Metallica - "Six Feet Down Under" (Part II) CD Review

After the somewhat dodgy "Six Feet Down Under" (Part I) release, Metallica have redeemed themselves with a new eight song, 55 minute, live recording from band's Sept./Oct. tour of Australia and New Zealand.

On this recent tour, the band's set was running just over two hours so this "EP" captures about half the set and gives a good indication of what Metallica's current live show sounds like. The band sounds energized and in top-form. This recording is from the soundboard (thankfully) and the songs are all drawn from Metallica's early (pre-Black Album) albums.

Here is the track list:

"Blackened" - Recorded live on October 16, 2010, at the Brisbane Entertainment Center, in Brisbane, Australia
(from 1988's ...And Justice for All)

"Ride The Lightning" - Recorded live on October 14, 2010, at the Vector Arena, in Auckland, New Zealand
(from 1984's Ride The Lightning)

"The Four Horsemen" - Recorded live on September 18, 2010, at the Acer Arena, in Sydney, Australia
(from 1983's Kill 'Em All)

"Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" - Recorded live on September 15, 2010, at the Rod Laver Arena, in Melbourne, Australia
(from 1986's Master of Puppets)

"Master Of Puppets" - Recorded live on October 16, 2010, at the Brisbane Entertainment Center, in Brisbane, Australia
(from 1986's Master of Puppets)

"...And Justice For All" - Recorded live on October 18, 2010, at the Brisbane Entertainment Center, in Brisbane, Australia
(from 1988's ...And Justice for All)

"Fade To Black" - Recorded live on September 18, 2010, at the Acer Arena, in Sydney, Australia
(from 1984's Ride The Lightning)

"Damage, Inc." - Recorded live on September 22, 2010, at the CBS Canterbury Arena, in Christchurch, New Zealand
(from 1986's Master of Puppets)

Similar to "Six Feet Down Under" (Part I), this new disc is only available as an import but it is pretty easy to track down ($15.99 through Metallica's online store). Long-time Metallica fans are going to want to have this disc in their collection.

Links:
Metallica

Andy Shauf: Live Video from Roots Cafe, Brooklyn, NY 9-17-10

Andy Shauf just finished a month-long US tour with Lauris Vidal and I caught the tour at the free pass-the-hat show at Roots Cafe in Brooklyn. Given the subtlety intimacy of Andy's songs, I was pleasantly surprised to witness how well the songs came across in a live setting. Roots Cafe is fairly small in size so Andy's songs and direct conversations with the audience made the show feel more like a house party with a group of friends than a 'traditional' concert.

Here are the last two songs from Andy's set:



Andy's new EP, "Waiting for the Sun to Leave", is out this Tuesday, Sept. 28th and the disc contains studio recording of songs that have been a part of Andy's live set for the last few years. "It’s 8 songs that are sort of old. Newer than Darker Days, but older than… brand new." (from Andy's blog)

Links:
Andy Shauf

John Wetton - Agenda/Amorata/Amata CD/DVD Review (Metal Mind)

This is a limited edition (ltd to 1,000 copies) 2CD/1DVD box set that compiles two live shows that John Wetton recorded in Poland in 2003. Recently, I've approached the slew of John Wetton live CDs with some trepidation as I've gotten a few 'bum' ones (Hazy Monet, Live at XM Satellite Radio) but this set is a real gem. Both shows are soundboard recordings and Wetton sounds in excellent form, both with a full band (Agenda/Amorata) and on his near solo acoustic performance (Amata).

Agenda and Amorata are a CD/DVD set from a show that was recorded live in front of a sizable crowd in Poland in April 2003. The 75+ minute set spans material across Wetton's career and includes songs from King Crimson, UK, Asia and John's solo work. John has grown into his 'elder statesman of rock' role and looks like he is enjoying himself throughout this show. His band is quite top-notch and includes John Mitchell (from Arena) on guitar and Martin Orford (from IQ) on keyboards and flute. The band adds some new life to John's back catalog and does a wonderful job reinterpreting some of the old UK classics. The disc includes great versions of UK's "In the Dead of Night", "Easy Money" and "Rendezvous 602". The set was filmed with multiple cameras and a nice job was done in the editing booth to showcase each of the members of the band. On a related and interesting note, the DVD includes a bonus interview with John Wetton and, while John's candor is fascinating, the video bumps and moves like a hand-held audience bootleg.

Amata was also recorded in Poland during the same April 2003 tour. This is an acoustic performance which features John on vocals and acoustic guitar, Martin Orford on keyboards and backing vocals and John Mitchell on guitar and backing vocals. This set is a bit shorter than the electric set on Amorata and runs for about 40 minutes. The eleven track set starts with two instrumental pieces ("The Circle of St. Giles" and "Mondrago") before going into King Crimson, Asia and solo material. Unlike the electric set, the focus of this performance is John's clear voice and guitar playing. There is a lot of overlap in material between the acoustic and electric sets but the renditions of the songs are completely different so neither feels like a re-hash of the other. Amorata also includes a few more songs from John's solo releases along with a version of King Crimson's "Night Watch".

I don't know what it is about John Wetton and Poland but, next month, John is reuniting with Eddie Jobson for three shows in Poland under the banner of UK's 30th Anniversary. The shows are taking place:
November 3rd--Krakow, Studio Club
November 4th--Warsaw, Palladium
November 5th--Bydgoszcz, Philharmonic Hall

Links:
John Wetton

Graham Nash Visits The 4Fives of PS 58 in Brooklyn (June 19, 09)

On Friday, June 19, guitarist, singer and songwriter extraordinaire, Graham Nash visited a very special class at PS 58 in Brooklyn. Mr. Nash, his lovely and thoughtful wife, Susan, his fascinating friend Billy and his 2 sons, Jackson and Will, took time out of their busy schedules to visit the 4Fives, Brooklyn's first positivity blogging team. Positivity blogging is a new internet trend, where every post, every word, every idea on ones site is positive. With an emphasis on manners and generosity, positivity blogging makes it easy for students to connect with other student bloggers, and the more people happily sharing the things they love and linking together, the greater the strength and flexibility of the network. I could talk forever about the 4Fives and their amazing teacher, Bee Ladd, but for the best information, check out their blog (http://the4five.wordpress.com). For an insightful description of the class, start with this post (http://the4five.wordpress.com/2009/04/).



Mr. Nash and family came to the school to talk with the students, celebrate what they have accomplished and, to the great fortunte of all present, sing 2 songs. The visit was arranged by son Jackson of SuperForest fame. Check out Jackson's amazing blog (http://www.superforest.org/) for more information on Jackson's work.

The Nash family is so incredibly unassuming and generous - they set the bar high for positiveness that other famous people hopefully aspire to. They arrived around noon and mingled with the students from the 4Fives class and the handful of very lucky school personnel in attendance. The students ate their lunch and just enjoyed the casual conversation. Once everyone was full, the students moved to the rug and spent quite awhile asking the very thoughtful questions they had prepared for this occassion. (A few of the questions and answers are included in the video.) Mr. Nash then brought out his guitar and performed Teach Your Children (check out the video for this amazing performance, including the sound of the passing truck). Jackson harmonized on this song with his dad (check out www.superforest.org for Jackson's comments on singing with his dad) to create a beautiful sound.

Co-founded by NYC educator Bee Ladd and Enviro-blogger Jackson Nash, the 4Fives blogging experiment is a pilot program for their education initiative, the SuperForest Seedlings. SuperForest Seedlings is a teaching curriculum for the post-racial, class-blind, internet age. It is a training course in flexible thinking, focused curiousity, and hands-on technology exploration, with a focus on having fun.

Posted by Guest Blogger - MM

AC/DC Live: RockBand Track Pack Review (XBOX 360)

AC/DC Live RockBand Track Pack is a fun run-through of the band's 1991 concert at the Castle Donington Festival (note: this is the same concert that was released on DVD in 2007). The band was touring on the Razor's Edge CD at the time and their 18-song set is a nice mix of (then) current and Bon Scott-era material. As this show was professionally filmed, the sound quality of the set is excellent.

Here is the tracklist for the set:
01) "Thunderstruck"
02) "Shoot to Thrill"
03) "Back in Black"
04) "Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be"
05) "Heatseeker"
06) "Fire Your Guns"
07) "Jailbreak"
08) "The Jack"
09) "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"
10) "Moneytalks"
11) "Hells Bells"
12) "High Voltage"
13) "Whole Lotta Rosie"
14) "You Shook Me All Night Long"
15) "T.N.T."
16) "Let There Be Rock"
17) "Highway To Hell"
18) "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)"

Like the new AC/DC CD, Black Ice, this Track Pack disc is sold only as a stand-alone through Wal-Mart. The game can be played outside of RockBand but I would suspect that most people will import the songs into RockBand (for which there is a download code inside the package). As a stand-alone game, the functionality is somewhat similar to RockBand I and there is limited functionality available outside of being able to play the concert straight-through using the pre-generated band characters. While the tunes themselves can be a workout, you are going to need to import the songs into RockBand for World Tour, online play and to customize and equip the characters.

If you are an AC/DC fan, this game becomes a "must have". My only complaint is that I would have liked to have seen the band's likenesses used for the characters.