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CD: Metallica - Live Shit: Binge & Purge Released: 1993
Reviewed By: Dave Elder (FaceInTheSky) Rating: (3.5/5)

 

Live Shit (CD's) was recorded in Mexico City, February 25, 26, 27 and March 1, 2, all to record a live album so you know there is a lot of cut and pasting going on with these songs so they can get rid of all the mistakes made and turn out a close to flawless live album.

Disc One:
The show starts out with the theme from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly before going into getting into Enter Sandman, which was a really great song before MTV and radio played the hell out of it...and radio still plays the hell out of it. But ignoring the overplay of the song this version is really good and the sounds of the fire works going off during the beginning (right before the song kicks in) and hearing them again after the child's prayer is really cool to hear and just sit back and imaging seeing it. "You ready my friends?! Creeping Death-ah!" Yep, James really says death-ah at the bingeing of "Creeping Death" This was one of the first sings that James really needs to shut up in-between songs. Now instead of "death-ah!" we got a few "yeah babies!" during a live show. Another thing James likes to do, which any Metallica fan already knows is he likes to say 'fuck' for really no reason at all. Though most bands like to do that and I don't know about you, but I see no mother fucking point to it. err..opps, I mean no point to it. Disc One also contains "Harvester of Sorrow," "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)," "Sad But True," "Of Wolf And Man," I loved hearing this song live! and "The Unforgiving" before it gets to a dreaded medley. If you don't know what that is its just means that a band takes some of their best songs, and butcher them to make one big and long boring song. I really HATE these things. I get all excited to hear a song and a minute and a half into it it turns into a song I don't even care for, or even worse I get to hear 2 of my favorite songs cut in half! UGH! medleys need to go the way of the dodo. The songs in the medley is everything off Justice except One, Harvester and Dyers Eve. Then rounding out Disc One is a bass solo by Jason followed by one done by Kirk. With some talking to the crowed to get them more into it. Which is cool when you don't swear all the time. "Hail Satan if you please..mwhahahahaha"

Disc Two:
Disc Two kicks off with the boring "Through The Never" How this song made it to a live set is beyond me. It's pure filler and the riff is pretty much "Frayed Ends of Sanity." After that Metallica starts up "For Whom The Bell Tolls" which is a great song for the first 3 minutes of the song. Then it becomes a long and boring wind down. Then comes "Fade To Black" so right off the bat you get 3 songs that aren't that great. But hey, every live show needs a slow part so one can use the restrooms. What this? "Master of Puppets" is next?! Oh yeah! Disc Two is saved! the music hits and my head starts banging like mad, if this song doesn't get your head banging then what are you doing listening to metal? :P But wait, what's this? It's ending? It's only half way done! FUCK YOU METALLICA! I know earlier I said swearing out of nowhere is dumb, but this, in case you can't figure out, is a "fuck" where it needs to be. A band should NEVER cut short one of their best songs..make that one of the best songs in the history of metal. You NEVER DO THAT! After that comes "Seek & Destroy," but not the album version, but the live version which is 18 minutes long. They give Seek 18 minutes and Master only 5. Figure that one out! I know, I know, they do the whole crowd sing a long, but it drags on too much and if you are going to keep it that long just cut a song out of the live set, like say..oh I don't know.."Through The Never"? I mean, who actually likes that song? That's right, no one. The only thing makings Disc Two really worth listening is "Whiplash" which is even faster than the KEA version. Plus it has James and Jason switching off on vocals.

This is also the shortest of the 3 discs and is by far the most boring of the 3.

Disc 3:
This disc starts out with "Nothing Else Matters" which I have to admit to liking. I even liked the S&M version of the song. After that comes a long line of s/t songs and covers. "Wherever I May Roam" comes on and for once I am happy to hear it because after listening to Disc Two this song sounds better. "Am I Evil" comes next which is also cut short, but I'm not pissed about them doing that since I have always hated this song. I don't care how 'classic' the song is, for the most part it is boring to my ears. Oh boy, another cover song ("Last Caress") Fuck you Metallica if covering this song and even playing it live. Oh yes, here it is..One! I know some of you might hate this song by now, but I will always love this song. Just hearing it brings back memories of the video. The song and video are so dark, so heavy, so metal. The extended intro to the song makes it even better. Almost 2 minutes of extra bombs blasting and machine guns going off. \m/ Then there is a little messing around between the songs to give you a little bit of a break. like playing a little bit of "Metal Militia" and "Ride The Lightning" Damn it, those 2 songs have been in the set list instead of the cover songs! I hate cover songs! oh great, now Metallica are playing "So What" more cover songs! Ugh! At least this one isn't the full version, but it is still most of the song. All this messing around with cover songs is wasting time to play some stuff from their first 3 albums! But never fear, after that messing around comes "Battery"! Hell yeah! now I see why they did the break between songs. A persons neck might snap from all the headbanging. Then it gets even better when they bring out "Four Horsemen" another \m/ A Metallica show isn't/wasn't a Metallica show if this song wasn't played. If that wasn't enough they bring out another old song, "Motorbreath," which I must say isn't a favorite of mine, but it is a lot better than the stuff they have done since 1991. Then they break up the good times with "Stone Cold Crazy" How I loathe cover songs.

Wow, I can't believe I got through all of that! ha! All in all this is a good live album and the last Metallica album people should get. The 2nd disc is a lacking, but what is on the other 2 discs makes up for it. If they got rid of the cover songs, and added "Metal Militia," "Ride The Lightning," and let's say.."Jump In The Fire" (shut it, I like that song!) This live album would be so much better to own.

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