Metallica and Lou Reed's new, well, I am not sure

[Bored Of Education]

Is it parody? I saw it on "Later..." last night and it was laughable. Apart from the fact that it sounded shit, it didn't even sound like one record. Remember that criticism about hip hop that it was just a bloke talking over a record. This and the bloke can't even talk in time or tune.

Not only that but they appear to reduced the Metallica songs down to lowest common denominator so that Reed can keep up/in tune/in time.

Woolly mammoth shit sandwich

[WOM]

Metallica and Lou Reed's new, well, I am not sure

An article in the NYT arts supplement piqued my interest on Sunday. I gave 'Lulu' a preview on iTunes yesterday (they do much longer previews now, btw). It sounded utterly dire. Horrible.

[Benjm]

Metallica and Lou Reed's new, well, I am not sure

This collaboration would almost certainly have passed me by but the growing consensus that it is really the worst record ever made is making me quite curious to hear it.

It would be brilliant if it did turn out to be an I'm Still Here type wind-up, even more so if Lou revealed that his entire career since 1975 has been an elaborate deep cover charade.

[Benjm]

Metallica and Lou Reed's new, well, I am not sure

So, went and listened to some of this on the album website and it is bloody awful. The unintentional hilarity is all too brief before mounting horror sets in. It was a relief to get to numbness. God knows what happens if you carry on as far as track three. (A few necessarily brief samples suggest more of the same.)

Inventing potentially disastrous collaborations makes a reasonable parlour game - Bobby Gillespie and Mumford and Sons do a musical version of Cancer Ward, etc - but it's hard to think of many whose reality would be as gruelling as this.

[WOM]

Metallica and Lou Reed's new, well, I am not sure

I'd like to place my bet now and go on record: years from now, this album will go through a massive re-evaluation, a la Weezer's Pinkerton, and become a critical darling.

[diggedy derek]

Metallica and Lou Reed's new, well, I am not sure

It's really not that bad. It's not great, but it's not that bad.

Sure, Lulu is pretty fucking dumb and trashy and bad taste, but that never counted against rock albums in the past.

Lots of rock writers have been tripping over themselves to trash the album, which isn't a very edifying spectacle. And, both metal and mainstream rock writers have unintentially revealed a small but virulent streak of big C conservatism with their comments. You shall not make a fool of yourself. You shall not be an old man playing young man's music. You shall not tinker with the standard bluepring of rock/metal. You shall take this seriously and not have fun.

It's not a great album, not even a good album, but is it fun? Yes.

A corrective:

http://www.volcanictongue.com/columns/show/17

[Benjm]

Metallica and Lou Reed's new, well, I am not sure

Derek, I can see your point about the negative feeding frenzy being a turn off, but one could ask why the opportunity to give Lou Reed a critical shoeing is so appealing?

You shall take this seriously and not have fun.

Has anyone ever criticised Lou Reed for excessive frivolity? The gurning solemnity with which he has approached his work for decades is a big reason why I usually steer clear of it, and I'd guess that isn't a unique position. Lulu might be a fun excursion for Lou and the guys in a doing-whatever-the f#ck-they-want sense, but that feels like fun at the listener's expense.

If Lulu is just a fun workout, why give it the full bells, whistles and limited edition formats release with accompanying self-regarding press rounds?

[diggedy derek]

Metallica and Lou Reed's new, well, I am not sure

Lou Reed is an awkward bastard, but so what? People should assess the work not the man.

Plus, you know, he was in one of the greatest rock groups ever. He can be as arrogant and pig-headed as he wants. He's earned it.

We'll miss him when he's gone.

[Wyatt Earp]

Metallica and Lou Reed's new, well, I am not sure

I saw them on Later, and started off thinking "This has some of the early Velvets' brand of insane and slightly inept chaos", but ended up thinking it was unbelievable shite. Now Derek's comments have made me wonder if I saw something after all. I feel like that Fast Show character who keeps agreeing with people.

[Wyatt Earp]

Metallica and Lou Reed's new, well, I am not sure

The Metallica bit of the performance was fine, I thought; I just couldn't get into your man's staccato monotone over it.

[diggedy derek]

Metallica and Lou Reed's new, well, I am not sure

OK, I've just seen the performance on Later (series 39, episode 8). Shit, here's my starter for ten, I'm just going to come right out and say it – perhaps it's lost some of the subtle swing of the original?

But, the album is daft fun.

[Benjm]

Metallica and Lou Reed's new, well, I am not sure

diggedy derek wrote:

Lou Reed is an awkward bastard, but so what? People should assess the work not the man.

Plus, you know, he was in one of the greatest rock groups ever. He can be as arrogant and pig-headed as he wants. He's earned it.

We'll miss him when he's gone.

But the best artists take their work more seriously than themselves. With Lou Reed it's at best neck and neck and the portentous side of his personality is visible in and detrimental to his art.

He also suffers from raised expectations because, as you say, he is Lou Reed and he was in the Velvets. Good, bad or dull, he still excites passion because we know what he once was. And yes, the world would be duller without him.

[diggedy derek]

Metallica and Lou Reed's new, well, I am not sure

I think with rock 'n' roll it's hard to tell artists to not take themselves too seriously. I'm not sure that line of criticism will really resonate.

I was watching the Later clip again, and, you know, it's much better than it sounds at first. It is a song about taking speed after all. You may as well have a metal band going at it hammer and gongs.

[WOM]

Metallica and Lou Reed's new, well, I am not sure

My fear here, of course, is that - like my experience with Capt. Beefheart, Fucked Up, and a good deal of Fall stuff - I'll start off hating it, and then keep listening to it until it clicks and I go 'damn, this is good'. I still don't like Pinkerton, though, so who knows.

[Ray de Galles]

Metallica and Lou Reed's new, well, I am not sure

Viz top tips

METALLICA. The best way to combat illegal downloads of your music is to release a collaboration with Lou Reed.

[beak]

Metallica and Lou Reed's new, well, I am not sure

it really is very bad.

the only good thing about this music is that it allows me to wheel out the word execrable, a personal favourite i am rarely motivated to use.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Metallica and Lou Reed's new, well, I am not sure

There's a real Metal Machine Music deja-vu-y thing going on regarding the response to this album — which I haven't heard BTW. I wonder whether in thirty years or so it too will be "considered a seminal forerunner of industrial music, noise rock, and contemporary sound art" by some musos?

[Stumpy Pepys]

Metallica and Lou Reed's new, well, I am not sure

As far as I'm concerned, Metal Machine Music was unlistenable in 1975 and it's still unlistenable now.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Metallica and Lou Reed's new, well, I am not sure

Well, sure, but my point is that almost everyone felt that way in 1975 but, at least in some quarters, opinions have changed since. Could be the same with Lulu? Or does Emperor Lou have no clothes in one, or both, cases? Or is he just playing the post-modern poseur, by figuring that sooner or later whatever he puts out someone will find a reason to like?

[steveeeeeeeee]

Metallica and Lou Reed's new, well, I am not sure

Just watched the Later... performance. Lars Ulrich really is a sh*t drummer, I never remember him being that sh*t, I'm a "Master of Puppets" & "And Justice for All..." era Metallica fan, still love "Master of Puppets". His drumming is superb on both of those albums, but everytime I hear Metallica these days, I just find the poor drumming unbearable.

[Bored Of Education]

Metallica and Lou Reed's new, well, I am not sure

Lots of rock writers have been tripping over themselves to trash the album, which isn't a very edifying spectacle.

Yes but I am not a rock writer. I am a big but objective fan of Metallica fan, inasmuch as I find "Master Of Puppets" a touch overblown, "...and Justice For All" approaching genius and "Metallica" genius and "Load" Ok.

I turned this on to go, you know, "It's new Metallica, they produced one of best albums of all time and played some of the best gigs ever, this might be interesting". I mean, I hate Lou Reed but I could see a certain logic to them doing something with him and the Lou Reed fanboys hated it so there was a draw that contradicting them would be fun.

..but, no, from what I heard before Mrs BOE insisted it was muted, it was not only shit but it was unbelievably disjointed rubbish. It was like Duran Duran covering "She Watch Channel Zero" or "White Lines"

The Metallica bit of the performance was fine, I thought; I just couldn't get into your man's staccato monotone over it.

The Metallica bit never raised above perfunctory and it would have to be fucking genius to have raised the whole car crash above OK

[historyman]

Metallica and Lou Reed's new, well, I am not sure

Stumpy Pepys wrote:

As far as I'm concerned, Metal Machine Music was unlistenable in 1975 and it's still unlistenable now.

Which is exactly why I don't feel the need to go anywhere near this new experiment.