Metallica

From the Source

Metallica's Garage Inc is a genius idea: in essence, it's a compilation of covers that inspires the band that inspires. Straddling the long wait between Reload and St Anger, this compilation of new covers and B-side covers (27 tracks in all) arrives with a 28-page booklet, band pictures old and new, as well as a 20-page biography by David Fricke.

A Lars Ulrich concept, Metallica spent just three weeks in the studio punching out Garage Inc. The spontaneity shows but while these are covers, they play them as if they wrote them. Disc 1 comprises 11 new selections drawn from Discharge, Bob Seger, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Blue Oyster Cult, their Grammy award-winning interpretation of Thin Lizzy's 'Whiskey In The Jar' and the extra heavy Black Sabbath reworking.

Meanwhile Disc 2 is a straightforward collection of every cover the group had recorded to date. Says James Hetfield, 'Getting the list together is always kinda fun, it's kind of a Christmas list... and everyone throws in their newer influences as well plus all the other stuff that got us going as Metallica. We started out doing covers. It's a sign of respect as well as inspiration.'