Garage Inc. -
1998Tracklisting (Disc One):
1. Free Speech for the Dumb.
2. It’s Electric.
3. Sabbra Cadabra.
4. Turn the Page.
5. Die Die My Darling.
6. Loverman.
7. Mercyful Fate.
8. Astronomy.
9. Whiskey in the Jar.
10. Tuesday’s Gone.
11. The More I See.
https://open.spotify.com/album/0vshXZYhBkbIoqxyC2fXcF?si=1jQij88_QRit1dqNg2caUwGiven the way this album works, I thought I’d break this chapter into two releases as well, since I know I won’t be able to fit it all in one go anyway.
During the early days, when Metallica only had a small handful of original tunes at their disposal, they naturally filled out their setlists with cover songs. Songs by Diamond Head, Savage, Sweet Savage, Blitzkrieg and more often saw live performances in Metallica’s first year together and would continue to stick around for many years to come, as we’ve seen over the course of our live chapters here.
When it came to the release of the
Creeping Death single, Metallica needed B-Sides. What came from that was the original
Garage Days Revisited (not Re-Revisited as was released in 1987). There they released
Am I Evil? and
Blitzkrieg. And from there a whole other side to Metallica opened. They released the
$5.98 EP as their first release with Jason and between
Justice and
Load, every single came armed with a new cover or two to pay homage to the bands that inspired them to get to where they were.
So the day after the last North American date of the Poor Re-Touring Me cycle (the tour in support of
ReLoad), Metallica found themselves in the studio once again, but this time it was different. The band started recording brand new covers from the “usual suspect” bands like Black Sabbath and The Misfits, plus a cover of a cover with Thin Lizzy’s take on an Irish Traditional tune. But they also expanded the repertoire and added some Nick Cave and Bob Seger to round out the mix.
As Lars commented the band wanted to do something different after three pretty serious albums in a row, starting with the
Black Album and then
Load and
ReLoad, and the process would be easier by working with covers, especially as there was starting to be a tradition of taking other people's songs and turning them into something very Metallica, different from what the original artist did.
So how would this process turn out? Are these songs worth the listen as part of Metallica’s catalog, or are they merely a means of putting out more material without having to compose it themselves? Let’s take a listen!
The album starts with
Free Speech for the Dumb, originally released by Discharge on their 1982 album,
Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing. Discharge’s version is a very frantically paced punk song. Short, sharp and to the point. Metallica’s version slows it down and has Kirk expand the solos out a little. I’m not a huge fan of the tone he uses on the lead parts though, which I had thought was a reference to the original for the longest time but am now finding was just an odd choice. Lars’ drum parts lack the cymbal work from the original, which makes it feel a little too much like a loop. James and Jason’s rhythm sound is nice and punchy though and James’ voice is sounding even better than on the Loads.
It’s Electric is the newest Diamond Head cover in Metallica’s catalog but one of the songs that was on the original setlists way back in 1982. This song, like many other Metallica Diamond Head covers, comes from the
Lightning To The Nations album from 1980. The tones on this version are a lot more modern and the production is much cleaner than the original. I think this one really suited James’ voice for 1998. It’s a short song, but it’s a great rocker. This does sit at the bottom of the Diamond Head trilogy for me, as I really love the other two songs, but I enjoy listening to this one plenty. To me,
Free Speech for the Dumb is almost more of an intro track where this one sets the tone for the album properly and serves as a far better album opener. Kinda like
Regression to
Overture 1928 in a way.
Sabbra Cadabra, while taking the name of only one song, is a medley of two tracks from Black Sabbath’s
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (the other being
A National Acrobat, which serves as this song’s bridge). I know it’s going to sound like a blasphemy, but I way prefer this medley to both of Sabbath’s original versions. I think the guitar tones just sound much stronger and what the song needed from Sabbath. James is in top form here, with some impressive notes in the choruses. The main riff to
A National Acrobat does seem like it served as a direct inspiration to a key riff from
Fade to Black when you hear it with the Metallica tone too. Such a banger!
Turn the Page, originally by Bob Seger and his Silver Bullet Band on the
Back in ‘72 album, is a perfect example of example of what Lars was saying about taking a song and making it a Metallica song. While the original song is very good, Metallica’s version is something else entirely. Kirk replaces the saxophone melody with slide guitar, and the whole thing is just taken to a different level with the infusion of Metallica’s style from the
Load era. James sings this with such a soul to his performance that it feels he could’ve written these lyrics himself. I believe he said in one of the interview clips from the 40th Anniversary shows that “
Turn the Page could've been written for us, it’s the story of our lives!”. While it’s not one of my favourite Metallica covers, it’s definitely one that’s worth a listen. This was one of the three singles released from
Garage Inc. and it reached number 1 on the Mainstream Rock Charts for 11 consecutive weeks.
Up next is a much more simple song,
Die Die My Darling by The Misfits. This one doesn’t really have much to say about it. This has a very A/B structure to it that doesn’t really change. Once you’ve heard a third of the song, you’ve pretty much heard it all. James’ voice is what carries it all as the riff is very simple. It’s a cool enough song, but I really gotta be in the right mood to take this one onboard.
Well, let’s get into a weirder choice here.
Loverman, by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Man, this one is different. They try to stay true to the original quite a bit here and it does feel like a very good cover of the song, but I just find it to be an odd choice. It’s a great display of James’ vocal range, for sure, but this song just doesn’t work for me at all. I find it very skippable. It’s way longer than it needs to be. I do really like Jason’s bass tone in a lot of spots here though. The ending with the synth is pretty cool though.
Still, if
Loverman is the price of admission for the next song though, I’ll take it for
Mercyful Fate. This is an 11 minute medley of four songs from Mercyful Fate’s
Melissa album and a fifth from their self-titled EP, being
Satan’s Fall,
Curse of the Pharaohs,
A Corpse Without Soul,
Into the Coven and
Evil. Holy shit. Straight off the bat, this is straight up awesomeness. Amazing riffs, great vocals featuring Jason and Kirk backups, fantastic drumming and killer solos! Man,
Mercyful Fate is easily Metallica’s best cover as the mastery of this medley is a composition unto it’s own. The transitions between songs hit so naturally while defining the start and end points for each song. Nothing feels forced or lazy, it all feels like it’s always been there and simply spliced together. Even points where songs are married by a sustained note serve to only build dramatic tension, as can be felt in the intro to
Into the Coven. If Metallica want to do something very special on M72, I hope they consider digging this one out live. Easily the standout track from the first disc of
Garage Inc. Following that behemoth is my second favourite cover from this disc,
Astronomy by Blue Oyster Cult (surprise, they did more than
Don’t Fear the Reaper!). This has such an atmospheric build to it during the first few verses before coming in with one of the coolest transitions into the heavier sections! It’s a full on harmony section and it’s not the only one there is either. Vocal harmonies and group chants, thick heavy layers of guitars and some of Kirk’s best soloing for the first disc. There are even some moments that feel particularly progressive. Kt’s hard to put into words just how much I like this one, or why, but this has always been a favourite for me.
Whiskey in the Jar. Man, what a great cover! It’s nit often you get a track where it’s a full James lead, but we’ve got it here. Man, James’ lead tone here absolutely rocks. This is another song that just really fits the Metallica wheelhouse like a glove. I’d say for many that this would likely be the ultimate version and I’d be amongst them. James’ solo is absolutely a highlight, but I also want to highlight the vocal harmonies in the third verse. I love how nice they sound. I love Lars’ groove in the choruses with such a cool feel when he goes to the rack toms. This is my third favourite, but I’m sure it would be right up top for most listeners. This was also released as a single, it went to number one on the Rock and Metal chart in the Us and actually won a Grammy for best hard rock performance in 2000 (the single was released in February of 1999). It’s a cover of a cover, with Metallica taking inspiration directly from Thin Lizzy’s cover years earlier, but they still found a way to make it their own.
Tuesday’s Gone is the only song on this disc to not have been recorded in those 3 weeks in 1998. Rather, this one comes from a particularly special radio broadcast from December of 1997. On this broadcast, Metallica were joined by a wealth of guest musicians including Pepper Keenan, Jerry Cantrell, Jim Martin, John Popper, Les Claypool and Gary Rossington. During the performance, everyone got together to play this classic Lynard Skynard track and have a bit of an extended jam on it. While I feel the track is maybe a little long, I’m really glad it’s here for the diehard fans to listen to, but I find the original Lynard Skynard version a lot more digestible. You can tell they kinda run outta ideas vocally after a while, they I do like the little bit of them singing the chorus of Free Bird for a little bit. Cool to have the jam, but I just don’t come back to this all that often, even though I’ve been covering the song in my own setlists for a little while now.
The final track of this disc is
The More I See, originally written by Discharge. The original song is a quick paced punky number, where Metallica have taken it’s simple origin and turned it into a real heavy bastard of a song. I’m kinda surprised that the original band weren’t a bit more like Black Sabbath from what Metallica did to this song. Metallica’s cover is based upon the extended version with the opening drum fill and elongated intro. I like this one a lot. It’s a good heavy jam to end off with, and going back to that punky sound to end off with kinda brings it a title full circle to
Free Speech in my opinion. We end off with what a call a “turn tape over” kind of jam, which is just a rather atmospheric jam. It’s actually a really nice touch, which reminds me of the
Run to the Hills jam at the end of the
$5.98 EP, just this one was done right! I’ve since found out this is a jam of
Bridge of Sighs by Robin Trower, but I always thought this was an impromptu jam.
And that’s the first disc of
Garage Inc.! There’s still a lot more to talk about though, so come back tomorrow for a look at disc two, which acts as more of a compilation than a new album. I used to think that this wasn’t peak Metallica and rather just a “we’re keeping the ball rolling” kind of release. Damn, was I wrong. This disc holds some of James’ best vocal performances of all time and some classic tunes that many people now associate with Metallica! The guitar tones are a great evolution from
Load, though still with the same kind of mixing which sounds straight out awesome.
Since it would be unfair for me to score this as a Metallica album, being that it’s not their material, what I’ll do instead is rank these tunes from favourite to least from this disc.
Mercyful Fate,
Astronomy,
Whiskey in the Jar,
Turn the Page,
Sabbra Cadabra,
It’s Electric,
The More I See,
Die Die My Darling,
Tuesday’s Gone,
Free Speech for the Dumb,
Loverman.
Catch ya tomorrow.