Released theatrically in September The
last time Metallica ventured into feature film territory, it was with 2003's
brilliant Some Kind Of Monster, which documented the near-implosion of metal's
biggest act amidst the chaos of personality clashes between band members and
the substance abuse problems of lead singer James Hetfield. This time around,
chaos remains very much a dominant theme in Metallica Through The Never,
the band's new IMAX 3-D feature directed by Nimród Antal that had its
world premiere last month at the Toronto International Film Festival. Metallica Through
The Never's first week of release saw it play exclusively on every IMAX screen
in North America before expanding wider to regular theatres, which had
never been done before. Metallica has a lengthy track record of taking
creative risks, with some turning out very good (their 1999 live collaboration
with the San Francisco Symphony documented on the S & M album/DVD)
and others not so much (2011's jawdroppingly crap Lulu album with Lou
Reed; read my scathing review of it here).
Metallica Through The Never isn't a Lulu-sized gamble, but it is one
nonetheless, given the poor commercial track record of theatrical releases from
rock acts over the decades and the film's ambitious structure of combining
Metallica playing live with a fictional narrative. Drummer Lars
Ulrich stated
earlier this year that the project took some inspiration from Led
Zeppelin's The Song Remains The Same film and that immediately raised my
eyebrow. I love Zeppelin and all, but that movie and its bizarre fantasy
sequences woven around an unremarkable live performance from the group was
nothing more than a pretentious bore, as far as I'm concerned. Sure enough, the
flimsy narrative element of Metallica Through The Never ends up dragging
the film down, resulting in an uneven cinematic experience that is only
redeemed by Metallica's live portions. The weak plot, conceived by Antal
and the band (rounded out by lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist
Rob Trujillo) draws partially from Metallica's lyrics and revolves around
a roadie named Trip (played by Dane DeHaan from Chronicle and the next two
Amazing Spider-Man movies) who is sent off on a mission during a Metallica
concert to retrieve a truck that has run out of gas. Inside that truck is
a mysterious bag that somehow is of great importance to the group. Perhaps, as
in KISS' classic KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park 70s TV movie, that
bag holds a box containing the talismans that give the band members their
special powers? Well, probably not, but maybe that'd explain Hetfield's
superhuman rhythm guitar skills. What is definite is that the idea is
ripped off from Pulp Fiction's mysterious briefcase. Trip's largely-narrative-free
mission takes him through numerous surreal scenarios set in a
mostly-deserted post-apocalyptic downtown Vancouver occupied by
anarchists, riot police, zombies, and masked horsemen. Not much of it
works, frankly. The only time the coupling between the band playing and the
story unfolding really feels right is during a riot scene interwoven with a performance
of "Cyanide". Hell, even Ulrich himself admits here that "I've
spent three years working on this movie and I don't have any idea what it
means." If the guy who helped write the script is admitting that then the
rest of us are pretty much screwed, too, no? What does work, and quite well, are Metallica's
live performances, shot specifically for the film with 24 cameras over five
nights in Vancouver and Edmonton a couple of summers ago. Their huge stage
occupies most of the arena floor area and employs specially rigged effects and props
that reference classic Metallica iconography. Ulrich fittingly refers to the
elaborate and versatile setup as the "Swiss Army knife of stages", as
white crosses pop up from beneath the stage, an electric chair with real bolts
of electricity shooting from Tesla coils descends from the lighting rig, a
collapsible statue of Lady Justice is assembled by stagehands as the band plays
around them, and the hanging coffins from the most recent World Magnetic Tour
display creepy visuals of people trapped inside them. The stage floor, which is
covered by video screen panels, is innovative, but not quite used to optimum
effect, other than the impressive visuals of flowing blood that "wash
over" the stage during opening song "Creeping Death". I really
wasn't blown away by how the 3-D was used in conjunction with the staging or
the rest of the content in the movie, especially considering the pre-release
hype about how much effort had been made to maximize the film's 3-D
effects. The band runs through a mostly-greatest hits
setlist that includes live staples "For Whom The Bell Tolls",
"Fuel", "One", "Master Of Puppets", "Enter
Sandman", "Wherever I May Roam", and "Nothing Else
Matters", while relatively less obvious songs like "Ride The
Lightning", "...And Justice For All", "Hit The
Lights", and an unexpected and first-rate version of the obscure
instrumental "Orion" over the end credits with the band seated and
playing in an empty arena also make an appearance. That old school
Metallica fan who thinks they've sucked since 1991's Black Album came
out would undoubtedly disagree, but to this longtime fan's ears the band has
never played better than they're playing at this point of their career and
Metallica Through The Never does a superb job of capturing that. And praise
be to Antal and editor Joe Hutshing for giving Metallica fans a filmed concert
production that doesn't overload the viewer with rapid-fire video editing,
unlike their other recent slew of home video releases. So while the narrative component is disjointed
and a slightly annoying interruption between scenes of Metallica doing what
they do best, as well as those live portions not being quite as immersive as
the experience I had watching U2's spectacular U23D live film, Metallica
Through The Never is still a must-see for fans. Between the big screen
presentation, phenomenal sound mix, and a properly loud volume level, it's
unquestionably the next best thing to attending an actual Metallica show. Rating:B Related Mediaboy Musings posts: December 2009 review
of Metallica's Francais Pour Une Nuit DVD, March 2012 review
of their Beyond Magnetic EP, and my review
from March of the band's Quebec Magnetic Blu-ray
Officially released in June (released early to pledgers in May) I suspect the names "Jimmy Gnecco" and "Ours", the name of the band he leads, will not register with most readers of this blog. Gnecco is one of my absolute favourite music artists and has been a woefully underappreciated talent throughout his career, which most recently saw the release of Ours album number four a few months back, Ballet The Boxer 1. Gnecco may usually operate under the banner of a band name (his first solo album, The Heart, was released under his own name in 2010), but he's always been the dominant creative force behind the outfit, not unlike the way Trent Reznor primarily works under the Nine Inch Nails name and calls nearly all the shots within that group. Since Ours' stellar debut release in 2001, Distorted Lullabies, Gnecco's musical output has rarely disappointed my ears, doling out a wide variety of sounds that are always highlighted by the singer's exceptionally dynamic and emotive voice that ranges from a beautiful falsetto to one of the best in key scream-singing abilities in rock.
For Ballet The Boxer 1 (the first part of a loosely concepted series of music that Gnecco cryptically discusses in this excellent recent interview with Music Vice), Ours abandoned their decade-long frustrating relationship with the major music label system and turned to crowdfunding platform PledgeMusic to finance their project. The campaign sailed well past its financial goal, receiving 1047 pledges that included incentives like autographed albums, getting your name in the album credits, Skype or iChat time with Gnecco, a private acoustic performance from Gnecco, spending a day with the band, and handwritten lyric sheets (not the originals) by Gnecco of any Ours song. I opted for the latter and it's a testament to my deep appreciation for Gnecco's music that even in the midst of a much longer than expected unemployment stretch that had really stretched my finances, I never balked at paying the $55 for a CD of the album when it was finished and Gnecco's handwritten lyrics to one of my favourite Ours songs ("Sometimes"). Unencumbered by the artistic compromises one must make under the major label system, Gnecco has stated that Ballet The Boxer 1 is Ours at their purest.
Quickly evident to Ours fans upon initial listens of Ballet The Boxer 1 is the dialled back production from its predecessor, 2008's magnificent Mercy (Dancing For The Death Of An Imaginary Enemy). Most noticeably, there are fewer multi-tracked guitars, as well as a little less of a presence from guitarist Static, who provides compelling sonic textures to Ours' sound. Still intact, however, is the trademark Gnecco intensity that permeates all but one song on the LP. The slow build, measured thump of album opener "Pretty Pain" is followed by the urgency of "Emergency", one of a handful of songs from Ballet The Boxer 1 that Gnecco brought with him to jam on with Velvet Revolver's Slash and Duff McKagan in 2011 during collaborations to see if Gnecco would be a good fit to replace the band's singer, Scott Weiland (Weiland's spot remains vacant). Another one of those songs is "Coming For You" and it's impossible while listening to it not to wonder what kind of touch Slash might have added to a Velvet Revolver version. That's not to diminish the version here, though - it's actually one of Ballet The Boxer 1's best tracks. The album's finest moment is "Sing", which beautifully alternates between buzzing guitar choruses and restrained verse sections, underpinned by a pulsing bass line and percussion that, at times, produces a rather locomotive-like sound. That effect fortifies the impact of the track's opening line (the song was written about Michael Jackson): "Don't throw yourself under the train/Control yourself some other way/And no more tears, it's time to let go/Sing for me, sing for me, sing for me". Also meriting mention are album closer "Fall Into My Hands" (with a lengthy instrumental outro), the mid-tempo "Boxer" (Gnecco's impassioned delivery of the opening lines "I'm not scared/Maybe that's the lie" gives me goosebumps every time I hear it), and "Devil", a hauntingly dark ballad that's as good a place as any to demonstrate what Ours is all about to the uninitiated. Getting back to that aforementioned "one song"..."Been Down" finds Gnecco going into full-on 70s soul music mode with a laid back track driven by a smooth bass line and high-in-the-mix drums, both played by the musician (Gnecco, whose main instrument in Ours is guitar, also played drums on all but one of the album's tracks). Because I'm not much of a fan of that style of music, and because it's such an anomaly compared to the rest of Ballet The Boxer 1's material, it took a good 20+ listens for me to embrace the song and finally appreciate its funky charm. The DIY approach, which also allowed Ours the freedom to do things like release different song mixes and make Ballet The Boxer 1 available to pledgers the day after mastering on the album was completed, seems to have served the group quite well this time around. This collection of songs arguably ranks as Ours' most consistently exceptional yet, with nary a weak track in the bunch. Moreso than just about any other artist I'm a fan of, Gnecco's music always leaves you with the feeling that the man has poured every ounce of his creative and emotional being into his work, which is one reason why his cult following is so loyal and also why we can't understand how it is the rest of the world hasn't similarly fallen in love with the songs of Jimmy Gnecco and Ours. Rating:A
Released in April Cinderella frontman Tom Keifer releases his first album of new music in nearly two decades with his debut solo effort, The Way Life Goes. Cinderella, one of the better outfits from the 80s hard rock scene, still tours, but has frustratingly failed to put out a single collection of new music since 1994's Still Climbing, which sunk without much of a trace in the midst of the shift in popularity from melodic heavy rock to grunge. While his style of music may have fallen out of favour, the biggest reason for Keifer's lack of musical production was due to ongoing vocal chord paralysis issues, which has resulted in six surgeries over the years. The Way Life Goes displays no signs of Keifer's health problems, though, with his vocals still sounding as raw and instantly recognizable as ever. The Way Life Goes was released on the independent Merovee Records, a subsidiary of David Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants, explaining the rather surprising musical appearance of Keifer back in June on Letterman's show to promote the album. The album adheres to the sound one expects from Keifer: hard rock with strong soul, country, and blues elements, with nods to the work of early Rod Stewart ("Ask Me Yesterday" and "The Flower Song"), Aerosmith (late 80s/early 90s Aerosmith on the paint-by-numbers power ballads "Thick And Thin" and "You Showed Me", and the earlier days of that band on the much better title track, "It's Not Enough", and "Welcome To My Mind"), and The Rolling Stones ("Cold Day In Hell" and the excellent "Babylon", featuring Stones sax man Bobby Keys...Cinderella are responsible, after all, for recording one of the best Stones-like tracks ever with 1990's "Shelter Me"). Keifer finds more of his own voice on the multiple-key-changes charmer "In A Different Light", as well as on album highlights "Mood Elevator" and "Solid Ground", which recall Cinderella's harder rocking material. The Way Life Goes isa cut above that "shadow of their former selves" quality that afflicts the vast majority of the post-mid 90s work of acts from the 80s hard rock scene. However, for an album with such a lengthy gestation period (it's been in the works since the 90s and recording began on it a decade ago), Keifer's latest ultimately left this listener a little underwhelmed. Rating:C+ Apropos of nothing...I recently recounted to someone a story involving Keifer that remains one of the stranger things I've seen at the many concerts I've attended in my life and figured I'd share it here. Somewhere around a decade ago, I was at a summer show at Toronto's Molson Amphitheatre featuring a few 80s hard rock bands, including Cinderella. As the group played their huge power ballad "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)", some jackass in the first few rows of the audience tossed a full (and expensive) beer onstage and doused Keifer, who was playing and singing at a piano at the front of the stage. Obviously startled, Keifer kept his composure and continued playing without missing a sung word, waiting until the guitar solo to rise from his piano bench and call out the culprit, who had immediately been pointed out to the singer and security by irate fans in the same section. Instant frontier justice was then satisfyingly exacted, as the idiot was peppered with punches to the head from a number of fans as he was dragged out by security guards, all while Cinderella continued playing. That incident represents the single best moment of "grace under pressure" by a performing musician that I've ever witnessed.
Released theatrically in September
