Metallica Album: “Live Sht: Binge & Purge [Box]”

I'd missed out on the chance to see Metallica live during this tour in support of the band's eponymous 'Black Album', so Live Sh*t: Binge & Purge is probably the closest I'll come.

This former boxed set is now available in two formats -- a double-CD case and a DVD-style longbox. As far as I can tell from their descriptions, the contents are the same, and typical of Metallica, they give you loads of material for a pretty good price -- three live CDs and two concert DVDs for only a little more than the price of two DVD movies.

The good points:

- The three live CDs span a broad range of songs from the band's history, rather than obsessively focusing on the Black Album.

The bad points:

Despite its shortcomings, this was the last major official release from Metallica before it entered its bitterly contested 'Load/Reload' phase, so as a document of the band's history, this set is invaluable.

Well, I've read through all of the other reviews, and I'm not sure that any of them except for the first even come close to doing this set, no pun intended, justice. First, I'll start off on the Seattle show, since it's the earliest dated. Great quality, excellent stage setup, and they make it fun by slightly altering the lyrics in some songs to make jokes, as in "Seek and Destroy". I personally liked this show a lot better than the others because it was released before the black album and has more of the classic stuff that they never play in full anymore (like Blackened and ...And Justice For All to name a few). Next, the San Diego show. Yes, James playing the drums was interesting, and to tell the truth, he isn't that bad at them. My guess is Lars gave him lessons sometime. Kirk Hammet gives some top-notch guitar solos, including one where he plays it with his butt. You read right, he takes the guitar, puts it behind him, and rubs the strings against his butt. The scary thing is, he actually makes it sound good, like he actually practiced doing that ahead of time. Lastly, the Mexico City show. 3 cds, the longest show in the set, but definitely worth listening to. My only complaint with the collection is how in the San Diego and Mexico city shows, how they cut "Master of Puppets" short, stopping before the guitar solo interlude. Aside from that, a complete masterpiece, showcasing how powerful of a live band Metallica really is. It also contains many of their forgotten classics that they don't play live anymore, such as Fade to Black, Last Caress, Blackened, and Whiplash. If you're a fan of the old Metallica, and for some reason don't already own this set, I highly urge you to buy it, although I recommend the dvd version only due to the fact that it's cheaper. And some of the complaints (pages falling out of the book) have been fixed; the entire book is under the special features in dvd disc 2. Either way, it's worth every last penny that you're spending.

Live Shit, is quite possibly the largest, grandest, and best live set ever released. I think this was Metallica's great triumph featuring all kinds of shit from the likes of ...And Justice for All, Master of Puppets, Ride the Lightning, Kill Em' All, and the Black Album. From the footage of the Damged Justice tour in Seattle to the other videos and CD's showcasing the Nowhere Else to Roam tour this is the true Metallica fans dream come true. And you get to draw some cool shit with the stencil and impress your friends with the replica snake pit pass on top of that!!!! And if that wasn't enough you can hear Jason Newstead singing on " Seak and Destroy" and witness James Hetfield's vulgar stage show!!!! As I said, a true Metallica fan's dream!

One word describes this release - HUGE! It comes in a huge box, shaped like a band's footlocker. There's a huge nine hours of music inside the box, including a huge triple CD live album and three video tapes of live footage, along with an old back stage pass, a book full of hundreds of pictures and Metallica related documents, and a scary guy stencil. Forget the videos and the packaging, let's concentrate on the live album.

Anyone who has ever seen Metallica can attest to how tight the band are as a live unit, and it shows. There's hardly a slip to be detected anywhere in the entire album. It's not a one shot demonstration of the band however, as it was gathered from five nights in Mexico in 1993. The breaks are hard to find though.

And how does Metallica rate live? A fan really could not ask for much more in a live album. A faithful journey through Metallica's first five albums, a few covers, reinterpretations of some older songs, an excellent showcase of the talents of the band members, James Hetfield's corny but friendly stage banter, and a big dose of plain old heavy metal.

Highlights: the insane reaction of audience members Hetfield grabs to help with singing Seek And Destroy; the addition of the unlisted So What?; Jason Newsted's vocals and the extra gear of Whiplash; Kirk Hammett hitting the solo to One almost note perfect; the near on religious rapture of the entire audience at hearing Metallica live.

One small criticism: the bass and guitar solos by Jason and Kirk both show their utter mastery of their respective instruments, and hold your attention throughout the almost 19 minute break, but why so long? Perhaps cut it back to 10 minutes and throw in another song, like "Fight Fire With Fire" or "Disposable Heroes" or "Leper Messiah".

Every fan of Metallica needs to hear this. It puts the stodgy, overblown orchestral theatrics of S&M firmly in its place. This is THE definitive Metallica live album. It really should have been given a wider release than this oversized shoebox.

This is a great set for any metal fan, especially a fan of Metallica. You get to watch Metallica at the height of their musical peak. The DVD in Seattle from the ...and justice for all tour is probably the best live DVD I have ever witnessed. The two live sets from the black album are great too. There are only two small things that bother me about this set.

A. on the live cd's, the songs do not start and stop where they should (it does not matter if you are listening to it through, but if you listen to one track at a time)

B. there are some tiny problems with the DVD; there are some parts where the color looks a little fuzzy-ish because of a glare and also there is a part or two where the audio volume swells down for a few seconds. The problems with it do not outweigh the awesomeness of it in any shape or form.