Lou Reed: 'Metallica collaboration is perfection'

Lou Reed has described his upcoming collaboration with Metallica as "a marriage made in heaven".

The ex-Velvet Underground frontman wrote ten songs for an as-yet-untitled album which has been recorded with the metal band.

Reed told Rolling Stone: "A marriage made in heaven. I knew it from the first day we played together, 'Oh, man, this is perfection, right in front of me'.

"They're bringing Metallica, with all that power. And because they're pretty sophisticated, wherever I go, they're still with me."


Reed explained that he originally planned to re-record "fallen jewels" from his back catalogue that "no-one remembered" for the hook-up, before instead proposing to use tracks he had written for theatrical production Lulu, which is currently running in Berlin.

Metallica frontman James Hetfield added: "Lars [Ulrich] and I listened to the stuff and it was like, 'Wow, this is very different'.

"It was scary at first, because the music was so open. But then I thought, 'This could go anywhere'... I told Lou I want to be there when people hear it. I want to see their faces."

Tracks on the album include 'Pumping Blood and 'Mistress Dead'.