Michael Wagener was brought in to mix the album. Known for working with Rod Stewart, Lani clashed with the volatile Dave Mustaine and was ultimately fired. Short on time, a brand new line-up began recording the third Megadeth album with producer Paul Lani. The second Megadeth line-up was complete. Despite harboring reservations about Young’s non-metal background, Mustaine fired Reynolds and hired his guitar teacher. Although Young was a proficient guitarist, he was far removed from the thrash scene. Studio time had been booked and paid for, now their new guitarist was asking to have his guitar teacher play the solos. When Megadeth finally sat down to write and record, it quickly became apparent that Reynolds was in over his head. Instead of rehearsing with their new guitarist, they bonded through drug use. Initially, Jay Reynolds of Malice was hired to replace Chris Poland. Drum tech Chuck Behler promptly joined the band but filling the guitar slot didn’t come easy. The original Megadeth line-up disintegrated when Gar Samuelson and Chris Poland were fired in the summer of 1987. Megadeth was no longer an underground band! Despite receiving zero commercial airplay, the album cracked the top 30 on the Billboard 200. It sold 400,000 copies in its first month of release and eventually went platinum. So Far, So Good… So What! was an undeniable success. Despite the fall from grace, So Far, So Good… So What! captures Megadeth at the height of their 80’s glory. Perhaps it simply had the misfortune of being sandwiched between Peace Sells and Rust in Peace. Largely forsaken in concert, the 1988 classic has gotten lost in a vast discography. If you love metal from yesteryear or today, you need to have this 2 hour, and 46 minutes set in your collection.So Far, So Good… So What! is the forgotten Megadeth album. It’s a set full of classic, fist pounding and, head banging tunes, that’ll have you in the middle of the mosh pit with the other Megadeth maniacs. Or maybe this is your introduction to Megadeth, it does not matter. Whether or not you see this as just another greatest hits package. This doesn’t make you less or more of a fan. However, depending on your start of fandom with Dave and the boys, this could be the one you want most. This to me would be the weakest of the three disks. On the third disk are songs “ Trust” up to the most recent “ Dystopia“. Also included is the Megadeth masterpiece “ A Tout Le Monde“. It’s got every classic, and blistering guitar solo a fan could want or need. With most of these being remastered from 2004-2012. The second disk spans from “ Hanger 18“, through to “ Reckoning Day“. I was quite pleased to see they didn’t include “ Peace Sells but Who’s Buying” on here, since it’s been done time and time again from special remasters to multi-disk packages. The first disk goes from “ Rattlehead” right through to “ Holy Wars“. It’s got many updates, remastered, and remixed versions of the tunes we all know and love. This set however isn’t just a re-release. To me it’s memories of sitting in my friend’s Firebird, barrelling down the road, when we should have been in class. To some it’s just another greatest hits compilation package. Megadeth brings forth a great package of three disks starting back from the beginning to the most recent Dystopia. March 22nd brought us a time capsule from one of the Godfathers of thrash and heavy metal. However, this time we time travel to a time of in your face, growling vocals, and head pounding metal.
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