One thing that can be said for the song is that it certainly lives up the the bizarreness that was going through many minds that was going through many minds when the collaboration was first announced. Reed's spoken vocals on top of the heavy riffs of James Hetfield and Kirk Hammet is indeed a curious and questionable sound, and well, it's not the best combination of styles I've ever heard. I suppose we have to look at it in the way it's meant to be. As a narrative to the Frank Wedekind plays about the album's namesake, Lulu, in which Metallica serve as background music to add a sense of atmosphere. And they do that, Metallica are sounding great, as they produce an eerie and doom filled backdrop which is the true driving force of the song. However, Reed's spoken vocals really doesn't combine well with this style and the overall effect is rather uncomfortable. As I say, the song is to be viewed as the narration to a play with backing music, and looking at the lyrics ("I want to see your suicide/ I want to see you give it up/ Your life of reason/ I want you on the floor/ And in a coffin your soul shaking"), an uncomfortable effect is clearly what was desired.
I guess in that sense the song is successful for what it plans to be and the only thing I can say is if you actually want to hear what would be a simple track featuring the two forces combined, don't look here. Don't look at Lulu at all. I remain interested in the idea of the album's purpose to be the narration for a series of plays featuring background music to spoken narration though and for those who are interested in that, The View really serves as a sign of bigger things to come.
Metallica and Lou Reed's Lulu will be released on 31st October.
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