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.

In many ways, MMM revolutionized rock criticism, if for nothing more than inspiring new and spectacular ways for writers to expound on how gargantuanly something sucks. Naturally, the famously contrary (and Lou Reed-worshipping) Lester Bangs loved it -- he wrote one of his most popular essays, The Greatest Album Ever Made, in praise of it. But mostly, MMM is well known not because people have actually heard it, but because it consistently ranks in critics’ lists as among the worst records ever made.

So, if it’s so dreadful, why won’t it die?

Reissued by BMG in 1998 and again by Buddha Records in 2000, Metal Machine Music is about to be resurrected again, this time in the form of a live performance by German chamber ensemble Zeitkratzer. Recorded at the Berlin Opera House in 2002 and featuring Reed on guitar in the third segment, the recording may finally put to bed rumors that Reed initially created MMM to extract himself from a contract with then-label RCA.

Or will it?

Reed’s statements regarding MMM over the years have not only failed to illuminate his intentions, but have further muddied the waters in terms of whether the album should be regarded as an important touchstone of the contemporary noise movement or, as one disgruntled Amazon.com shopper recently described it, “A must-hear for the bored, the pretentious, and the certifiable.”

Regardless, Reed had to be impressed with Zeitkratzer saxophonist Ulrich Krieger’s off-the-charts OCD. When Krieger first approached him about the project – explaining that he had transcribed the full album into sheet music -- Reed’s response was, “It can’t be done.” Well, apparently it can. And, in September, San Francisco’s Asphodel label will prove it with a CD/DVD set of the performance that also features an extensive interview with Reed. Don’t expect it to be too revealing though. If MMM is a joke, Reed is not only laughing last – he’s laughing all the way to the bank.

 

You may want to check out this live 2006 clip of Zeitkrater performing with experimental guitarist/vocalist Keiji Haino before you plunk down your change for their version of MMM. It’s not for the squeamish…