Metal Machine Music, Lou Reed’s 1975 lightning rod for controversy, was never about anarchy — it was about guitars. Or rather, a thousand sounds that a guitar could make.
Originally a double LP of nothing but feedback, it confounded listeners who heard only horrible noise. For those of us who liked the noise, it was a little easier to realize what it really was: a meticulously crafted work better suited to twentieth-century classical music than rock and roll.
In this live recording, there is even less anarchy than there was on the original. The album was painstakingly transcribed, squeal for glorious squeal, and inventively performed by the Zeitkratzer ensemble. Mostly taking guitars out of the formula, it leaves strings, horns, and all manner of makeshift percussion to produce those infamous sounds — the instruments the diehards always heard anyway.
Amazingly, it sounds just like the first Metal Machine Music. Compared side by side, all the details are there — almost second for second. The deeply revealing recording on the CD plays about as well as the original, which is an astounding feat. An included DVD is a tease, because the performance must have been hugely exhilarating in person.
– Mike McGovern
Lou Reed: www.loureed.org
Zeitkratzer: www.zeitkratzer.de
Asphodel: www.asphodel.com