Lou Reed与重金属乐队Metallica的合作专辑，2011年11月发行。二者的合作始于2009年的摇滚名人堂25周年时Lou Reed与Metallica的同台演出，两年之后，他们开始计划合作录制一张录音室专辑。专辑中的歌曲都是Lou Reed近几年的未发行作品（其中许多是为戏剧Lulu创作），Lou Reed邀请Metallica为它们重新编曲。 在2009年10月的美国摇滚名人殿堂25周年纪念演唱会，纽约前卫摇滚乐之王Lou Reed与缔造全球1亿张专辑销售的重摇滚名团Metallica携手合作，演绎了Lou Reed在The Velvet Underground乐团时期的招牌作"Sweet Jane"、"White Light/White Heat"。Lou Reed在这场演出之后深觉彼此的音乐宛如天作之合，萌生了合作计划，2011年岁末，这群豪杰完成了一张融合诗词文采、前卫摇滚、重金属摇滚、噪音摇滚的划时代大碟【Lulu】。 Lou Reed在歌曲中抒发个人的性爱与药瘾生活体验，改变摇滚乐的创作走向，他自1972年起发表许多风格迥异的专辑，像是探究死亡的不朽经典『Berlin』、弥漫诱惑氛围的专辑『Coney Island Baby』、以guitar feedback弹奏方式表现噪音摇滚与重金属摇滚的专辑『Metal Machine Music』、庞克摇滚标竿之作『Street Hassle』、充满文学风采的概念专辑『The Raven』，他同时也创作了"Walking On The Wild Side"、"Perfect Day"…等跨世代艺人争相演绎的名曲。1981年于洛杉矶成军的Metallica乐团，在1991年至2008年间，连创『Metallica』、『Load』、『ReLoad』、『St. Anger』、『Death Magnetic』等5张冠军专辑，历年专辑销售超过1亿张，荣获9座葛莱美奖、3座告示牌音乐奖。 【Lulu】专辑由Lou Reed与Metallica连手制作。双方原本是想灌录一张诠释Lou Reed早期创作歌曲的专辑，就在准备进驻录音室的前夕，Lou Reed提出不同的点子，建议将他为美国前卫剧场导演Robert Wilson与德国剧团The Berliner Ensemble在2010年4月于柏林首演的歌剧「Lulu」进行创作时，从「Lulu」这出剧的源头--德国表现主义派剧作家Frank Wedekind 20世纪初期的两部歌剧作品「Earth Spirit」、「Pandora's Box」中得到灵感的创作曲，还有他在2011年与意大利绘图大师Lorenzo Mattotti携手将自己曾经在2003年融合美国作家爱伦坡的叙事诗作「The Raven」的概念专辑进行绘本小说改编时所创作的歌曲交由Metallica进行独特的音乐重制计划，Lou Reed认为只有透过摇滚乐才能将「Lulu」这出歌剧赋予最真实的生命力，Metallica主唱James Hetfield在听过Lou Reed的这些创作曲后，对于丰富的文词以及歌曲的视野留下深刻印象，双方在相知相惜的情况下，以最真诚的摇滚性格、最纯的摇滚能量，将当代摇滚乐推向更高的境界。Metallica吉他手Kirk Hammett为【Lulu】下了绝佳批注：「这绝对不是Metallica的专辑，或是Lou Reed的专辑，它与众不同，是全新的怪兽，全新的混种音乐。」 by Mark Deming First and foremost, Lulu is a Lou Reed album. Metallica may receive collaborative billing, and Reed has made canny use of the band's skill set, but it's clear after the first ten minutes that he is the auteur on this project, and most Metallica fans are going to be awfully puzzled by Lulu. Then again, Reed's fans may be scratching their heads, too -- Lulu is a purposefully difficult album, one that insists you meet it on its own terms, and the angry flood of sounds and ideas that pours from its ten long songs demands more than a little patience. Lulu had its genesis in a theater project by frequent Reed collaborator Robert Wilson, who was creating a new adaptation of the plays of Frank Wedekind; in these songs Reed sings from the perspective of a young woman who is corrupted by her experiences with men, as well as some of the characters she meets. The personal pronouns offer occasional clues as to whom Reed is channeling at a given moment, but for most of its 87 minutes, Lulu sounds like one long, bitter, spiteful rant as Reed pours out gallons of lyrical bile, mostly unfettered by rhyme schemes, and with rare exception Reed doesn't sing here, he mutters or shouts or barks like an angry beast. At the age of 69, time seems to be catching up with Reed's strength, but he uses it to his advantage on Lulu, and while he frequently sounds like a mean and slightly crazy old man here, it absolutely suits the tenor of the piece. Reed holds nothing back, and the torrent of curious, ugly, and puzzling images gets to be more than a bit much, rarely cohering into a larger whole. As for Metallica, it's easy to see why Reed wanted to work with them -- for this music, he obviously wanted a massive wall of guitars, and James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett certainly deliver, and with the band's usual acrobatic soloing stripped from these performances, they summon a towering wall of chugging menace on "Dragon," "Frustration," and "Mistress Dread." Reed wanted Metallica for their strength and stamina, and they deliver, but when he needs subtlety or dynamics they often drop the ball, especially in Lars Ulrich's drumming, which is clumsier and busier than it should be, and Hetfield's vocal interjections, which are full of arena-level bombast and sound silly compared to Reed's weary croak, making the frequent disconnect between the music and the lyrics all the more telling. It's not difficult to see what Reed was shooting for on Lulu, but one might argue Metallica were not the right collaborators for the project -- the huge, arty drone of Sunn 0))), the stop-on-a dime assault of the Jesus Lizard, or the limber noise of Shellac might have better served Reed's vision. Ultimately, Lulu is a brave experiment for both Reed and Metallica, but it's one that falters as often as it succeeds.