Oxymoron - a phrase in which two words of contradictory meaning are used together for special effect
So what happens when one of the pioneers of heave metal music and one of the world’s best name in western classical music combine ? No hard core heavy metal / rock fan would want to be caught dead in a symphony concert. Least of all, The 80 piece San Francisco Symphony. Like wise, Vice versa.
But music, by and large, knows no boundaries. This was the first true fusion of 2 vastly different musical geniuses combining and producing one of the world’s most mind bogling 145 minutes of music.
Let me brief you on Both Metallica and The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.
Metallica – James Hetfield(Vocals; Rhythm and Bass Guitars), Lars Ulrich(Drums) and Lloyd grant (Lead guitar) formed the group way back in the mid summer of 1981 with the first concert in California. There were many changes in the group but Hetfield has been since day one. Highly influenced by such metal greats like Judas Priest and The Who, Metallica produced one great albums after the other. Their compilations included some amazing music in One, Motorbreath, Enter Sandman, Nothing Else Matters, Unforgiven, The call of Ktulu, From Whom the belles toll and loads of others. For many Metallica were arrogant, rowdy, anti Christ metal band out there only to pollute young minds. But for hard core rockers/Metalheads they were nothing sort of demi-gods who actually sang what they felt.
The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra - One of the most respected orchestra which has been around since its formation in 1911. The San Francisco Symphony makes regular tours of the United States, Europe and Asia, and their concerts are broadcast weekly by numerous radio stations worldwide.
When the proposition was kept of combining the musical geniuses of the 2 groups, The San Francisco Orchestra was very hesitant of having their names linked with a total anti thesis of themselves, but how wrong they proved. In April 1999 when the 2 set disc was out for sale, it was one of the highest selling albums of the year. At no point of time during the making did any one group try to outdo the other. The San Francisco Orchestra Symphony had its presence felt as equal to that of Metallica. Metallica, hence proved that it has matured from the rowdy, rough image it had formed for itself.
I will not go in to the details of the sons as all of them are from Some Metallica Album or the other. This is a 2 CD music set. I was fortunate to get this as a surprise birthday gift from my very close friends and it costed them a bomb. The price for the combined 2 CD pack was, as on 6 May, 2005, Rs 790 Only. But believe me, its much more worth that price.
Disc 1
1) The Ecstasy of Gold
2) The Call Of Ktulu
3) Master of Puppets
4) Of Wolf and Man
5) The Thing that should not be
6) Fuel
7) The Memory Remains
8) No Leaf Clover
9) Hero of the Day
10) Devil’s Dance
11) Bleeding Me
Disc 2
1) Nothing Else Matters
2) Until It Sleeps
3) For Whom The Bell Tolls
4) Human
5) Wherever I may Roam
6) Outlaw Torn
7) Sad But True
8) One
9) Enter Sandman
10) Battery
My favorites are Enter Sandman, One, Nothing Else Matters, The Call Of Ktulu and Master Of Puppets.
The icing on the cake came When The Call of Ktulu won the 1999 Grammy for The Best Rock Instrumental Performance of the year.
This is a must buy for all people who are even remotely interested in Rock or Heavy Metal.
PS – I would like to thank IMDB.com and theofficial websote of wikipedia for all the valuable inputs that I could gather. Most of all, I would like to immensly thank 2 of my very close friends, Subramanian “Subbu” Shankar and hemant “Pappu” Shetty for introducing me to rock music.
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