In 1997, Metallica and Lou Reed were on the bill for the 11th of Neil Young’s Bridge School Benefit concerts. Then in 2009, Metallica and Lou Reed performed at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary Concert in 2009. This led to them considering recording an album together. The album was based on the “Lulu plays” written by German playwright Frank Wedekind.
Lulu almost doesn’t count as a Metallica album because it’s a collaboration between them and Reed. However, I decided to count it because it’s listed in their chronology.
The Tracks:
- “Brandenburg Gate”: The idea behind the album is that it’s really like a spoken word poetry album, where someone recites poetry with music behind it. On some of the songs, it works. This is one.
- “The View”: And sometimes it doesn’t. “I am the table”?
- “Pumping Blood”: This is ok.
- “Mistress Dread”: Not bad, could use better percussion.
- ” Iced Honey”: When the songs are short, it’s actually tolerable.
- “Cheat On Me”: This is another problem with the album: most of the songs are too long and kind of boring.
- ” Frustration”: I thought this might’ve worked. It sounds all right.
- “Little Dog”: I almost skipped this one.
- “Dragon”: Oh good, it’s almost over. This song was painful.
- ” Junior Dad”: This is WAY too long.
Final Verdict: I wanted to give this album a chance. Lou Reed was a phenomenal artist. This might have worked, but let’s be honest, as it is, I had trouble getting into it. The production is bad, and it seems to lack direction. But compared to the worst Metallica has to offer, this is just bad. It’s far from Load or Reload.
Grade: D.
Aspie Catholic 