well!

A woman's work is never done! A reader of this blog (possibly the only reader!) made me aware that I had left out 'Garage Inc.' from the previous blog about Metallica. It was kind of intentional but for the benefit of readers, here comes an evaluation of it!

Released in 1998, Garage Inc. is the only Metallica compilation so far, and it's a collection of other people's songs. Disc one were freshly recorded cover songs, made specifically for the album, and disc two collected the cover songs the band had recorded since their debut in 84. This included the entire $5.98 ep, various b-sides and tracks recorded for a tribute to Lemmy from Motörhead. This older material is a rag-tag of quality, as not all of the chosen cover-songs are equally interesting to anyone but Metallica. But great covers of Diamond Head and Queen make it a fun compilation, and especially for completists.

The new recordings saw Metallica change their sound again. After the dark, brooding Load and Reload albums, the style on Garage Inc. could almost be described as cheerful on some tracks.
Thin Lizzy's 'Whiskey in the jar' rendition gets an update with some fine guitar licks from Kirk Hammett, 'Sabbra Cadabra' (a Black Sabbath original) gets a good run-through, and Lynyrd Skynyrd's 'Tuesday's gone' gets an acoustic overhaul along with friends of the band. This recording was taken from a radio jam-special, which is available on several bootlegs and is a funny if not entirely relevant snapshot of the band at play rather than work.
A few of the new cover songs did retain some of the brooding sulky grunge of the previous albums, but in general things were changing for the band again. That they would change to the extent of next studio album St. Anger was a big surprise to most.

The friend I mentioned at the beginning of this blog told me she found this release to be unimpressive and the first signs of a big identity crisis for the band. I don't think the band really intended to impress with this release, but rather tie up some loose ends and provide something fun for the fans meanwhile. I could agree to this being a sign of identity crisis, as the sound of the new recordings in particular are all over the place. But I still much preferred the sound of this to St. Anger!