"To Live is to Die"- Brief Book Review

[ebonalley]

So I got the Cliff Burton biography for Christmas and wanted to share my initial impression now that I'm half way through it. The negatives first:

It seems there's not much to say about Cliff based on the fact that he was a fairly quiet guy, did little/no interviews and survived Metallica for only 3 years. The bullets on Cliff can be summed up as follows:
-He was unique for his day including playing and fashion style.
-He marched to the beat of his own drummer (sorry about the pun).
-He brought to Metallica music theory, harmonies etc..
-and he had eclectic musical tastes.
A large part of the remainder of the book is rehashing of Metallica history that fans are largely familiar with. Although there are interviews with a respectable number of people close to Cliff throughout his life, they tend to restate the aforementioned bullets and fail to share actual anecdotes supporting their feelings.

Now for the positive:
I've really enjoyed author Joel McIver's telling of the story through a bass players perspective. He does a great job going through all of the songs on the bands first three albums. He discusses various playing styles and fills that Cliff performs. He even goes to the length of providing the time marks in the song so you can listen for yourself. I've really enjoyed listening to some the the "bass only" tracks on youtube while reading the book.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVPCC6V3xRs

In addition, watching some of GBagley's vids have given a deeper appreciation of the speed of the finger picking. He's got some chops and also performs the guitar solos as well.

http://www.youtube.com/user/GBagley#p/u/2/RFVwsCAvwlU

In summary, if you're a fan of metal and found your life took a small turn the first time you ever heard Anesthesia you'll enjoy this book. For the ambivalent, there is probably something on the best seller list that you will enjoy more.

[ebonalley]

I just finished the book. The second half continues with many of the same themes discussed in the first half including the aforementioned bullet points about Cliff’s character and critical analysis of the first three records.
The author does a better job of expanding upon the descriptions of Cliff (the person) while describing his the days immediately before and after his death. Included in this section is an analysis of his final interview prior to his death and an interview with his girlfriend at the time.
The analysis of the music is also strong. After dusting off Ride the Lightning, I was impressed to hear the active roll that Cliff took in such songs as Call of Ktulu (despite having listened to it many times before). He was all over the place on this song, which exemplifies his sometimes subtle but incredibly influential role on metal bass playing. Had I not read this book, I probably wouldn’t have taken the time to notice these qualities. If anyone has the isolated bass track for Call of Ktulu, I’d love to hear it. I’ve heard the Newstead one but not the Cliff version.
The book is concluded by a review of Metallica bass playing up to the present. It was interesting to read about the criminal mixing of And Justice…. That is, mixing Newstead completely out of the mix. Finally, the author gets a little long in the tooth by hypothesizing on Cliff’s perspectives on various issues (like Napster) had he been alive today. Despite these occasional speculative reaches, To Live is to Die is a recommended read for any TB visitor who is a Metallica/and or metal fan.

[Joel McIver]

Glad you enjoyed it, brosephs, and thanks for the support.

Joel

[ebonalley]

Wow, Joel McIver...it's a small world Thanks for the read and tribute to a great musician.

[jollygiantchris]

It was a pretty good I liked the parts about Jim Martin and weird generator jamming.