HUH?....whats Lou Reed doing on here?....i hear you cry. Well, apart from being the ultimate "Fuck You" record, it laid the hardcore for industrial music,and began the retuning of our ears to something completely new in the rock and roll world. It laid the foundations for an appreciation of the horrible noise that was to come a few years later,via punk rock and its dissonant cousins.
Its Metal Machine Music for christs sake!!!!
But for those of you who haven't heard of it, its four tracks/sides of multitracked manipulated feedback and electronic hum.It can sound heavenly,but also hellbound; its as far from the "I'm sticking with you" Lou Reed as you can imagine.Its one of thee Great (Bad)Attitude records of all time,neck and neck with PiL's "First Issue".
Probably inspired by, either, Reeds exposure to the works of John Cales mentor, LaMonte Young, or his dislike of his record label,from which Lou was kicked off shortly afterwards.He supposedly said about the album himself: "Well, anyone who gets to side four is dumber than I am."
Q Magazine featured Metal Machine Music in its 50 Worst Records of All Time, describing it as "sadistic, blackboard-scraping feedback". What higher recommendation could you possibly need? Reed himself reported: "I find it very relaxing - it's not done as a joke." The metal machine involved two electric guitars feeding back through mismatched tremolo units. They're speeded up, slowed down, recorded backwards and layered repeatedly. What results is at once the pre-eminent deranged noise record, an impossibly cacophonous screech of electric torment, and also a classic of Minimalism; some of the most enigmatic, exquisite harmonies ever documented. It's a pity the CD reissues can't handle the original double LP's locked grooves, but even if it doesn't last forever, the music is infinitely convoluted.
Again I say,"This is what Punk Rock sounds like."
Tracks:
| Metal Machine Music A-1 | 16:01 | |
| Metal Machine Music A-2 | 16:01 | |
| Metal Machine Music A-3 | 16:01 | |
| Metal Machine Music A-4 16:01 |
SPECIFICATIONS
Sony 1/2 track
Uher 1/4 track
Pioneer 1/4 track
5 piggyback Marshall Tube Amps in series
Arbitor distortor (Jimi's)
Marantz Preamps
Marantz Amps
Altec Voice of America Monitor Speakers
Sennheiser Headphones
Drone cognizance and harmonic possibilities vis a vis Lamont Young's Dream Music
Rock orientation, melodically disguised, i.e. drag
Avoidance of any type of atonality.
Electro-Voice high filter microphones
Fender Tremolo Unit
Sunn Tremolo Unit
Ring Modulator/Octave Relay Jump
Fender Dual Showman Bass Amp with Reverb Unit (Pre-Columbia) white
No Synthesizers
No Arp
No Instruments?
--10 db + 57db
--20 hz--+30,000 hz
--12 kz--+28,000 kz
Distortion 0.02 bass and treble ceilings
Combinations and Permutations built upon constant harmonic Denstity Increase and Melodic Distractions.
STRICT STEREO SEPARATION
No panning
No phasing
No
Download Metal Machine Music Here!
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2 comments:
Only Elvis Presley's 1974 "talking album only," Having Fun with Elvis on Stage, rated higher than Metal Machine Music as the worst rock 'n' roll album of all time in Jimmy Guterman and Owen O'Donnell's The Worst Rock & Roll Records of All Time. (And the Elvis LP is a story unto itself.)
It's all subjective. That was Elvis's best record by a mile, as this was Lou Reeds. The worst rock'n'roll records of allll time should contain stuff like Meat Loaf's 'Bat Out Of hell' and Dire Straits' 'Brothers in Arms'.Two crimes against humanity if ever there was two?
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