Album Rating: 5.0

Knowing Eg he probably said that in jest too... still a cool discussion tho none the less



I've always thought Kirk's strength as a soloist was the his composition. He has a ton of iconic solos for someone who didn't revolutionize the instrument, and I don't think that iconoclasm can be attributed to Metallica's popularity alone, if anything they were part of what made Metallica so popular in the first place. (This is obviously assuming Kirk wrote his solos as opposed to the band's engineer just piecing together snippets of Kirk improvisations).

Album Rating: 4.5

Nah, I don't think the sound engineer pierced the pieces together. I think that was Kirk playing his solos. In fact, I've never heard that actual idea before tbh. Personally, I would hate having my solos being glued like that to an album. And an engineer is not a musician. He cannot passively glue pieces of music together to make them work in the context of a song.

It's not practical for financial reasons too. What's the point of having a musician who needs engineering assistance to write his own music?



"He has a ton of iconic solos"



that i think too, his solos are memorable and have finesse (for my taste at least)

Album Rating: 5.0

Yeah I don’t think it existed back in the 80s, and I don’t think bands with Kirk/James caliber players do it either... but less experienced/not as good players totally get it done to them whether they know it or not. Prob also happens to the dudes who were heavy into drugs/alcohol. I took a music technology class (which was basically pro tools 101) my first semester at college, and the professor (who was a producer/engineer by trade but taught classes to make ends meet I guess) swore up and down that most guitar players he’s worked with literally just wank away until they finally play something that (the player) thinks sounds good, and that very rarely do players come in with pre-written solos ready to go. He said once they left he would go in and piece together the best parts of the improvisations to make their solos for them. He said most of them don’t even realize it.

Album Rating: 4.5

very interesting and cool information the one you just shared ;)



i'm sure a lot of things happen inside a studio, we just never learn it, but i doubt that would happen in a band of metallica's caliber



"most guitar players he’s worked with literally just wank away until they finally play something that (the player) thinks sounds good"



That is often the case with esteemed guitarists as well. Kirk is a prime example, his recordings of the Unforgiven solo are on YouTube for every one to see. His solos are just plain and simple mediocre, then Bob starts consulting Kirk about getting it done. Having never seen anyone telling him straight to his face that he sucks, a butt-hurted Hammett becomes serious and plays the solo that goes on the record.

Album Rating: 5.0

Yeah I learned a lot in that class but it totally shat on a lot of my pre-conceived notions of what goes on in the studio and made me kinda hate music for a little bit. Like James may not have just stepped in the booth and sung the Enter Sandman chorus exactly the way we hear it on the album... it could be parts of eight different takes meticulously pieced together for all we know (not to mention pitch correction).



And I've seen that video haha. People really underestimate the influence producers have on artists in the studio. Bob Rock, Flemming Rasmussen, etc. were pretty much the fifth members of Metallica during their stints producing them.

Album Rating: 4.5

"it could be parts of eight different takes meticulously pieced together for all we know (not to mention pitch correction)"



that's why I've always supported the fact that a live concert is probably the only good indicator we have to determine whether a band knows their shit or not

Album Rating: 5.0

Even that's starting to become less and less true. I saw Periphery a few months ago before all the coronavirus stuff started. They no longer have a bass player that tours with them, and one of their three(!) guitarists was absent from the tour due to "personal reasons". It didn't even matter that they weren't there, they just played the isolated bass tracks and those particular guitar tracks from the records through the PA. Was still fun but it felt more like a listening party than a true live performance.

Album Rating: 4.5

then what does that leave us with?

Album Rating: 5.0

All that's left is too wait for our AI overlords to perfect their algorithms and turn the music industry into a real world-2112 tbqh.



Here's Jay-Z rapping the Navy Seal copypasta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpEbfzztALM

Album Rating: 4.5

>Knowing Eg he probably said that in jest too...



I may have been jesting about kirk, but not about junkie deserving a medal.

Album Rating: 4.5

So basically what happened with Hardwired's Kirk solos could have happened with the black album as well. We should be glad they hired Bob Rock tbh. They couldn't have pulled it off without him

Album Rating: 5.0

Wasn’t it just riffs that were on Kirk’s phone though? We probably didn’t miss much in that regard since James does the large majority of the riffs himself on all the albums to my understanding.

Album Rating: 4.5

this thread looks different

Album Rating: 5.0

dumb horny james

Album Rating: 4.5

Don't know if it was riffs. I read about like "300 ideas" and because they were lost he had to improvise in the studio. And that's why there were no memorable solos on Hardwired.

Album Rating: 4.5

We didn't miss much. Kirk's on the automatic since the black album.

Album Rating: 4.5

Still haven't listened to Load and ReLoad, but this doesn't give me much hope

Album Rating: 4.5

"We didn't miss much. Kirk's on the automatic since the black album."

This

Album Rating: 4.5

And yeah, he was creative enough to devise some of the most iconic solos in 80s thrash, and most probably played and recorded them entirely in the studio

And yeah, it'd be dumb not to make use of sound engineering & mixing possibilities to smoothen out all the transitions and combine pieces of up to 10 different takes of the same track. After all if you devised the parts and played all those takes it isn't all fake in some sense.

But it's why Kirk in particular sucks live.

I'd rather hear him fuck up a solo 5 times in a row than I have to experience one of his "doodles" again tbh