Categories : Hard Rock + Metal, Music Reviews.
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Rating: 3/5 Released: December 5, 2006 Reviewer: Trent McMartin |
According to Metallica’s website, the band has been getting requests for years to release all their promotional videos in “a format that you can take home to your living room.†And now, finally, the band has – right in time for the holidays. On The Videos: 1989-2004, every single video the group has made is here. From the memorable ‘One’ and its war filled imagery to all the videos off the mega-selling Metallica or “Black Album†as fans call it, right up to their last studio record, 2003’s St. Anger.
Hardcore Metallica fans are going to salivate when they here this DVD compilation features the very rare 1989 home video release ’2 of One,’ which contains an interview with drummer Lars Ulrich and the “Jammin’ Version†of ‘One.’ It’s the first time this home video collection has ever been on DVD.
Other extras featured are ‘The Unforgiven’ theatrical version and the Some Kind Of Monster film trailer. But probably the biggest bonus to this collection is the inclusion of the video for ‘Mama Said,’ which never was played in North America or according to the band’s website, “maybe not even anywhere in the world.†The lack of airplay is odd especially since the other singles/videos off the Load album – ‘Until it Sleeps,’ ‘Hero of the Day,’ and ‘King Nothing,’ were everywhere at the time. This was the age of post-grunge rock and Metallica were in their alternative, lollapalooza-headlining, short hair phase.
Which undeniably is one of the problems with this collection. Even though it contains all of the videos made by the metal legends, the first –and better – half of their career isn’t represented other than the aforementioned inclusion of ‘One.’ Of course, if you don’t make videos then they can’t be released, but maybe if the DVD included extras containing snippets of their live show circa 1987, the Master of Puppets era, then this compilation could be improved.
The Videos: 1989-2004 is just a videos only compilation and it delivers what it promises. Maybe someday an extensive concert DVD will hit shelves exclusively featuring the group’s rarely documented early career. But until then fans are just going to have to settle for the glossy, non-threatening, shorthaired Metallica.
