My OperaMMM: its time has come at last
Sunday, November 15, 2009 3:22:01 PM
As part if the ongoing vinyl replacement programme, yesterday I downloaded (for the princely sum of £2.76) the remaster of Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music, just over an hour of guitar feedback noise originally released in 1975 and widely regarded at the time as unlistenable/a joke/something he used to fulfil a contractual obligation. Yet these days it doesn't sound so outlandish at all, and I always thought it was more listenable than the kneejerk responders would have you believe.
I've just played it through, and it has a lot if depth, with neo-orchestral washes appearing and disappearing, and the bit at the end where it's looped (on the original vinyl it was a never-ending leadout groove) would actually make a pretty good rhythm bed to build another piece from. Interestingly in recent years some German or Austrian bloke has transcribed it for performance on acoustic instruments (an album is available, with Reed guesting on electric guitar towards the end, apparently) and Reed has been performing similar stuff live with his Metal Machine Trio. Not bad for something written off as a joke over 30 years ago.
The only real down side of the MP3 version (apart from a surround mix on the CD) is the absence of the sleeve notes by Reed on the vinyl, and I assume they're on the CD too. These (as I recall) are pretty wonderful, if opaque, and end with one of my favourite quotes: "My week beats your year".
So turn off your preconceptions about what a Lou Reed album should sound like, or any album for that matter, open your ears and mind, and give MMM a whirl. What do you have to lose apart from less than £3 and just over an hour if your time? And if you're prone to listening to the kind of plastic manufactured pap the record companies peddle in vast quantities these days (from Coldplay to the X Factor wannabes) it might just wake you up to the kind of risks real artists sometimes take, and push you in the direction of something a little more challenging :-)
I've just played it through, and it has a lot if depth, with neo-orchestral washes appearing and disappearing, and the bit at the end where it's looped (on the original vinyl it was a never-ending leadout groove) would actually make a pretty good rhythm bed to build another piece from. Interestingly in recent years some German or Austrian bloke has transcribed it for performance on acoustic instruments (an album is available, with Reed guesting on electric guitar towards the end, apparently) and Reed has been performing similar stuff live with his Metal Machine Trio. Not bad for something written off as a joke over 30 years ago.
The only real down side of the MP3 version (apart from a surround mix on the CD) is the absence of the sleeve notes by Reed on the vinyl, and I assume they're on the CD too. These (as I recall) are pretty wonderful, if opaque, and end with one of my favourite quotes: "My week beats your year".
So turn off your preconceptions about what a Lou Reed album should sound like, or any album for that matter, open your ears and mind, and give MMM a whirl. What do you have to lose apart from less than £3 and just over an hour if your time? And if you're prone to listening to the kind of plastic manufactured pap the record companies peddle in vast quantities these days (from Coldplay to the X Factor wannabes) it might just wake you up to the kind of risks real artists sometimes take, and push you in the direction of something a little more challenging :-)
