Customer Reviews

Garage Inc.

5 star:		(385)
4 star:		(129)
3 star:		(61)
2 star:		(31)
1 star:		(56)

 

 

Play close attention before ordering the MP3 album from Amazon. It is the edited version, NOT the explicit version. So unless you like a whole lot of annoying beeps, I'd pass on buying the MP3 version of this album from Amazon.

THE BAND: James Hetfield (lead vocals, guitar), Kirk Hammett (guitars), Jason Newsted (bass), Cliff Burton (bass on "Am I Evil" and "Blitzkrieg" only), Lars Ulrich (drums & percussion).

THE DISC: (1998) 27 total tracks clocking in at approximately 137 minutes (disc-1 approximately 66 minutes, disc-2 approximately 71 minutes). Included with the disc is a 28-page booklet containing song titles/credits, Metallica band pictures old & new, album covers and/or band photos of artists being covered, and 20-pages of written bio by David Fricke (Managing Editor, Rolling Stone Magazine). Disc-1 recorded Sept/Oct 1998 at The Plant Studios, Sausalito, CA. Disc-2 recorded at numerous locations from 1984-95. This is their 8th album. Label - Elektra.

COMMENTS: All cover tunes. Brilliant idea. Metallica pays homage to the bands they grew up with and admired. Many of the songs they cover here are hard to find - and you may not find them anywhere else but here. A few of my all-time favorite Metallica tracks are here... "Blitzkrieg", "Stone Cold Crazy", and "Killing Time". New classics from disc-1 include "Sabbra Cadabra" (Black Sabbath), "Astronomy" (Blue Oyster Cult), "Tuesday's Gone" (Lynyrd Skynyrd), and "It's Electric" (Diamond Head). Two great covers of "Turn The Page" (Bob Seger) and "Whiskey In The Jar" (Thin Lizzy) were also excellent, but sadly destroyed by being over played on the radio. Other artists being covered on "Garage Inc." include those listed above as well as Danzig, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Killing Joke, Motorhead (4 songs featured), Queen, Budgie (2 songs), Mercyful Fate (the track "Mercyful Fate" is a medley of their songs - "Satan's Fall", "Curse of the Pharaohs", "A Corpse Without Soul", "Into The Coven", "Evil"... at over 11 minutes, it's Metallica's longest song ever recorded), etc. "Garage Inc." enjoyed success on the charts - reached #2 on the Billboard Top 200 Album charts for 1998; singles "Turn the Page" (#1 on the Mainstream Rock charts), "Whiskey In The Jar" (#4 - also won a Grammy Award for best hard rock performance), and "Die, Die My Darling" (#26). This release - Great idea. Lots of music. Great songs (some more classic than others) played by one of the best metal bands of the '80's/90's. Something for old/new fans alike with plenty of thrash and mainstream heavy metal. Great sound production. Awesome set of discs (5 stars).

Many of these reviews are obviously biased to one of the two CD's as preferred. I'd like to say that I've been a huge Metallica fan since the beginning (and along with most of you, lost faith with Load/Reload...) and I think both discs rule in their own respects. I bought the CD set originally because I wanted a digital copy of the EP (my vinyl is showing the wear). All of these tracks are classic Metallica. The Prince is one of the most blistering hard-core Metallica tracks ever- check out the solo's. They don't make em like that anymore... It took me several months before I even tried disc one, which is now a favorite as much as disc two. Disc one really demonstrates Hetfields incredible vocal power and range that is not as apparent on some of the noisy stuff. While disc 2 is an incredible adrenalin rush a la early Metallica, disc 1 really sticks with you long after the listen if you give it a chance... (My faves: Whiskey, Astronomy, Die Die Die My Darling, and Loverman).

Unless you've been raised in a dark, bottomless pit, you've most likely encountered, in any various form, the rich, driving, passions of the band who were undoubtedly one of the pivotal instigators of not only thrash metal, but mainstream metal: Metallica. In their humble beginnings, the band raged, an endless barrage of furious riffs and soulful vocals. As they progressed, the band matured, ever more noticeably; by their second album, they were approaching profound issues, suicide, self-destruction, genocide, and as the years passed, they kept growing. ...And Justice For All's "One" hit us hard, and "Enter Sandman", claimed as the bands first assault into the Mainstream medium gave the band their first real taste of worldwide addulation. Gone were the complex riffage of "Master of Puppets", the symphonic intricacies of "To Live Is To Die"; the band had matured unexpectedly, and now favored the soul of the epic over the neckbreak speed of their founding fathers. Their 6th album, "Load", became their ultimate progression, and deviation. Tracks like "Mama Said" and "Ronnie", tributes to James Hetfield's lifelong love of Southern Rock, shocked us all. The band still rocked, as "Ain't My Bitch" and "The Thorn Within" showed, but for some the change was just too much. When the band released their 7th album, "ReLoad", we saw a mild return to the roots that birthed them. Tracks like "Fuel" and "Devil's Dance" were undoubted onslaughts of pure metal; and yet, other tracks, like "Low Man's Lyric", and even the heartfelt "Unforgiven II" were still considered offset. The band was growing up, and nobody quite knew why. They still knew how to rock, so why didn't they? Why were the magnificent stylings of "Battery" being discarded? Why couldn't the band just, well, rock? It's hard to say; it's all based on individual opinion, and some would argue that now, more than ever, the band has reached their ultimate capacity, and has never rocked harder. The new album, "Garage Inc.", is hailed in halves: Some leap in ecstatic joy, praising the return to the "Old Style" found on parts of the album. Others rejoice, finding the band has matured even more, as tracks like Seger's "Turn the Page" and Sabbath's "SabraCadabra" illustrate. They can still pound out the riffs, but they do it almost strategically now, however unconventionally. They explore new realms, and it's apparent that the band has never enjoyed themselves more. You can feel James Hetfield pouring his soul into his work; He's doing what he loves, and it's very self-evident. "Garage Inc." is sure to please both Metallica generations. Those who crave the old Metallica, who want to meet an endless barrage of metal in it's purest form, will find their desires fulfilled on this album. Those who need a matured perspective, a steady stream of soulful expression, will find their hopes were not in vain. The album is almost perfect, and will no doubt be one of the most momentous and provocative of Metallica's ventures.

For many years, Metallica's 1987 EP Garage Days Re-Revisited was the most sought-after item in their catalog; it was constantly bootlegged in the '90s, and often supplemented by a host of covers Metallica had released on singles and compilations throughout the years. By 1998, the band had understandably grown frustrated with this situation and decided to confront the problem head-on by reissuing all these rarities. Savvy businessmen that they are, they also realized they needed to give hardcore fans who already owned all the covers a reason to purchase the new set - hence, the expansion of the Garage Days EP to the double-disc blowout Garage Inc. The second disc's rarities are balanced by the first disc's new covers, the bulk of which were recorded following the Re-Load tour. It shouldn't come as a surprise that these covers recall the blooze'n'boogie heavy rock of the Loads, but what is a surprise is that Metallica seems to have found their footing in this style through other people's songs. Whether it's Bob Seger, Blue Öyster Cult, Thin Lizzy, Nick Cave, or the all-star jam on Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Tuesday's Gone," the band effortlessly makes the songs seem like their own, through a bizarre mix of respect and ballsy irreverence. Sure, it may not be nearly as raw as early Metallica, but it is a better listen than either of the Load records. And if raw is what you want, the equally diverse disc two provides all the thrills you could hope for. At one time, it might have seemed a little odd that Metallica would cover Budgie, Diamond Head, the Misfits, and Queen, but if Garage Inc. proves anything, it's that the group's musical instincts, risks, and sense of humor have made them the greatest metal band of the '80s and '90s.

This is an alright album, and since it is the censored version I gave it 4 stars...I would probably give the regular version 4 stars, but the only song they cut out on here is "So What", and I dont even listen to that song much anyway. I picked the edited Garage up on accident, because none of their previous albums had parental advisories on them. So I figured what the heck, and then I heard all these cuss words on someone else's cd and I was like, whoa...what is wrong with mine? And I will tell you, that annoying "beeping" sound gets to your nerves once in awhile. They just dont blurp them out, it makes a loud -beep-. So my advice to you is, if you like hearing beeping sounds that is cool, but if you dont, get the explicit version...and if you dont like cuss words, just skip the "So What" track on disc two. That is my advice and have a nice day :)

Well worth the look, especially for people already familiar with the band.

I bought this about 5 years ago and still have it. Great compilation of all the covers Metallica did on their biggest influences. On disc 1 you got the newest covers by metallica (1998, 11 new covers). Disc 2 is all the older covers recorded from 1984-1995(16 covers).

favorite tracks include:

Disc 1: Free Speech For The Dumb, Its Electric, Sabbra Cadabra, Die Die My Darling, Mercyful Fate, Astronomy, Whiskey In The Jar, and The More I See.

Disc 2: Everything

If youre a fan of Metallica you need to go buy this now, highly recommended!

Metallica's Load and Reload were not very good compared to old Metallica sounds but although some of the covers here were recorded during that era, i love it. There are a lot of heavy punk and metal covers on this album that Metallica literally make it sounds like it was originally by them an they wrote the song! they practially own the songs here! and metallica cover things cannot be completed without covers of diamond head and misfits and motorhead as well. i like disc 2 the best because it's from the 80s metallica mostly and early 90s which was the metallica that i loved more than the new "polished" metallica without hair and extremeness in their concerts. but garage inc is still worthy of fitting into your heavy metal collection and metallica cd collecion!

Garage Inc.(1998). Metallica's Eighth Album. A Collection of EP's, B-Sides, Rare songs, and Original Material.

In 1991, Metallica entered the mainstream with their #1 smash hit 'Metallica', which forever blessed and haunted them. Throughout the 90's, Metallica tried hard to live up to that album, but 'Load' and 'Reload' were often criticized and Metallica further angered their fans by sueing Napster. Although 'I Disappear' was the track that got Napster sued, another thing that caused them to do that was because of the massive downloading of the 'Garage Days Revisited' and 'Garage Days Re-Revisited' EP's, not to mention various singles. In an effort to stop the downloading, Metallica combined their EP's with rare songs, not to mention a full-disc worth of new material that comprised 'Garage Inc.'. In the album, Metallica is found covering the bands that influenced them the most, bands who played the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Speed Metal, Southern Rock, and Punk. Unsurprisingly, 'Garage Inc' debuted in the Billboard Top 5, and easily sold over a million copies within its first 6 months, even receiving two Grammy's and spawning the massive hits "Whiskey In The Jar" and "Turn The Page". In an effort to gain more fans and get their fans to like some of their favorite bands, did Metallica succeed in this effort or just flat out embarass themselves like on 'St. Anger'? Read on to find out!

Track Ratings-

On 'Garage Inc', Metallica covered numerous bands, which include heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath, Diamond Head, Mercyful Fate, Discharge, Motorhead, Queen, and Budgie. They also covered the punk band The Misfits, not to mention 70's Hard Rock bands Lynyrd Skynyrd and Blue Oyster Cult. Although songwriting is what destroyed 'Load' and 'Reload', is doesn't matter on 'Garage Inc.', because the songs are already written for Metallica! As for the first disc, which is typically criticized, I have no complaints, at ALL! "Free Speech For The Dumb" basically finds Hammett soloing his heart out, and you can't go wrong there! "It's Electric" is a fun, rip-roaring heavy metal headbanger, while Black Sabbath's "Sabbra Cadabra" finds Metallica taking a sadistic song and bringing it to new levels of heaviness. "Turn The Page" and "Tuesday's Gone" are two of the most emotional tracks in Metallica's catalogue, and also some of Metallica's best. Truly, "One" is the only song that beats these songs for emotion and heart. "Loverman" and "Mercyful Fate" are progressive Heavy Metal songs featuring crazy build-ups, odd time signatures, and headbanging guitarwork! Although the first disc is excellent, the second disc is truly a masterpiece, as any 80's Metallica fan will tell you, they could never beat that era. Really, there are no words to describe this album, other than if you love Thrash, Neo-Classical Metal, wicked solos, and intense Heavy Metal like you've come to expect from Metallica, you're going to love this album. Seriously, every track on this album, from "Helpless" to "Crash Course in Brain Surgery", is just flat-out heavy metal bliss, with highlights like "The Small Hours"(one of the best Metallica songs, period), "Am I Evil?"(ditto), and the intense anger and hilariousness of "So What!" blaring out your speakers it's doubtful you won't be dead after breaking your neck from so much headbanging!

Overall, 'Garage Inc.' is my favorite Metallica album of the 90's, even besting The Black Album, solely because of the shear wealth of material here. Although some criticize the first disc(nobody, unless you're a mute, criticizes the second album), I found it to be basically in the same vein of The Black Album's Heavy Metal/Thrash, but I was more impressed with it because of the emotion and thought that went into covering their favorite bands. Although Hammett has been a disappointment on 'Load', 'Reload, and 'St. Anger', he sure gives quite a performance here, and this work is undoubtedly some of his strongest. Although people may say Metallica just released this for "money", this is one of the *few* things I agree with that Lars has done: put all their rare material and a wealth of new material on one convenient release. If you like Metallica or Heavy Metal, this album is a must. It is also one of my favorite Metallica albums, period. Although I wouldn't rate either album individually better than their 80's material, with both albums combined, well, you have quite a case there. "The Small Hours" and "Am I Evil?" are worth the price alone if you ask me!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! METALLICA'S BEST ALBUM OF THE 90'S IS ALSO ONE OF THEIR BEST ALBUMS! LIKE 80'S-90'S METALLICA? YOU *HAVE* TO GET THIS!

Killer Kuts- Disc 1- "It's Electric", "Turn The Page", "Mercyful Fate", "Whiskey In The Jar", and "Tuesday's Gone". Disc 2- "The Small Hours"(truly brilliant, the intro is SCARY!), "Am I Evil?", and damned near everything.

Also Recommended-

Ride The Lightning- Metallica
Metallica- Metallica
Feedback(EP)- Rush

Thanks For Reading!