Lulu ... has anybody heard it?

uwe · November 14, 2011, 11:30:42 AM

This youtube vid makes good fun of it, but at the same time gives a good impression what to expect from the double CD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRP_dwEUQwI&feature=related

I got my copy last week, started listening to it in the car and after the first knee-jerk reaction of "turn that noise off" I found myself curiously drawn into it. It has grown on me and it is also the first Metallica album where I actually listen to the lyrics. Mind you, compared to Metal Machine Music and other stuff ole Lou has done in the past, this is still pop music. I can also not help myself thinking that his significant other's (Laurie Anderson) performance art has left a lasting imprint on him. Reminds me also of some of the more experimental David Bowie and Iggy Pop stuff, Reed has a similar approach to talking over the music (in reality, Reed influenced Bowie in that way, not the other way around). And you've got to grant it to Hetfield and his boys that after the public whipping they got with St. Anger they are still not afraid to take chances.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC0EDM3EbSg&feature=related

Metallica fans are supposedly aghast about this but then they always are whenever their beloved band tries something new. This is certainly braver than putting out "Ride the Lightning Reloaded Volume 10".

eb2 · November 14, 2011, 12:05:04 PM

And I was expecting To Sir With Love.

Psycho Bass Guy · November 14, 2011, 02:26:51 PM

Quote from: uwe on November 14, 2011, 11:30:42 AMAnd you've got to grant it to Hetfield and his boys that after the public whipping they got with St. Anger they are still not afraid to pose even harder, as though being mega fratboy-rock douches wasn't enough of a slap in the face to the people who made them millionaires.

Fixed it for ya.

Dave W · November 14, 2011, 04:17:40 PM

Quote from: Psycho Bass Guy on November 14, 2011, 02:26:51 PM
Fixed it for ya.

Quote from: eb2 on November 14, 2011, 12:05:04 PM
And I was expecting To Sir With Love.

Lulu can rock too.

Basvarken · November 14, 2011, 04:37:24 PM

This album is the manual for rockbands "how to lose your fans in no-time"

OldManC · November 14, 2011, 06:32:27 PM

Wow, I didn't think it was possible for either of them to suck even more than they already did but I was dead wrong. They found a previously untapped level of suck to sink to. Amazing...

uwe · November 15, 2011, 04:04:24 AM

You guys don't give it a chance. Free your mind.

Barklessdog · November 15, 2011, 05:50:09 AM

I was always a fan of Lou Reed's music (not him as a person). Great talk / non singer. I really liked his music with Fernando Saunders.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OqVvYJnklM&feature=related

Ever watch the Matallica movie Hetfield can't sing in key, it was horrible. So two guys who can't really sing sounds like a perfect match on paper.

Imagine something Lou Reed doing getting panned by critics?

Lou Reed I give him an excuse for the way he is with his tragic childhood. His parents thought he had homosexual tendancies so they had him institutionized performing electroshock therapy to cure him.

ack1961 · November 15, 2011, 06:10:09 AM

I love Lou Reed's voice - it's clear and he had some interesting things to say at one point (25 years ago or so)
I've always liked Reed's "New York" and some Velvet Underground stuff - not a lot of it, but some of it was palatable to me.

Metallica, on the other hand, has always been a band that I cannot get anything out of musically, and the more I heard ABOUT them, the less I tried.
I listened to 3 of the links (thanks for posting), and this collaboration doesn't add up to anything I'll waste my time on even attempting to like.

uwe · November 15, 2011, 06:21:15 AM

Metallica's sound is not something I like - too heavy-handed, I like my heavy music to have some sleek elegance which is why I prefer Highway Star and Breaking the Law to, say, Iron Man or Whole lotta love -, but it is admittedly a sound totally of their own. You hear ten seconds of Metallica and you know it's them.

As to Hetfield's voice, am I the only one here who is reminded of Eric Bloom (BÖC) if Eric had issues pitching? What I like best about Hetfield is that he is not Lars. With Lars you sometimes do regret that the medieval treatment of forced tongue removal has gone out of fashion.

Psycho Bass Guy · November 15, 2011, 06:46:21 AM

Quote from: uwe on November 15, 2011, 04:04:24 AM
You guys don't give it a chance.

Life is too short to waste it listening to that shit.

uwe · November 15, 2011, 07:16:24 AM

No words are being minced here ...

I've already had my admonishments for defending Nickelbag, I will not raise a hand for Metallica now ...

Dave W · November 15, 2011, 08:20:52 AM

Even though I'm not a Metallica fan, at least I can understand their appeal in their field. OTOH I have never understood the appeal of Lou Reed. Not a bit. Gives me the creeps.

nofi · November 15, 2011, 08:29:30 AM

its a NYC downtown junkie, tranny, andy warhol, poser, bad artist, suicide loser kind of thing.

dadagoboi · November 15, 2011, 08:35:27 AM

Quote from: Dave W on November 15, 2011, 08:20:52 AM
Even though I'm not a Metallica fan, at least I can understand their appeal in their field. OTOH I have never understood the appeal of Lou Reed. Not a bit. Gives me the creeps.

The Velvet Underground had a lot of influence on bands I've dug over the years. Giving you the creeps quite possibly was the desired effect sometimes. Metallica OTH has always been safe as milk.

Sweet Jane (Reed)

Standing on the corner,
Suitcase in my hand
Jack is in his corset, and Jane is her vest,
And me I'm in a rock'n'roll band Hah!
Ridin' in a Stutz Bear Cat, Jim
You know, those were different times!
Oh, all the poets they studied rules of verse
And those ladies, they rolled their eyes

Sweet Jane! Whoa! Sweet Jane, oh-oh-a! Sweet Jane!

I'll tell you something
Jack, he is a banker
And Jane, she is a clerk
Both of them save their monies, ha
And when, when they come home from work
Oh, Sittin' down by the fire, oh!
The radio does play
The classical music there, Jim
"The March of the Wooden Soldiers"
All you protest kids
You can hear Jack say, get ready, ah

Sweet Jane! Come on baby! Sweet Jane! Oh-oh-a! Sweet Jane!

Some people, they like to go out dancing
And other peoples, they have to work, Just watch me now!
And there's even some evil mothers
Well they're gonna tell you that everything is just dirt
Y'know that, women, never really faint
And that villains always blink their eyes, woo!
And that, y'know, children are the only ones who blush!
And that, life is just to die!
And, everyone who ever had a heart
They wouldn't turn around and break it
And anyone who ever played a part
Oh wouldn't turn around and hate it!

Sweet Jane! Whoa-oh-oh! Sweet Jane! Sweet Jane!

Heavenly wine and roses
Seems to whisper to her when he smiles
Heavenly wine and roses
Seems to whisper to her when she smiles
La lala lala la, la lala lala la
Sweet Jane
Sweet Jane
Sweet Jane