CD REVIEW: Lou Reed & Metallica - Lulu
Track listing:
Disc 1
1. “Brandenburg Gate” 4:19
2.”The View” 5:17
3. “Pumping Blood” 7:24
4. “Mistress Dread” 6:51
5. “Iced Honey” 4:36
6. “Cheat on Me” 11:26
Disc 2
1.”Frustration” 8:34
2.”Little Dog” 8:01
3.”Dragon” 11:08
4.”Junior Dad” 19:29
All over the Internet by now, you’re able to read many, many “reviews” of Lou Reed and Metallica’s collaborative effort just thrashing over each artist’s respective legacies. It’s almost as if some people I won’t name were just waiting for this album to come out so that they could give it the worst review their website ever put out. This is not what this review is about. I listened to Lulu with an open mind, sincerely hoping that it would be good. It is not. It’s not as terrible as some die-hard metalheads would have you believe, but it fails on so many levels.
Basically, odds are every actual criticism you’ve heard about this double album is true. Horrible lyrics courtesy of Mr. Reed, talking over music by this same man, instead of you know, SINGING, over-repetition of riffs even by Metallica standards, interminable songs and an almost complete lack of solos. I won’t go into a track-by-track because these are the main problems with EVERY song on the album. Instead I’m going to list the things I actually like about this record, because there are quite a few - I see Lulu as a shamefully wasted opportunity.
Many really good riffs. As I said above, they’re repeated so much you’ll be sick of hearing them before the song even ends, but there are some inspired music buried somewhere in there - unfortunately they’ll never be put to use in better songs. James Hetfield’s vocals are pretty good, feels like he’s singing with passion for the first time in years - just listen to “The View”. And for some reason I found myself enjoying Lars Ulrich’s drumming. No idea why, he’s always been the weakest link in Metallica, but I feel like it works here. One last thing I like is the ambition. The album is bad, but there was some serious thought put into it. I can sense they truly felt as if they were making an epic experimental masterpiece.
It didn’t work, at all, but everyone makes mistakes, right?
RATING: 4/10
