better with some visually stunning additions as the band plays. However this double Live album could've worked better as a single album. Not to say I don't enjoy it, cause I do, there's just some tracks that don't fit well.

Metallica has been ahead of the curve for sometime. The first of the Big 4 to really sell millions and turn people onto Metal. The symphony thing was a bit of a gamble however. The band had previously worked with the late Michael Kamen on an "Elevator" version of "Nothing Else Matters", it seemed like it would pay off. And in a way it did. In fact the band went onto to play with the Berlin and New York symphonies for one off shows. By the end of '99 Metallica was on tour through Europe on "The Garage Remains The Same Tour" and by the end of the year played a handful of shows with Ted Nugent, Sevendust and Kid Rock. By the time the new decade had started the back went back out on an ill fated Summer tour which proved to be the last tour for a while. By the end of '00 Jason Newstead had played his last show with the band and the band went into a spiral as well documented in the movie 'Some Kind Of Monster'. The band of course has since rebounded and continue to make music and tour. It's funny to look back though and wonder what if the bands final album was 'S&M'. It's seems like it was a fitting end to that era of Metallica.

By the way I failed to mention this is a rip of the 3 LP issue of the album. This is the original issue of the record, not the 6 LP one that came out recently. First time I believe it's been played in full.

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