It would be a lot better and a lot more artistic if Lou's vocals were way lower in the mix. As it stands now, he's way too loud and sounds like Grandpa Simpson. It's overbearing. Kind of weird how everyone likes the album now.
To answer the original question: you're one of a select few. I found the album to an interesting failure.
I just listened to it the other night over a few "whiskeys". If you're in the mood for it, it's a great album overall. It sounds really great, nice and loud on a good system and the album has a good flow to it. "Cheat On Me", "Little Dog" and "Junior Dad" bring a little calm to the overall 'storm' that is "Lulu" and make it a really cool listening experience. You have to be in a certain frame of mind to enjoy the album the way I do, but I find it rewarding with each listen. It's deep. The guys in Metallica (particularly Lars) have always stood by this album and Bowie said himself that he thought it was a great achievement for Lou (and he should know) One of the most misunderstood albums of all time. Also, one of the greatest and most uncompromising farewell albums a major artist has given us (along with Bowie's "Blackstar") ****/5
Fantastic Lou Reed record. I still listen to it quite a bit. Most Metallica fans weren't going to like it because they don't like anything that isn't Master of Puppets.
I... still like this album. Little Dog and Junior Dad hit close to home for me. Unfortunately, this album's reputation was mauled by internet snark lords upon its release.
I find it rather interesting, it's solid Lou! And by the looks of it, I gather most Metallica fans were the ones appalled by it all.
Played it at the gym this morning and you are correct, great music for a workout, gives you that extra grrrr….
Lulu is an excellent album that was unfairly mauled by critics who really, REALLY, hated the idea of Metallica making an album with Lou Reed. It all smacked of high school clique warfare. This group can't hang out with that group, that sort of thing. I've always felt that if Lou made this album with, say, Radiohead, and every note was exactly the same, it would have been praised as a masterwork. In addition, I think many people became used to this image of Lou Reed as a tame, safe "NPR" artist. He was remembered more for his poppier ballads and mellow songs, and not for the angry, abrasive, atonal and openly shocking music that he created. Everybody remembers "Perfect Day" but forgets "Berlin," "White Light/White Heat" or "Metal Machine Music." To be fair, Lulu is an extremely abrasive album. It is scraggy, ugly, unshaven and angry, like an old gunslinger who just knocked down three shots of whiskey before the shootout. Much of the material is shocking, both musically and lyrically. This is not an album that you can play every day, or even more than once or twice per year. It's an event, not a habit. It sometimes feels like an assault, and you come away in a state of stunned shock, almost like those first audiences who saw The Exorcist or Psycho in the theater. Personally, I love this album and consider it one of Lou's finest statements. As a farewell album, it's absolutely magnificent and stands equal to David Bowie's Blackstar. It will always be controversial and spark fierce debates, which is most likely what the author intended. What better way to go out? Say what you will, but nobody could accuse Lou Reed of going soft in his old age. Oh, and Junior Dad is a beautiful song, especially the long cello outro. It's the perfect farewell and you couldn't ask for anything better.
I like it a lot - I always have. I think the criticism is grossly unjust - people claiming it's the worst album ever, I mean - come on! I did read a negative review once that compared Lou Reed's vocal performance to Grandpa Simpson though - I had to laugh at that, it was fair enough. I imagine the backlash came mainly from the direction of Metallica fans - as a Metallica album it ain't. The problem is that it was released as a joint effort - whereas really it should've been just a Lou Reed album, with Metallica appearing in the credits - maybe not even as Metallica, but as 'James Hetfield - guitar, vocals; Lars Ulrich - drums etc.
I suspect most of the dislike is from Metallica fans. For Lou fans, this is pretty much exactly what you would expect. I'm not always in a Lou state of mind, but when I am, this album would work just as well as Transformer.
This album keeps winding up on the "time to reappraise" list for me. When it was released, I was in a record store that played it from top to bottom and... honestly, I was kind of in a "what the ever-loving **** am I hearing?" The idea of a Metallica/Lou Reed collaboration never put me off. It sounded like something that would be interesting for both of them - especially at a time when the former felt like they were doing lazy rehashes of past glories. What came out though really felt like it didn't play to the strengths of either performer. Metallica aren't the Pixies. They aren't the Velvet Underground. Just doing basic riff rock isn't their strong suit. Likewise, Lou's voice was more suited to the moody atmospheres of The Raven by that point and trying to shout over louder backing really revealed how weak his voice had become. Someone further up the thread mentioned Blue Mask Reed delivering these lyrics. I hear it more as an attempt at revisiting the delivery on New York, but with a voice that can't quite pull it off. At this point, with there being nothing new coming from Lou (for obvious reasons), it's probably due another attentive listen to see if I can gain from it what other fans are picking up. May not happen - music is funny like that - but it's probably worth the effort.
I think Berlin is the lyrical reference point on Lou's catalog. Lulu is Berlin taken to its logical extreme and from an older perspective. Both albums are haunted by a dysfunctional relationship and love turned to deep hatred.
Listened to it for the first time earlier in the year. Really enjoyed it. Metallica aren't usually my brand of rock'n'roll, but they did a good job.
I love it and I've never been able to understand why most big Lou Reed fans wouldn't love it. I can more easily understand big Metallica fans not loving it. But Reed has done a lot of experimentation in his career, a lot of "outside," kind of avant-garde stuff, and a lot of stuff that's very "heavy" sounding and that at least partially relies on heaviness-to-"noise" being sustained in sort of a trance-like way. That goes all the way back to VU's "Sister Ray" at least, and it's not that far removed from albums like The Blue Mask.
