The Evolution of the Metallica and Lou Reed Project

08/30/2011
. (Gibson) Lou Reed and Metallica are planning to release Lulu, an album of new songs written by Reed and performed by all involved, later this fall. The partnership came together after Reed and the metal legends shared the stage at the 25th anniversary of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert a couple years back. "We knew from then that we were made for each other," Reed said in a press release.

But the Reed/Metallica project originally was going to be very different. The metal band was going to help Reed reimagine some of his older tunes: "some of Lou's lost jewels � songs that he felt he'd like to give a second spin, and we could do whatever it is we do to some of those songs," drummer Lars Ulrich said.

Not too long before they planned to work together, Reed had a different idea. Metallica could help him record songs he had written that were inspired by German expressionist Frank Wedekind. Metallica were up for the challenge, although they weren't certain what would happen. "We were very interested in working with Lou," singer-guitarist James Hetfield said. "I had these giant question marks: What's it going to be like? What's going to happen? So it was great when he sent us the lyrics for the Lulu body of work. It was something we could sink our teeth into. I could take off my singer and lyricist hat and concentrate on the music part. These were very potent lyrics, with a soundscape behind them for atmosphere. Lars and I sat there with an acoustic and let this blank canvas take us where it needed to go. It was a great gift, to be asked to stamp 'TALLICA on it. And that's what we did." more on this story

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