Review Summary: A choppy, inconsistant outing with flashes of brilliance.
1988 saw the release of new albums from all four bands in the Big Four of Thrash: Metallica's
...And Justice For All, Anthrax's
State of Euphoria, Megadeth's
So Far, So Good, So What (our current subject), and Slayer's
South of Heaven. Out of these four,
SFSGSW is arguably the weakest out of these. This review is an attempt to understand why, how, and what went right or wrong with with this album.
Around 1987, Dave Mustaine fired both Chris Poland (Guitar for the first two albums), allegedly because he sold off band equipment to get heroin money, and Gar Samuelson (Drums) because of alcholism. Shortly after this, Mustaine recruited guitarist Jeff Young and Drummer Chuck Behrler, and set to recording
SFSGSW.
The album was besieged with problems. The original recording and production of the album was largely mediocre, and, as Dave Mustaine alludes to in the liner notes of the re-mastered version of
SFSGSW, released in 2004, that drugs heavily affected the album. It's rather clear that it did, from looking at the lyrics, as a fair number of the songs were lyrically mediocre and uninspired. (Even compared to
Killing Is My Business, an album which had a lyric about Dave Mustaine's 'ball bearing melting from the heat'. Don't believe me? Go over the lyrics to
Mechanix)
Another problem with the album is the fact that the songs just simply don't have the punch musically that previous efforts had. The riffs lack the sheer memorability and impact that
Killing and
Peace Sells had, the solos are often sloppy and don't lead anywhere, and the vocals (even for Mustaine, who is a limited singer) just aren't up to par, often sounding either uninspired, drunk, or whiney.
A prime example is the song
Hook in Mouth. The band, aside from a solid performance from Dave Ellefson, the bassist, just seems to be going on autopilot. Aside from Ellefson providing a solid backing to the rest of the band, the only other thing that's really memorable about the song is the fact that Dave Mustaine sounds piss-drunk. It's both funny and cringe-inducing at the same time.
The other song on here that's tied for being the weakest is the cover of
Anarchy in the UK. I'll admit that I don't listen to punk very often, but the Megadeth cover of this song simply doesn't work. Mustaine, as was noted, doesn't get the lyrics right (He replaces 'UK' with 'USA', yet still goes on about the IRA and various other organizations mentioned in the song. This makes no sense at all, as IRA stands for Irish Republican Army, and as far as I know, they don't have any major beef with the US.) It's not awful otherwise, but Mustaine should of gone over the lyrics to the original before he did the vocals to the cover.
This isn't to say that this album isn't without merit.
Into the Lungs of Hell is a fantastic opening track, providing some great riffs.
Set The World Afire is a fun song, giving a couple good solos by Mustaine.
Mary Jane has some interesting lyrics (Well, if you're into cult-ish stuff, anyway), good riffs, and is one of the few songs on the album where Dave Mustaine doesn't sound totally plastered.
In My Darkest Hour is probably the best song on the album, as far as it goes musically. Most of the music was written by Mustaine after he found out from his manager that Cliff Burton died (Indeed, the album is dedicated to him). Musically, it's great, giving some great guitar playing by Mustaine and more solid bass playing by Dave Ellefson. The downside to the song is the lyrics; They're mostly Dave Mustaine ranting about former girlfriends and how they left him feeling like crap, etc, and do take away from some of the song's power.
Liar, the seventh track on the album, would of been unnotable, if not for its lyrics. According to Dave Mustaine, they're about Chris Poland and his thoughts on him after he was booted out of the band. It's supposed to sound threatening, but it's really hilarious instead, particularly the way Mustaine screams 'You ****ing Liar!!!' at the end of the song.
This leaves one other track that I haven't gone over, which would be
502. Aside from Mustaine speaking 'Pull Over ****head, this is the cops', there is absolutely nothing memorable about the song, hence why I decided to cover it last.
The bonus tracks are okay. The story behind them is that Mustaine had a falling out with Paul Lani, who was going to mix the album. After that, Mustaine went to LA to salvage them. The Lani mixes are fairlly interest, particularly Into The Lungs Of Hell, which is more intense then the remastered version which starts the album. The other songs aren't any worse, with only In My Darkest Hour being clearly weaker than the remastered version.
So Far, So Good, So What is, in the end, is a choppy, inconsistant outing with flashes of brilliance. It's the weakest, and the most troubled out of Megadeth's first four albums. But the liner notes on the remastered version do go a long way as to explain the various problems and failings with the album. It's certainally not outright awful, and it does have some great moments, but it's problems drag down the album overall. Hence why I can't give anything higher than a score of Three out of Five.
