Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Lou Reed and Metallica's Lulu Is a Lulu

Lou Reed and Metallica's collaboration is a head on collision between two trains and the casualties are the ears of the listeners. The first words uttered on Lulu ("I would cut my legs and tits off when I think of Boris Karloff") give you the slight hope that it can only go up from there, but as soon as the sludgy guitar riffage and James Hetfield's almost comical voice spring out of the abyss, those hopes are derailed. Lou's lazy, slurred delivery worked so well in the Velvet Underground and on his solo work in the ’70s because of the droning, slow brooding music cradling it. Reed's distinct brand of street-corner-talk delivery is belabored by the brutality of guitars.

The album is hampered by the failure of either artist to find a common and comfortable middle between their vastly different approaches. When Metallica bends toward the ambient, the sound anchors Lou's voice in a believable way. The music also works when Metallica's assault of guitars is the lone feature. But for the most part, the album is bad, morbid poetry delivered with a fragile voice over high school riff rock amped up to a point of exaggeration. Even when it falls into the sheer silence of Lou's voice alone in "Frustration," we hear lines such as "I puke my guts/ Out at your feet/ You're more man than I/ To be dead and have no feeling/ To be dry and spermless like a girl/ I want so much to hurt you." After the hard-fought slog through the last five songs (clocking in at an hour), my ears said to me, "I want so much to hurt you."

Sponsored
Sponsored
  • Album: Lulu
  • Artist: Lou Reed and Metallica
  • Label: Warner Brothers/Vertigo
  • Songs: (1) Brandenburg Gate (2) The View (3) Pumping Blood (4) Mistress Dread (5) Iced Honey (6) Cheat on Me (7) Frustration (8) Little Dog (9) Dragon (10) Junior Dad

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Spa-Like Facial Treatment From Home - This Red Light Therapy Mask Makes It Possible

Next Article

Live Five: Sitting On Stacy, Matte Blvck, Think X, Hendrix Celebration, Coriander

Alt-ska, dark electro-pop, tributes, and coastal rock in Solana Beach, Little Italy, Pacific Beach

Lou Reed and Metallica's collaboration is a head on collision between two trains and the casualties are the ears of the listeners. The first words uttered on Lulu ("I would cut my legs and tits off when I think of Boris Karloff") give you the slight hope that it can only go up from there, but as soon as the sludgy guitar riffage and James Hetfield's almost comical voice spring out of the abyss, those hopes are derailed. Lou's lazy, slurred delivery worked so well in the Velvet Underground and on his solo work in the ’70s because of the droning, slow brooding music cradling it. Reed's distinct brand of street-corner-talk delivery is belabored by the brutality of guitars.

The album is hampered by the failure of either artist to find a common and comfortable middle between their vastly different approaches. When Metallica bends toward the ambient, the sound anchors Lou's voice in a believable way. The music also works when Metallica's assault of guitars is the lone feature. But for the most part, the album is bad, morbid poetry delivered with a fragile voice over high school riff rock amped up to a point of exaggeration. Even when it falls into the sheer silence of Lou's voice alone in "Frustration," we hear lines such as "I puke my guts/ Out at your feet/ You're more man than I/ To be dead and have no feeling/ To be dry and spermless like a girl/ I want so much to hurt you." After the hard-fought slog through the last five songs (clocking in at an hour), my ears said to me, "I want so much to hurt you."

Sponsored
Sponsored
  • Album: Lulu
  • Artist: Lou Reed and Metallica
  • Label: Warner Brothers/Vertigo
  • Songs: (1) Brandenburg Gate (2) The View (3) Pumping Blood (4) Mistress Dread (5) Iced Honey (6) Cheat on Me (7) Frustration (8) Little Dog (9) Dragon (10) Junior Dad
Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Five new golden locals

San Diego rocks the rockies
Next Article

Last plane out of Seoul, 1950

Memories of a daring escape at the start of a war
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader