Metal Machine Music

"It was for a certain time and place of mind," explains Lou Reed in the original liner notes of his 1975 feedback overture "Metal Machine Music," now in its 25th year of existence and here available on CD domestically for the first time ever . It's been equally revered as both the crowning achievement of Reed's musical genius and one of the worst albums in the history of rock.

But regardless of how its been perceived throughout the years, the former Velvet Underground frontman's four-part "electronic instrumental composition" stands as one of the most pivotal moments in his monumental career. Armed with a four-track recorder, two guitars and a wall of cranked-up amplifiers, Reed created "Metal Machine Music" as a sonic companion to the Anime Beta Ring, a chemical structure commonly found in LSD.

So for those who've been curious as to what exactly a bad acid trip sounds like, in the world of "Metal Machine Music," it's heavily akin to the most disjointed Stockhausen movement crash landing in the abdomen of the Velvets' immortal noise jam "Sister Ray." Indeed, the sound and spirit of this album helped set the tone for industrial, no-wave, and post-rock in the decades to follow.

To celebrate the anniversary of this controversial masterpiece, Buddha has once again released "Metal Machine Music" into an unwitting modern world, beautifully repackaged in a limited-edition, numbered slipcase and remastered to attain the full stereophonic gristle of Reed's cacophonous vision. And it's just as cerebrally hazardous as it was back in 1975. Long may it squall.

-- Ron Hart