"If you get through four sides you're dumber than I am," said Lou, talking about his RCA kiss-off Metal Machine Music. If that double album wasn't enough, he'd planned a 12" disco version to ram the final nail into the coffin of his contract. It didn't fly. RCA kept him on the roster until Coney Island Baby limped out the following year, and the word on the street was Lou Who? But there's a white label test pressing out there, with the ten minute extended version on one side, and a five minute radio edit [as if - Ed.] on the back. We know that Lou used a PAiA programmable drum set, and the whole thing is just terrible enough to be an Art Statement.
The pressing got one public play, at David Mancuso’s Loft on lower Broadway. Metal Machine Disco Music got frisbeed into the crowd barely a minute into the groove. "It was a joke," said Mancuso, "but like all of Lou's jokes it wasn't funny." Reed never referred to it again.
Maybe its time has come. Probably not. Here it is anyway.
You want this? YOU WANT THIS??? Tell me how bad you want this, on a scale of ten. Ten being you'd self-amputate a leg without anesthetic to hear it, one being, "gee whiz, I pass. But thanks anyway."
ReplyDeleteIf the reserve price is met, I'll upload it. Sound fair?
I don't think I made it to the end of side one. Can't think of anything worse than this, so of course I'd like to hear it 8-) Thanks in advance !
ReplyDeleteA guy I know in NO, who otherwise is unbelievably knowledgable re music, will still argue that MMM is one of the top 10 greatest lps of all kind, because of the statement Reed was allegedly making. Only statement I get out of it is what a load of crap. I want it so bad, I think it should somehow be edited into the classic riff in Animal Crackers, between Groucho and Chico. To listen to MMM, or Disco MMM, it should be played in the sewer, for just a cover charge.
ReplyDeleteI have listened to it all, on Spotify. (The blog doesn't write itself, after all.) Before that I had only heard the excerpt on the Between Thought And Expression box set. If the disco version has that "suckatiss" four on the floor combo I would gladly enjoy the laugh.
ReplyDeleteHEY, WARDSTER ... sorry, accidental capslock - when you going to review Clive's Original Band? I only ask because they seem at once out of your wheelhouse and strangely strange and oddly brilliant and I'd be interested in what you think. More interested than in what you (or anyone, this isn't personal) thinks of an Elton John album, anyway.
Deleteon the list of Things To Get To...
DeleteLord, what fools (we) mortals be...
ReplyDeleteNot being a big Lou fan, I'd give it a 1, but i would like to hear a minute of it just to hear what the fuss is all about.
ReplyDeleteKeeping in mind that I'm a fan of Lou Reed and avant-garde/experimental music, I'd say a solid "1"
ReplyDeleteYou're a very funny guy. I like you.
DeleteI want this masterpiece of musical defiance as much as Randy Random Guy wants a night of uninterrupted 'metaphysical contemplation' with Kreemé and Rholonne Déodoranté
ReplyDeleteYour trading card is way overdue.
DeleteDon't know if I want to hear, but...I like to watch.
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/4wJSzGNWtL6
ReplyDelete"Enjoy!"
I never thought there would be something else on my Rosebud list right next to "The Day the Clown Cried", but here it is. In a perfect world this would be plating as people queue up to watch the movie. A solid 10.
ReplyDeleteI'm negotiating with Harry Shearer for a copy of his rough cut of "Clown". No flipping!
DeleteHere's a clip about that movie, which claims it was supposed to be finally released in June 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHLRggYzA90
DeleteSo all in all, someone played Lou a copy of the Les Yper Sound ep. I have a sneaking suspicion that MMM originally had the disco beat. The cadences of sound fits too well with the backing.
DeleteThis is fantastic.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6isXVap-ego
Thank you.
Leave it to those wacky French. I think I'm going to have a Jericho Jerk sandwich for lunch and chase it down with some Teen Tonic!
DeleteHaving liked a lot of Lou's stuff ..but never heard or listened to (to my knowledge) MMM .. oi'll gi' it a foive!! .. I can always delete it if .......?????
ReplyDeleteDelete this, and you're deleting an important chapter in the history of Art.
DeleteLou recorded a song called Disco Mystic on the 1979 album The Bells, not on most peoples favourite LR albums list, but one I’m rather fond of.
ReplyDeleteAs for MMM, I listened to most of it once, and have no intention to revisit it, but thanks for asking - I believe I also have an edited version on a LR compilation. So it’s a ‘1’ from me.
I listen to Metal Machine Music at least once every year. I've never made it more than five or six minutes into a side. It's super-annoying, really hard for me to listen to. So, a disco version would be more annoyning? or less annoying? I simply MUST know. So this is a "10" - I MUST HAVE THIS, as long as I don't have to pay any money or do anything really difficult to acquire it.
ReplyDeleteBetter than I expected. It's got a good beat, I can dance to it. I give it a 50.
ReplyDelete*TINGGG!* So! A hit there for Lou Reed. Here's the new one from Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick n' Tich ...
Delete