Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony: S&M (1999)

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

There has been a handful of rock bands that decided to make a whole live album with a symphony orchestra, and Metallica is without much doubt the most heavy of them all to do so. I think that they made this album to support the release of their Load/Re-Load albums, which has obviously been a very great decision. The orchestra plays a very beautiful show and the cooperation between Michael Kamen and the 'Tallicaboys is terrific and one would be a fool to deny that Metal and Classical music have a lot in common. Hetfield, probably especially for this show, adapted a very warm and clean voice that neatly fit in between the riffs, drums, bass lines, but also the orchestra. The set list was obviously made with a lot of measuring in what would be good songs to combine with an orchestra, and which would not be. They have done an amazing job.The sound is simply perfect. The melancholic sound of the orchestra that plays beautiful music in the background hits the spot in combination with the raw and yet so musically rich sound of Metallica.This concert is the product of the coming together of two very different and yet similar musical worlds. And this concert, same as the Metallica's predecessors in this experimental thing, proves that it works. It is great for both fans of classical music as die hard heavy metal fans. There are several options on the DVD: You can either mute the orchestra, or the band, in 2.1 audio quality. But you can, and should, leave them both on and enjoy this eargasmical (excuse me) music fest in all its glory, for both Heavy Metal and Classical Music are eternal, so what would this concert be?10/10. Highly recommended to anyone that's into rock/metal/hard rock and/or classical music.

I don't know who or what ever gave Metallica the idea to "rework" their songs with an orchestra. Needless to say the (arguably) greatest thrash band of all time lost whatever credibility they had left with this album. Mediocre songs like "Of wolf and man" get a new sound with the classical addition hardly doing the song any justice. I might be totally illiterate musically, but hardly anything added to the songs by the orchestra is even remotely interesting. In fact it seems the band and the orchestra are playing different songs altogether all the time. As an old fan of Metallica this hurts. I can't help to think the wrong songs got picked for this venture too. For instance "Fade to Black" or "Creeping Death" would sound a million times better than "Sad but true" with a classical arrangement. I can accept that Metallica isn't a thrash band anymore. I'm not stupid though. An album like this won't renew my interest in Metallica. While the whole setup and idea is laudable, it is altogether too poorly executed to be considered "great". I would go as far as to state it takes a lot of goodwill to like this effort. I've only read glowing reviews on this site. Maybe I'm the musical fool, but this stuff doesn't sound right. None of the additions do Metallica justice (no pun intended). I'm sorry, but as a thrash fan I can only frown on this effort as it reminds me of what Metallica was and could have been.

Many people will most probably ask a question like "why would anyone want to comment something that has been issued five years ago and has not been a topic of discussion for a long time?" The previous comment that I have found gave me a motive. To be honest, I find this show to be one of the best ones that I've seen in years. Metallica is a great rock band and no comparisons to the older bands like Pink Floyd (which is also one of my favorites) will be needed. They have been developing their own style through the years and made the heavy-metal music popular. I don't want to be understood like a die-hard fan, because I'm not, but making a concert with a symphony orchestra gave their music a new dimension, and made it even more honest in it's dark ways. This is a masterpiece and it is not a purely commercial project, as the undirected people will rate it. Listen or watch the concert without any prejudices and you will find nothing wrong about it, you will most probably enjoy it. Since I'm already here and snce I posted a comment about "S&M", I also must point out that their new album "St. Anger" is a pure disappointment. So, in my opinion, this is also to be considered (at least by me) as something like the very last good thing they've done until this point.

Well What to say, Combine the biggest Heavy Metal band the world has ever seen with the power of an orchestra and you get one hell of a ride. Now I must say that I am a very Big fan of Metallica so This may be biased.>The orchestra fits in well with the power of Metallica, coming to the fore in crucial moments and fading into the background when Hammet's pounding riffs come into the fray.The two new songs are both great and it is a shame the most will never hear how they sound with out the symphony backing them up. All of the classics are here and as always are a pleasure to listen to.The DVD contains many extras including a documentary on the making of S & M as well as the ability to change cameras at will. This is a MUST have for any Metallica fan and a great rental for any music fan at all.10/10 (7/10 for non metallica fans)