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Lou Reed and Metallica Confirm Details Of 'Lulu' Release Date

Tuesday, 30 August 2011 Written by Elliott Batte
Lou Reed and Metallica Schedule 'Lulu' Release Date - Info Inside

In what is sure to be one of the most talked-about alliances of the year, New York king of avant-rock Lou Reed has teamed up with best-selling hard rock band Metallica to record a Lulu, their brand new collaboration album.

Released on November 1st, the album was co-produced by Reed, Metallica, Hal Willner who has produced albums for Reed, Marianne Faithfull, and Laurie Anderson, among others.

The idea for these two giants of modern music to work together was born after the 25th anniversary Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame concerts in New York City in October 2009. Metallica played with Reed on Velvet Underground classics ‘Sweet Jane’ and ‘White Light/White Heat’. “We knew from then that we were made for each other,” Reed says.

After that triumphant performance, Reed suggested they all make a record together. At first, they planned to record an album of Reed's older material, what Ulrich describes as "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." Then, a week or two before that session was to begin, Lou called the guys up and said, “Listen, I have this other idea.”

The aforementioned idea was to record a series of songs Reed had written for American avant-garde theatre director Robert Wilson and German theatre group The Berliner Ensemble's production of the ‘Lulu Plays’, which premiered in April at the Theatre am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin.

“We were very interested in working with Lou,” says Hetfield. “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.”

Reed agreed. “We had to bring Lulu to life in a sophisticated way, using rock,” he said. “And the hardest power rock you could come up with would have to be Metallica. They live on that planet. We played together, and I knew it: dream come true.

“This is the best thing I ever did. And I did it with the best group I could possibly find. By definition, everybody involved was honest. This has come into the world pure. We pushed as far as we possibly could within the realms of reality.”

Lulu is out November 1st.
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