This review originally appeared at Green Man Review and has been revised for publication here.
As I was a-goin’ over Gilgarra Mountain
I spied Colonel Farrell, and his money he was countin’.
First I drew my pistols and then I drew my rapier,
Sayin’ “Stand and deliver, for I am your bold deceiver.”
Musha ringum duram da,Whack fol the daddy-o,
Whack fol the daddy-o,
There’s whiskey in the jar.
Spike’s helping me clean up the Estate music library this very, very rainy afternoon as it’s rather quiet this afternoon in the Pub.
One minute… No, Spike, don’t throw out that CD! Yes, I know it’s by a well-known metal group, but it actually fits the Sleeping Hedgehog — while it’s got a cover of ‘Whiskey in the Jar’ that’s among the best I’ve ever heard, no one will ever argue that Metallica is anything but a metal band. Now we have sort of reviewed this group’s music before, as Mia Nutick did a smashing review of Apocalyptica’s Apocalyptica Plays Metallica By Four Cellos. So let’s look at this CD.
Metallica would belong in some urban fantasy novel if it wasn’t real; not that ‘reality’ should be a hindrance as the Celtic rock band Tempest was in a Mercedes Lackey novel that’s still unreleased, and there are several staffers who, when wearing their War for the Oaks tour shirts, have been told that folks saw the fictional Eddi and the Fey band in the early 80s when they lived in Minneapolis! Reality is, as always, somewhat up for debate, i.e. Emma Bull who played the Summer Queen in the War for the Oaks movie trailer was once the Summer Queen here. Really. Truly.
But Metallica is quite real (I think). One of the better Metallica sites has this bio of the group:
In the summer of 1981, Lars Ulrich secured a deal to record a track for the Metal Blade compilation Metal Massacre. Due to the fact that he didn’t yet have a band, he quickly began contacting people. Metallica formed shortly thereafter in 1982. A demo-tape, entitled No Life ‘Til Leather, raced through the international underground tape-trading network and quickly landed the band a recording contract with Megaforce Records, who released Kill ‘Em All. Their determination to do things their way and make the music they wanted to make saw a loyal following grow rapidly. Elektra Records saw the giant within and signed Metallica in 1984. Their first major label release Ride The Lightning enjoyed massive attention globally. After the “Day On The Green” at Oakland Stadium and the British Castle Donington festival in 1985, and the 1986 release of Master Of Puppets and their subsequent 6 month U.S. arena tour with Ozzy Osbourne, the band broke wide open, their U.S. popularity soaring to dizzying new heights. …And Justice for All, released in 1988, sparked multi-platinum sales in the U.S. alone, as well as 18 months of sold out shows. With 1991′s Metallica, the massive tour which followed it, and the revolutionary stadium headline festivals with Guns N’ Roses; Metallica established themselves as one of the world’s biggest bands. The Metallica album (produced by Bob Rock) has sold over 12 million copies worldwide. Kill ‘Em All, Ride The Lightning, Master Of Puppets, and …And Justice For All are also all international multi-platinum sellers. Even their 1987 EP Garage Days Re-Revisited (1987) sold over 3 million copies worldwide. And, they have two international platinum-plus video releases, Cliff ‘Em All (1987) and A Year And A Half In The Life Of Metallica (1992). Metallica also won three consecutive Grammy Awards in 1989, ’90, and ’91.
So the question at hand is how the frell did a metal band end up covering ‘Whiskey in the Jar’? (Yes, Spike — it’s bloody good, and you can play it again if you like, but make sure Maggie’s outside as she’s far too likely to hurt herself by flying into a closed window while listening to it!) Possibly by listening to the Thin Lizzy or Seven Nations covers of it, but possibly not. Let’s see if the liner notes give a clue… Ahhh, it was Thin Lizzy that inspired them as it says their version was ‘originally released by Thin Lizzy in 1972 as a UK single from the album Garage, INC.‘ Spike, dig out that copy of the 7″ incher Thin Lizzy did of ‘Whiskey in the Jar’/'Black boys in the Corner’.
Ouch. That’s awful. Phil Lynott’s frelling horrid on this song, and the instruments ain’t any better. You can’t blame it on the time — Fairport did Liege and Lief around that time, and Steeleye did more great folk rock than I care to list here. It just sucks, period. In contrast, James Hetfield — go look at a picture of him to see why he belongs in an urban fantasy novel, preferably as an Unseelie Court prince — has a wonderfully full, deep-throated roar of a voice. I’ve heard more covers of ‘Whiskey in the Jar’ than I can possibly ever ‘member, and this is by far the best of those I’ve heard. Thin Lizzy’s may be the worst short of some local bands that shouldn’t even be pretending to be musicians! As I said, Hetfield’s voice is just right, and Lars Ulrich’s drumming provides just the right driving tempo. Kirk Hammet (along with Hetfield on his axe) rounds out the ‘wall of sound’ these blokes do ever-so-well.
Spike likes it, Maggie our resident magpie loves it all too well, and even the blokes in the Neverending Session thinks it’s neat. So go buy a copy, crank it up very loud, and make sure the neighbours ain’t home. Oh, and do listen to the other two cuts on this EP which are taken from Metallica concerts (‘The Small Hours’ and ‘Killing Time’) as oddly ‘nough Bela Bartók would be proud of how they sound.
(Metallica, 1999)
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