Advantages: good for sliding
Disadvantages: colour choice

...The first thing i noticed when trying to buy the guitar was the awful choice of colours for it. The nicest i could find was 'burgundy', but being a James Burton fan I took the guitar. I got mine for around £550, and that was on a deal, (i think they cost about £700 normally). To play on though, it was a dream. Like most Fender Telecasters, the strings were a perfect distance away from the fret board which makes it easier for certain techniques such as shredding, hammer ons and pull offs, and sweep picking. The sound quality was good, but for the price i paid for it, the tone and such were fairly standard. Played through I nice amp though it was wonderful, tone quality beating many of my guitars with humbucker pick-ups. I have had my JB Tele for just over a year now, and I have played almost every day, it is my most played guitar, and I... Read review

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Advantages: The perfect heavy metal album
Disadvantages: I'm afraid I can't think of any

...I'm a huge Metallica fan, and I have listened to and purchased almost every single Metallica album out there. But I have to say that Ride the Lightning is undoubtedly the best Metallica album out there. There are many reasons for this. This album might have only reached 100 on the charts, but this album contained everything that a punk rock album needs. James Hetfield is consistent as the rhythm guitarist, always providing the riffs while Kirk Hammett, Metallica's lead guitarist, provides the amazing guitar solos (mroe detail when I describe the songs). Cliff Burton's innovativeness as a bassist is noticeable throughout the album, while Lars Ulrich is a powerful presence on the drums. Hetfield also provides some well-thought out lyrics for the songs, which are all based on death. When all these coalesce together, you can expect... Read review

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Advantages: Metallica doing what they do best - Thrash Metal!
Disadvantages: Production qualities could be better.

...their original bassist, Cliff Burton, died when their tour bus crashed. James Hetfield in particular was distraught with grief, and found it impossible to come to terms with even years later. For a while the band considered carrying on without a bass player, but eventually decided on Jason as a replacement. The lack of bass is not down to bad production so much as James eliminating it because the thought of Jason taking over from his best friend was too much to contemplate. It is hard to pick a standout track because they all have their merits, but I suppose the one most people would identify with is 'One', a great song about a soldier injured in war who wants to be allowed to die. The lyrics are incredibly intelligent and James' singing is full of spite and emotion. For me the emotional high-point (low-point?) comes in the track "To Live Is To Die... Read review

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Advantages: Amazing thrash metal album
Disadvantages: You can't hear the Bass guitar

...Those of you who own Metallica’s previous three offerings will know that this band are seriously into Thrash Metal at the highest degree. In fact Metallica practically invented this genre…well, with some help from Slayer perhaps. “…And Justice for all” could be the heaviest album Metallica have ever made, and is the first with new Bass player Jason Newstead. Unfortunately for Jason (and everyone who has listened to it), the Bass is non-existant! Strangely enough, the sound is very different from the previous three, thus adding to its originality. The guitars are heavier and James Hetfield’s voice is more brutal and raw. It starts off with “Blackened”, a song about the death of Earth, and just about everything living on it. Quite morbid, but never mind! The songs on this album are all very long, but don’t fear, there is never a boring... Read review

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Advantages: Contains a few of the best metallica songs ever
Disadvantages: Not much

...This is metallica's 3rd album, it is the last one withCliff Burton in. Things were getting better and better for metallica and so were their songs. This album contains some of the best songs ever made by metallica. 1. Battery - Starts with a nice and very misleading intro on classical guitars, then comes the electric guitars come smashing in, then an aural assault of too fast to be true guitar playing accompanied by james' roar. 2. Master Of Puppets - Mega fast all the way through fantastic dislpay of unique guitar playing and a near impossible solo. perhaps the best ever metallica song. the lyrics go really deep, they are about addictions. 3. Thing That Should Not Be - Slower song but extremely heavy, doesnt stand out too much from the other songs but is worth listening too. one of the heaviest songs u'll hear from metallica. 4... Read review

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Advantages: Some say their finest hour
Disadvantages: There's only 8 tracks

...Ride the Lightning is Metallica's follow-up to their debut album, 'Kill 'Em All' and while not as raw as the first, this is hardcore, head-banging, thrash-metal at its best. The band would go onto refine their sound in later albums, some would say water-down, but this early showing is full of in-your-face energy, grit and perhaps surprising to some, sheer musical brilliance. In this reviewers opinion, it's also among their best work. The Metallica line-up at the time consisted of James Hetfield on vocals and rhythm guitar, Lars Ulrich on drums, Kirk Hammett on lead guitar and the late, great Cliff Burton on bass. Hetfield here is starting to show promise on vocals. He's never had the greatest voice, he never will either, but it fits in with the style of music. Certainly on the their first few albums, the vocals play a definite... Read review

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Advantages: Brilliant mix of melody and power
Disadvantages: Their only great album - it's all down hill from here

..., and Welcome Home (Sanitarium). In fact, I’d go so far as to say that this is the best track on the album - sublimely written lyrics, conveying imprisonment and the possibility of insanity and violence. The acoustic parts contrast excellently with the heavy, crunching guitar tone in the heavier parts. What’s more is that James Hetfield’s vocals are amazing on this track, conveying a real epic quality that many modern bands till try, and fail to capture. All of the musicianship is excellent apart from the drumming, and even that is more than adequate. The bass really stands out - this was the last album which Metallica made before the untimely death of bassist Cliff Burton (may he rest in peace). His amazing skill is shown for all to see on Orion, a fantastic instrumental filled with some amazing solos and catchy riffs. Overall... Read review

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Advantages: Great Lyrics, Great Songs, Great Album!!!
Disadvantages: Cliff Burton getting killed on the album tour!!

...stay on the subject... *lol* The album starts in a slow rather melancholy way with the intro to the song 'Battery'... but thus quickly shifts in to one of the thrashiest songs Metallica have ever done It then shifts into the eight and a half minuet epic that is the albums title song, master of puppets, which deals with the relationship, and power that a drug dealer has over his 'customers'... and includes one of the nicest guitar solos eeeeeever, play by, surprisingly enough James!! The into one of the most elaborate solo's ever played by the more talented... but not quite as cool... Kirk Hammett... The next song on the album, entitled 'The Thing That Should Not Be' is probably my favourite metallica song of all time... it's just indescribable... kind of a mad twisted demented song.... yet very cool... and containing one of the weirdest... Read review

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Advantages: Bold, Inventive, Brilliantly Produced
Disadvantages: None

.... The harmonious (and highly unfashionably folky) chorus, is both infectious and completely original. Only James could pull something this grand off without sounding like cretins! As the guitars gather in intensity a lonely violin sound is added to the mix, before the song reaches a fuzzy, frazzled, glorious conclusion. Booth sings; “Daniel drinks his weight Drinks like Richard Burton Dance like John Travolta Now” It was incredibly brave of James to not finish the album with “Getting Away With It” - yet closing track “Alaskan Pipeline” is almost the definitive album closer of all-time. If ever a band were signing off in style then this track is it. The song is practically a raised hand and a faint smile from a crowded carriage as the train chugs out of the station. Chiming guitars, expressive singing and a stark vulnerability leave the listener... Read review

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Advantages: plenty of them
Disadvantages: not too many

...Hi there: "The Guess Who" is a canadian band comprised of Burton Cummings, Randy Bachman, Garry Peterson and James Kale. I'll tell you a bit about them cause I believe they are not very well known.... Ok, they released their first single back in 1964, but their first single succes had to wait to the next year, 1965, with "Shakin' All Over", a Johnny Kidd and the Pirates cover. By that time, there was another singer, not Burton Cummings. It was Chad Allan the main singer of the band, but by 1967 Burton Cummings get into the band, firstly to play organ, keyboards and piano, but the rest of the band realize he was a good singer too, so he began to sing a few songs. This annoyed Chad Allan, who quit the band, and that's how Cummings become the main singer, and I'd say the new leader of the band (along with Randy Bachman, guitar player... Read review

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