Rating: * (1 star)
Title: Metal Machine Music
Company: RCA Victor
Catalog: CPL2-1101
Year: 1975
Grade (cover/record): VG-/VG
Comments: double album; gatefold sleeve; some ring wear, minor edge and corner wear
Available: 1
Price: $50.00
"The greatest album ever made in the history of the human eardrum."
Gawd only knows if Reed set about recording the world's most irritating rock album, but by stacking up a collection of speakers, amps and recording equipment (tremolo units, ring modulators, etc.) and recording the resulting commotion, he accomplished the task. A double album set, clocking in at a seemingly endless 64 minutes, Reed turned in four sides of atonal guitar literally wallowing in distortion, feedback and what sounds like backward tapes in sections. There are no vocals, no melodies, no rhythm; the only relief coming at the end of each side. Talk about a wall of sound !!! To our ears, the results can be compared to an aural mugging. Literally unlistenable (we've yet to meet anyone who's actually listened to the double LP all the way through), most critics weren't sure what to make of it; some praising it as daring (they almost certainly hadn't bothered to listen through it), while others were honest enough to label it crap. Executives at RCA Victor were apparently stunned by the album. Initially unwilling to release it on the RCA Victor imprint, the original plan was to issue the album under the company's Red Seal classical label. Apparently mistaking the album for a live set (the stark black cover gives you that impression), Reed fans initially gobbled up roughly 100,000 copies of the album, but a flood of complaints (many from fans trying to get their money back), saw the label withdraw the set after only a few months. Reed himself was quoted as saying he was proud of the work since it was the only album he was aware of which attacked the listener. He's also been quoted as saying "Well, anyone who gets to side four is dumber than I am." Personally, we've never been able to get past one side at a single hearing. Two minutes of this stuff is guaranteed to clear out a room. In fact we've been to at least two parties where the hosts play this as the signal they party's over ... By the way, be forewarned, the fourth side has one of those endless grooves, where it keeps recycling the music until you literally lift the stylus. (The collection was originally released with a gatefold sleeve and has subsequently acquired cult status.)
"Metal Machine Music" track listing:
1.) Metal Machine Music, Pt. 1 (instrumental) (Lou Reed) - 16:10
2.) Metal Machine Music, Pt. 2 (instrumental) (Lou Reed) - 15:53
3.) Metal Machine Music, Pt. 3 (instrumental) (Lou Reed) - 16:13
4.) Metal Machine Music, Pt. 4 (instrumental) (Lou Reed) - 15:55