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Now everyone is more comfortable with the idea of noise - rock's ability to move into abstract expressionism has been validated a zillion times over, not least by Neil Young whose Arc album stitched together an album's worth of feedback. And Lou's opus seems to have now crept comfortably into critical favour. The Wire-reading generation now hail it as a proto-noise masterpiece. If any more proof were needed here comes Zeitkratzer's live rendition of the album using an 11-member orchestra and old Uncle Lou himself on axe.
Of course music this confrontational will never reside in the Kronos Quartet-end of classical reinterpretation, but it still adds a respectability that seems incongruous. Frankly the task of scoring a mess like this for strings and horns (done by saxophonist Ulrich Krieger) beggars belief. Its obsessiveness reminds one of the youthful Stevie Vai who gained entry to Frank Zappa's inner circle by transcribing the master's guitar solos. Even Lou Reed thought it impossible until he heard the results.
And the results ARE intriguing. What, on initial listening is impenetrable does begin to reveal subtle shifts in both texture and attack. Part 2 is quite shocking in its aggression while Lou's contribution to Part 3 adds a throbbing undertow that introduces a rhythmic element echoing the titular theme.
The accompanying DVD is probably the best way to really appreciate the work involved here. Watching the players so intently producing what seems like chaos is slightly less punishing than just subjecting yourself to the buzz saw of 50 minutes of industrial grade atonality.
In the end it's still hard to completely disregard previous accusations of avant-garde dilettantism. In orchestral form the piece lacks a certain post-classical purity that the original at least had in its electric genesis. But this is brave music that shouldn't be dismissed as merely a joke on the chin-stroking elite. --Chris Jones
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Customer Reviews
Now I accept it's not for everyone. I first heard it in about 1982, and was pretty much convinced it was a joke. In fact I was almost certain that all four sides of the original LP were exactly the same. And it was undoubtedly the worst thing I'd ever heard in my life. The stories of people buying the latest Lou Reed album (remember that it was released in 1975 while Lou was pretty much at his peak) getting home, putting it on the turntable for thirty seconds and then taking it back to the shop were legendary, and didn't seem entirely unreasonable. Who'd want to listen to listen to 64 minutes and 4 seconds of noise? Nineteen years later I certainly do. I accept thats it's not for everyone. But if you have any musically adventurous bones in your body you must hear Metal Machine Music at least once. You might regret it. But you'll never forget it.
Just make sure there are no dogs in the room.
One great slab of pulsating noise - it is so offensive and due to this it captures the spirit of something that transcends its peculiar origins.
Joke or serious, these slabs capture nihilism, the bleakness at the end of the night, like the Beatles Revolution Number 9 initiated another sound revolution. Lou did this album to escape a contract and finally place his finger into the sphincter of the "man". It is a revolutionary drone.
Fed up with listening to rap being blasted from the house next door as the squatted street disintegrated, I rigged up the bass amp plus the bins to a CD of Lou Reed's most desolate piece of sound. Finally locking the door I left the house. The sounds ripped through the building rippling the walls and floor with a throb. The whole house pulsated
Walking away I sat and had a coffee in the local park. I could hear the shrill pierce of Metal Machine Music vying with the thudded bass of the hip hop as it all blasted outward into a mash.
Revenge; as Lou noted, never sounded so good as the noise of the universe blasting itself into an empty chasm.
Faced with this wall of noise when listeners might be expecting Perfect day one can understand people who were a bit to thick to take the cues from the cover, or indeed read the reviews, were a bit shocked by what they heard. This is not music in the traditional western sense of the word and many people hated it.
Those who let themselves become immersed in the noise, which is a strangely relaxing and nurturing feeling, then start to hear the subtle internal variations in the sound. This is where the true genius of Metal Machine Music lies. Part I has a lot in common with Robert Fripp and Brian Eno's Index of Metals on the Evening Star album. This is like some of those white noise womb sound tapes that some of my friends used to play to get their infant children off to sleep but for adults. It can actually work for this purpose too!
If you want Lou Reed songs then don't buy this album but if you want to challenge yourself to the rather scary experience of being overwhelmed by noise so that you will either have to switch it off, go mad or surrender to the liberating sensation akin to entering a trance, then this is the album for you.
You may feel taken in and still hate this album but it's a bargain and you should challenge your ears once in a while give it a go and you may love it. If you do manage to get through this then try Towering Inferno's Kaddish.
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