In 2002 the German avant-garde chamber orchestra, the zeitkratzer ensemble (small caps are deliberate), got in touch with Lou to ask his permission to play Metal Machine Music live in concert. He didn't believe it was possible until they told him they had transcribed it and sent him samples of what they planned on performing. Once he gave them permission they asked if he would be willing to play electric guitar in the third act for the concert.
The stage was set for the 2002 performance of Metal Machine Music at the Berlin Opera House that has now been released in a two disc CD/DVD package on Asphodel Records. For the first two and a half movements of the piece, zeitkratzer's piano, violin, viola, cello, bass, accordion, tuba, trumpet, saxophone, and percussion recreated acoustically what had been originally done on electric guitar.
The first thing you have to remember is that this is not something to sit down and listen to casually such as after a hard day at the office. In order to listen to this piece of music you have to prepare to withstand an aural assault at the beginning of each movement. At first, it sounds like so much noise: a screeching, howling, and moaning discordance that has no relation to music until you get your bearings.
Gradually, as you listen, you become absorbed by the sound and start to feel the ebb and flow of patterns. The sharp edges of the violin, viola, and cello, all being bowed at a frenetic pace at the highest possible pitch, stop cutting into you as you become able to experience the new sound they generate when blended with the sounds produced by the balance of the ensemble.
I'm sure that your memory plays a part in this somehow. Remember what Reed had said about new sounds being formed as the result of the meeting of original sounds? After listening to intense sounds like those produced in this piece of music you can't help but retain an echo of something previously played that will blend with any new sounds to produce yet a third tone.
You can't listen to this as you would listen to other music, trying to hear what the individual instruments are saying. Instead, you'll want to hear the sound that is generated by all the instruments playing together. That will only happen with the passage of time and a willingness to listen. Otherwise, it will remain a cacophonous mystery.
Article comments
1 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Nice write-up, Richard, but these days home is where I hang my preconceptions. So Mister, you're a better man than me.
2 - Bill Berkley
Totally agree with your review. The new MMM live album is a joy to behold. In many ways, Zeitkratzer's spin is even better than Lou's original 1975 milestone album. Great stuff. In fact, startling!
3 - JC Mosquito
Does it come with a lyric sheet?
4 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
I think the long-delayed follow-up to MMM, 'Lyric Sheet Metal Music', will contain vocals and printed lyrics.
5 - Diamanda Galas
Metal Machine Matzah! I taught Lou Reed everything I know.
Now about that new Siouxsie solo album...
6 - Dave Futrell
Another triumpth for Zeitkratzer, Berlin's best avant-garde chamber music ensemble. This is the most exciting album since Iggy and the Stooges Raw Power. Bliss.
7 - Jeff C.
Does anyone know if Metal Machine Music was ever release on 8-track cartridge tape back in '75?
8 - Richard Marcus
Jeff
As far as I know the only deviation from normal vinal was that it was also released in Quadrophonic sound. I really doubt RCA bothered with any other format after the first three week's sales were such a disaster.
Richard
9 - Wayne Trower
Actually, Jeff C is right. There was an 8-Track Cartridge tape release of Metal Machine Music in 1975. Creem magazine online details the cartridge tape.
10 - Porter Gee
Who could forget Lester Bangs' seminal album review of Metal Machine Music, originally published in Creem magazine in 1975 (reprinted online courtesy of Rock N Roll Net...
11 - Making Ears Bleed Since 1975
Music critics these days are fond of characterizing Lou Reed's 1975 double album Metal Machine Music as "misunderstood," which is pretty pale verbiage considering what the four solid LP sides of layered, dissonant, speed-adjusted guitar feedback and screeching electronic noise hath wrought. Dig the new sound, same as the old sound. Check your moneymaker.
12 - JC Mosquito
Oddly enough, Jeff C, mein doppelganger, I had MMM on 8 track all those years ago. I'm sure it sounds much better on CD.
13 - JC Mosquito
Hahahaha! "Sheet Metal" Music! I just got it!
14 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Thanks, JC.
15 - Robocop IV: Mommy's Crying
First Lou Reed tours Berlin in Europe in 2007, and now he revisits Berlin again by collaborating with a Berlin-based chamber music ensemble called Zeitkratzer. Is the Berlin connection deliberate or a coincidence? I remember reading when Lou wrote the Berlin album in 1973, he'd never even been to Berlin. Iggy Pop and David Bowie did it for him a few years later. Almost hilarious. But then again, Bowie always followed whatever Lou was into. I draw the line at Tin Machine.
16 - Bettina
I love the cd and DVD
The original I never played completely. But I like this one!
Bettina