Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. The Ecstasy Of Gold
2. The Call Of The Ktulu
3. Master Of Puppets
4. Of Wolf And Man
5. The Thing That Should Not Be
6. Fuel
7. The Memory Remains
8. No Leaf Clover
9. Hero Of The Day
10. Devil's Dance
11. Bleeding Me

Disc 2:

1. Nothing Else Matters
2. Until It Sleeps
3. For Whom The Bell Tolls
4. Human
5. Wherever I May Roam
6. Outlaw Torn
7. Sad But True
8. One
9. Enter Sandman
10. Battery

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4271 in Music
• Released on: 1999-11-22
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Box set, Explicit Lyrics, Live
• Running time: 133 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
As if to accentuate their fundamental hugeness, Metallica (arguably the most consistently innovative metal band of the 80s and 90s) stretched yet further into the arena of the titanic with this immense cohesion of the orchestral and the truly seismic. Recorded live at California's Berkeley Community Theatre with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra under the direction of composer and arranger Michael Kamen, S & M showcases over two hours of the band's best known material including the muscular thrash of "Master Of Puppets" and the devastating power of "Enter Sandman". Also featuring a pair of brand new compositions--the pounding menace of "Human" and chest-beating nihilism of "No Leaf Clover"--S & M steers clear of pompous self-indulgence in favour of sheer blistering intensity. Kamen's orchestral arrangements perfectly complement the underlying subtlety of Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett and Newsted's singularly bombastic muse and the end result is nothing short of awesome. --Ian Fortnam

Album Description
Thrash metal/Orchestric The greatest metal band the world has ever seen combines with the Sanfransico Synphony Orchestra to produce a stunning blend of thrash metal and musical genius featuring Metallica's greatest hits over the last 20 years. This album features 2 new explosive tracks, Human and No Leaf Clover.

From the Artist
"Our most experimental and musical album to date" JAMES HETFIELD (lead singer and rythm guitar) "Fans of metallica will love this and those new to us should find it a good introduction to our music" LARS ULRICK (drummer). "Its kind of like a greatest hits" KIRK HAMMETT (lead guitarist)

Customer Reviews

It shouldn't work - but it does masterfully
After 8 studio albums (including Garage Inc), Metallica had actually lost quite a few of their fans. They had gone from a rip roaring and successful thrash metal band, to a more mainstream rock band to an almost alternative rock band. These changes led to Metallica being abandoned by some fans, but some of the true fans still stuck by them. They had gone through leaps and bounds, and many say that there wasn't a single decent album after the infamous Black Album. So, to attract some attention (and to recapture a few fans), Metallica went classical. Big style.

What they did was produce a surprisingly good live (yes live) album, along with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Confused? Well, it was somewhat of a rather epic experiment, and one that gladly paid off. Metallica played many of their classics (some open for debate however), and the Orchestra would play along with them. But come on, let's get this straight. Classical and metal just shouldn’t go together, they really shouldn't. But give this a listen and you will find that all the speculations are wrong - this is an incredible album.

The thing is, I am not the greatest fan of live albums. In fact I hate the majority of them. Yet this is in a different league. The quality is that great that you hardly notice the fact that it is a live album. It's so clean, the only thing that really gives it away is the presence of the cheering crowd.

What could have been a total disaster is turned into a deeply atmospheric and satisfying selection of tracks, and a lot of which improve on the originals. The orchestra provides the perfect atmosphere at times, blending in well with the guitars. A good example of this can be found in the song One, where towards the end the tone of the song changes and speed increases. The only downside is that at times the orchestra can be a little too overpowering, which in turn drowns out the guitars.

As far as the track listing goes, they have included many classics, including Enter Sandman (saved for last), Master Of Puppets, For Whom The Bell Tolls, Nothing Else Matters, One and Until It Sleeps. Unfortunately, absolutely nothing was included from Kill 'Em All, and there are a few songs that would of been perfectly suited for this album but never made it - where is The Unforgiven? As I said, a lot of the tracks do actually improve on their originals but there are exceptions. The Memory Remains, although an excellent song, isn't a favourite on this disc, and Enter Sandman just isn't the same. Having said that, The Call Of Ktulu is one of the highlights, vastly improving the 1984 original. The atmosphere is greatly improved, as is the quality resulting in a 9 minute masterpiece.

Also included on this album are 2 brand new tracks, exclusive to S&M. They are No Leaf Clover and Human. They are not timeless classics by any means, but No Leaf Clover is pretty good and Human is just ok.

All in all, this is one of Metallica's best releases to date, especially when you consider the release of it, at a time when Metallica were thought to of been going downhill. In fact, you could say it increased their respect at the time, brought back some old fans and even new fans. The track listing could of been a little better, but you simply cannot do without listening to one of Metallica's most famous and epic albums. It really is that good - and I hate live albums.

Oh, dear God, yes!!!
IT'S METALLICA AND AN ORCHESTRA!!! IT'S INSANITY, IT'S MENTAL,IT'S.... actually frightengly good.

This would the "greatest hits" Metallica said they would never do, so they decided to do something a little out there, and, by George, it's good.

"Master of Puppets" sounds better than the original (3 Metallica purists have just bought sniper rifles), "Fuel" sounds HUGE, the lethal bass intro "Devil's Dance" is picked out brilliantly by the orchestra, "Outlaw Torn" actually becomes listenable (6 more Metallica purists have joined the hunt for my head), "Hero of the Day" and "One" are, frankly, sublime.

And for those who love their Metallica raw "Enter Sandman" hasn't been messed around with too much by the orchestra, and "Sad But True" is still as brutally heavy as it was on the Black Album.

This is a must for Metallica fans, the only downside being that occasionally the guitars get a bit lost under the orchestra and the somewhat mundane "-Human".

It has to be heard to be believed...
So you hear "Metallica" and "San Fransisco Symphony" in the same sentence, you'd figure you're dreaming or something right? That's what I thought, but then I realised I was awake and so I bought this album. I was a bit sceptical - not because I doubted how good it would be, but just coz I was curious as to how they'd manage to pull this off. Once I pressed play, I found out!!! 2 - yes 2 - CD's, all recorded live so the atmosphere's already there. I personally wanted some tracks like "The Unforgiven" or "Orion" in there, but when you've got many other great tracks on there (see the list!) you forget all that. As for the 2 new tracks "-Human" is a pretty powerful track, but "No Leaf Clover" has become 1 of my most fave. songs ever. The orchestra pulls it off so well that they make it seem like they've always been there, but don't expect them to drown out the metal :-) If you only buy 1 Metallica album in your entire life, make sure it's S&M!!!