I love much of the work that Metallica and Lou Reed have done independently over the years, but I have to say I was more than a little surprised when I heard that the two acts were collaborating together on an album. Surely it would end up like the audio equivalent of chocolate and salmon mouse?
Well, it might have done, but you can now stream the album Lulu on their joint website and it’s clear that it works rather well. This is the live performance of Reed joining Metallica in New York for a version of the Velvets’ ‘Sweet Jane’ in 2009 which lead to the collaboration. I was prepared to be perplexed – I ended up really enjoying it.
This is a film of Reed and Metallica discussing the album’s evolution:
It’s inevitable that there will be those who are diehard fans of one of the acts and can’t stand it. But both acts have survived an incredibly long time in a fickle industry by not constantly doing what is expected of them -Reed particularly. No douubt many hours could be spent trawling the ‘net trying to get the fans view of the album, but there are only so many hours in the day. Why not make up your own mind and lsiten below?