Shocker: Metallica and Lou Reed Team Up for New Album
Now just imagine a tall, skinny Lou Reed in there somewhere ...
Well, we certainly didn't see this coming: Bay Area metal giant Metallica and former Velvet Underground frontman/living god Lou Reed are about 90 percent done with a new album they've recorded together. Lou Reed and Metallica? Yes: Lou Reed and Metallica. We know. It's weird.
Apparently the collaboration came out of a 2009 performance in New York, where Metallica's James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo backed Lou Reed for two songs at the 25th anniversary celebration of the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. "We knew from then that we were made for each other," Reed tells Rolling Stone.
Metallica's new singer
The magazine's David Fricke got a sneak peek at the record -- which is being made at "Metallica's studio north of San Francisco" -- and (unsurprisingly) came away with a positive impression, calling the pairing of the art-rocker and the metal heads "a "perfect fit." Fricke says the project sounds like a melding of Reed's Berlin with Metallica's Master of Puppets. "The result is at once unpredictable and viciously tight," he writes. Originally planning to rerecord some unreleased "fallen gem" songs by Reed, the group later decided to record songs Reed had written for the theatrical production Lulu by Frank Wedekind. So we have absolutely no idea what it will sound like.
Though the project is nearly completed, there are apparently no release plans. Metallica is no longer on Warner Bros., and Reed doesn't have a record deal. Still, given the interest in this project, it's gotta hit the light of day soon. We can't wait to hear it.
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