Oh yes. The gnashing of teeth, the bitching, the moaning, it has begun. Actually, it started a while ago when Lou Reed and Metallica released a preview of “The View” from their upcoming Lulu. The chorus will only get louder now that the full album stream has been put up. And, per usual, there are a lot of reviewers out there straining themselves to come up with clever ways to say how much they hate the record.
This reminds me of when St. Anger came out. Sure, part of me liked that record just because of the fan backlash, but beyond that there was a kind of brutal and claustrophobic intensity that really dug in. And speaking of brutal, Frank Wedekind’s Lulu plays were drenched in it — a young German dancer sexing it up with rich men, rampant violence, and even a collision with Jack the Ripper. So all of those comments about Reed’s “random mumblings” are more than a little off base. Me, I kinda dig it when Reed is croaking out “Jack, I beseech you!!” as the boys are grinding away behind him.
Metallica can do whatever they want at this point. Many of the naysayers seem to want them to go back and re-record Kill ‘Em All. I half suspect they’d bitch about that too.
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I think Tom’s last comment hit it on the head for me. It just seems kind of disconnected, like someone mashed together two different records with no relationship to each other.
MORE FROM AROUND THE WATERCOOLER AT SOMETHING ELSE! TOWERS …
TOM JOHNSON: I haven’t even heard it yet, just cued up the first song and I really, really don’t know what to make of this. Kinda sounds like they’re just screwing around in the garage: “Here, James, you just yell this part over and over, and I’ll ramble on and on about random stuff.” Odd, definitely. But compelling?
MARK SALESKI: I looked up Frank Wedekind because the name “Lulu” set off a bell … yes, it’s the same Lulu that had Zorn/Frisell putting out ‘News For Lulu.’ I can see why Metallica was attracted to the original play material — it had to be considered really out there for its time (late 1800s). I dunno, I kind of like it.
TOM JOHNSON: I don’t know what to make of it yet. It’s such a weird, messed up ball of messed-upness. I’m intrigued, at least, that’s for sure. I really barely gave it a listen last night, just enough to register a “what the hell?” but enough to know that the fans are going to flip out. If they thought ‘St. Anger’ was a slap in the face …
FRED PHILLIPS: I just look at Metallica as one of those bands that’s going to be terribly inconsistent from here on out. They’ve reached a point where they can do whatever the mood strikes them to do, and it’s not always a good idea. I’m one of the few folks that liked ‘St. Anger,’ and aside from the recording issues, I think ‘Death Magnetic’ is their best record since ‘Justice.’ This does nothing for me. I like a lot of it musically, but I find Reed’s rambling annoying. I know he’s the point of the project, but it’s almost like he’s in the way.
TOM JOHNSON: Hey, is it me, or does the statue of Lulu on the cover bear a striking resemblance to Lars?
FRED PHILLIPS: It’s kind of sad because there are some pretty good riffs scattered around this mess. If you take Lou Reed off of it, and tighten it up, there might have been some decent material here for a new Metallica record that I’m sure has now been pushed back another three or four years by this project. Lou Reed sounds less like a punk pioneer and more like a rambling, confused old man. As I listen to this, I keep expecting him to yell at the “kids” to “turn that crap down and get off his lawn.” Just doesn’t work at all.
MARK SALESKI: Me not being the lyrics person, I decided to take a different approach and find out what these ‘Lulu Plays’ were supposed to be about. The answer is that it’s some pretty twisted stuff … which somehow makes me like what’s going on on this album.
TOM JOHNSON: Now I’ve heard most of it (haven’t gotten to the 20 minute “Junior Dad” yet) and for the most part, I actually do find it weirdly satisfying, for almost the exact opposite reasons as Fred. It’s Reed’s rambling that hooked me, and I find some of Metallica’s stuff to be a little Metallica-by-numbers in places. Anyone know if they all got together to record, or was this done remotely? So much of it sounds like neither party is responding to the other that it seems like they couldn’t possibly have worked physically together. “Mistress Of Dread” sounds like the band jamming on “Master Of Puppets” — that’s a little lazy, isn’t it? It’s where the band stopped trying to sound like themselves and just cut loose that it really jelled, like on “Iced Honey,” “Cheat On Me,” and the song that may have my favorite line of the year, “Frustration” (“to be dry and spermless, like a girl.” I have to use that in conversation sometime soon.)
interesting. i don’t hear that at all. while listening to Lou, i hear the music reacting to the words in a lot of places.
Personally, I think the people who find nothing wrong with this album didn’t grow with Metallica being an integral part of their Metal journey. They are the ones who could care less about Metallica’s pinnacle albums and they probably weren’t apart of that movement when those albums were the underground successes that they were. I think these people don’t understand that at one point Metallica was creating music that was unheard of yet at the same time passionate & powerful.
Sorry, but if I came out with an album like this with a bunch of no names – no one would give a ****. It’s really nothing more than amateur nonsense.
personally,i think the people who have knee-jerk reactions to everything Metallica has done post-And Justice For All didn’t grow up.
Personally, considering the albums that Metallica has released since “And Justice”, I don’t blame them.