Regarded as one of the worst efforts of either artist responsible for Lulu, Metallica and Lou Reed have never quite bounced back. One died the artistic death, another in a literal sense. Their legacies independent of one another are astronomical. Reed for his work with The Velvet Underground and his later solo works, Metallica for their incredible run in the late 1980s and 1990s. And yet together there were hopes of a more present, more intact piece of work. They had never quite been bedfellows of music and if anything, Lulu is an understanding of artists outside of their comfort zone, trying to acquiesce the tastes of another. What follows is a nearly ninety-minute piece of work which sits more as a fascination than a forgotten collaboration.
And yet for all its notoriety and neither artist doing much of interest since, Lulu is close to enjoyable. It is a direct attempt from Metallica to change their sound and Reed with the atomized cultural references which were popularised by singers of his initial era. Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan got away with it, so why not Reed with his Universal Monsters introduction on Brandenburg Gate? Because he sounds out of it. Withered his powers were at this point, his unwavering dedication to being off-key for the opening track, his lyrical relation completely asinine and unrelated to the instrumentals Metallica provide, it is tragic. Yet there are sparks of enlightenment, a suddenness to his spoken word parables on The View sound better placed. These Lulu tracks may be too long for their own good but Reed makes the most of it, his poetic offerings on death and purity feel chilling considering his death just two years later.
With this spoken word performance and the repetitive metal thuds in the background, Lulu feels more like the heavier metal sound Metallica would leave behind on future releases. There is much to enjoy about the harsher qualities which ring through when Reed can raise his vocal skills and Metallica match suit. Bleak moments are found throughout and no, this is not a cheap dig at the qualities elsewhere. Lulu has its moments. But considering the titans involved in its creation, having a few moments of interest is not enough. And yet the likes of Iced Honey sound definitively unbothered by the wilder Reed presence. He is a spark of difference in the current-day Metallica stock running through this. Empty instrumentals and out-there Reed vocals were never going to be a brilliant match, and yet there is hope heard. Occasional flickers do nothing to inspire James Hetfield and the band to provide more than backing material for an out-there Reed performance.
Yet when Metallica does provide a musical influence on Lulu, they sound nothing like what they are best known for. Chilling strings found in Cheat on Me express a loneliness their music could never. It is the complete opposite of what they were known for and as such becomes a shadowy, cool piece of work. Lulu has aged well as a project, not least because it has Metallica’s most recent instrumental interest but also some strong Reed lyrics. Powerful stuff can be heard intermittently and make Lulu a project, bloated as it is, worth hearing out. Frustration is the unlearning, arrogant swagger of a man who finds himself at the top of the pile regardless of what he does. Much can be said about Lulu and its instrumental misfires but much of it is in the background of Reed’s mesmerising performance for a reason. Bold in all the right ways, if a bit messy, it is one to be enjoyed by those who want the outrageous, wild-eyed lyricisms of the 1960s paired with the thump of heavier metal music.
