METALLICA "BEYOND MAGNETIC"

With very little hype, Metallica released the Beyond Magnetic EP at the end of last year. Made up of four songs that didn't make the Death Magnetic LP (produced by Rick Rubin), they played all four of these songs during their four night, 30th anniversary celebration at the Fillmore in San Francisco. (I'll be writing a separate post about that: all four shows are available at Metallica's website as paid downloads, and so far, they are worth the money).

This EP is like Reload to Death Magnetic's Load.  From the same sessions, but a bit more expansive, more jams.   I like the songs, especially the last one "Rebel Of Babylon." Like Death Magnetic, it recalls Master Of Puppets, but (sadly) without any songs that are quite that classic.

Still, it is well timed, coming shortly after the release of their double album with Lou Reed, Lulu. After that rather avant-garde project, it's good to remind everyone that Metallica is a metal band. (That said, I think Metallica made a great backing band for Lou on his Velvet Underground classics "Sweet Jane" and "White Light/White Heat.")

LOU REED. METALLICA. LULU. WTF?

Gitmo, meet your new soundtrack!

I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way (other than the fact that I'm against torture).  But Lou Reed's unlikely double album collaboration with Metallica, Lulu, is one of the most abrasive albums I've ever heard, and one of the most difficult to sit through. I really admire the totally uncompromising spirit of the album: it is about as uncommercial as anything I've heard from a major artist in recent memory.

There's something admirable about a band like Metallica doing something so totally challenging to themselves and their audience (and Metallica must know that fans wouldn't like the idea of them collaborating with Lou Reed, and they'd like it less after hearing it).

That said, I don't really think I'll listen to this album too much. If I could go five years back in time and play Lulu for someone, they'd probably think that it was a Saturday Night Live skit making fun of what would happen if Lou Reed and Metallica did an album together.

In the years since Lou's classic 1989 LP New York, he's adopted a sort of atonal talking style of doing his vocals, and that's what he does here.  I'm a huge fan of his music, and I even like some of his post-New York stuff.  I liked his collaboration with his Velvet Underground bandmate, John Cale, Songs for 'Drella. Magic & Loss is an incredible album, but only if you're in a certain mood. But New York is the last Lou album that I just reach for because I want to listen to it again. Of course, he has a lot of great albums, and all the Velvet Underground LPs are incredible.  A lot of Lou's influences are avant-garde, outsider music.  But he's also influenced by doo-wop and Dion.  I'd love to see him to something you can sort of sing along to, and I thought this album might be that chance. But I again, I respect that he doesn't care what I, or anyone else, wanted with this album.

Metallica definitely do a solid job, but there's only so much they can do with this material.  I like the opener, "Brandenburg Gate," and also "Iced Honey," but that's kind of it.  I wouldn't mind seeing them do those songs in concert, with or without Lou.

I find myself wondering why Metallica agreed to this.  They definitely worked surprisingly well with Lou at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25 anniversary concert in New York a few years back, they did a great version of "Sweet Jane." They must have been surprised to have been asked by Lou to do a record, and I'm sure it appealed to Lars Ulrich and Kirk Hammett (although James Hetfield is a fan of dark outsider music by the likes of Nick Cave and Tom Waits so it makes sense that Lou's music would appeal to him as well).  Still, Lulu makes St. Anger sound like "The Black Album," and they have to have realized that this would probably be the lowest selling album in their catalog.  But I guess they wanted to do something different and challenge themselves, and that's admirable.

I imagine that their next album will be much tighter, shorter and accessible.  In fact, I've heard that they will play "The Black Album" in its entirety at a European festival this summer. Well, if this album sends them in a more song-oriented direction, I'll be grateful for Lulu.

VIDEO: FISTFUL OF MERCY "THINGS GO 'ROUND"

Yesterday was Record Store Day, and hopefully some of you went to record stores, and bought some cool exclusive Record Store Day stuff, as well as some albums that you've been wanting to get for a while.

Fistful Of Mercy put out a 7" single with their cover of The Velvet Underground's "Pale Blue Eyes." The B-side was "Things Go 'Round," recorded live at the SiriusXM studios.  I actually was one of the camera people on that shoot, so I thought I'd share the video.  It was a huge thrill to be in the studio for this. Ya'll know what a huge Ben Harper fan I am: this was the first time I ever saw him play bass.

I'd love to see the band release some of their other covers: when I saw them at the Apollo Theater, they also did Bob Dylan's "Buckets of Rain" and, in one of the highlights of the night, PJ Harvey's "To Bring You My Love." Ben has a new album coming out next month, but I look forward to seeing him with Dhani Harrison, Joseph Arthur and Jessy Greene (she should be a full-fledged member! - I think she will, once again, tour with the Foo Fighters when they hit the road) in the future.

"I'LL SCRATCH YOURS" - PETER GABRIEL COVERS

When Peter Gabriel first announced his Scratch My Back album of orchestral covers, he also mentioned that he'd be curating a collection called I'll Scratch Yours, with those same artists covering Peter's songs. But he's actually taking a more modern approach: releasing one digital "split-single" each month, with a song from Scratch My Back, backed by a reciprocal cover by the artist he is covering. The problem is, iTunes hasn't promoted these singles at all, so you have to know to look for them.  That's why I'm here.  I have them all (so far), let me tell you what I think.

Also, I have to say that when I discussed this album on SIRIUS XM OutQ's The Morning Jolt With Larry Flick, I was kind of not into the album, which is odd for me, as I have enjoyed every Peter Gabriel album up until this point. Taken as a whole, it can be kind of slow and pretentious. But taken as singles, I like it better. I've warmed up to it a bit.

Anyway, the first split single featured Magnetic Fields' frontman Stephin Merritt covering "Not One Of Us" from Peter's third album. It's probably the best of the covers so far.  It has some added emotional context because it was recorded right after California voted against gay marraige. I am not a Magnetic Fields fan, but I was impressed by the song. Plus, Peter's cover of their "The Book Of Love" is maybe my favorite song on the album, and that inspired me to get the original, which I like. I prefer Peter's version, actually.

The second was Paul Simon's cover of the classic "Biko."  I actually love this one also.  I think it is the best thing Paul Simon has done in ages. He's singing and playing a moving song on acoustic guitar.  It sounds like it could have been his song.  (In contrast, I did not like Peter's cover of Paul's "The Boy In The Bubble," one of my favorite Paul Simon songs).

Next was Bon Iver's version of "Come Talk To Me," a song that originally featured Sinead O'Connor from the excellent Us album. Bon Iver one of the indie rock bands that I've heard in the past few years that I've kind of enjoyed. "Come Talk To Me" is one of my favorite Peter Gabriel songs, and Bon Iver really take it somewhere else, but I like this new interpretation. Peter's version of Bon Iver's "Flume"?  I think it would work well in an indie film, but I don't love it on its own.

Lou Reed covered Peter's "Solisbury Hill."  Supposedly, Peter wrote this after leaving Genesis to start his solo career, so I figured Lou Reed would identify with it.  I am a fan of Lou's, but I didn't dig his version of this classic. Meanwhile, Peter's verison of a relatively recent Lou Reed song, "The Power Of The Heart," was positively moving.  It's a side of Lou Reed most people aren't familiar with.

The latest release is Elbow's "Mercy Street," an under-appreciated song from So. The singer sounds  bit like Peter Gabriel in parts, I think the version is pretty good. I don't love Peter's verison of their "Mirrorball." This is my least favorite split single so far.

Peter's website reports that next month we'll get David Byrne's cover of "I Don't Remember." It's one of his more rocking songs (it's from the classic third album), I'm interested to hear what Byrne does with it.

PETER GABRIEL'S SCRATCH MY BACK DUE 2/15

A running joke among Peter Gabriel and his fans is that, when people ask when his new album is coming out, he says "By Christmas," adding that he won't the year that that Christmas is that he's referring to. So I was suprised that, after writing about his upcoming album Scratch My Back, and that it was coming out in the spring of 2010, it is actually coming out earlier.  His website says that it is due out on February 15, and they are taking pre-orders. The album is all orchestral (meaning no guitar or drums) covers. The album features David Bowie's "Heroes," Paul Simon's "The Boy In The Bubble," Talking Heads' "Listening Wind," Lou Reed's "The Power Of The Heart," Arcade Fire's "My Body Is A Cage," Randy Newman's "I Think It's Going To Rain Today," Neil Young's "Philadelphia," Radiohead's "Street Spirit (Fade Out,)" as well as songs by Elbow, Bon Iver, The Magnetic Fields and Regina Spektor.

It looks like Peter is doing some European orchestra shows for the album, but no U.S. dates yet. I've also heard that he wants to produce an album called I'll Scratch Yours, where all the artists who he covers return the favor. I doubt Neil Young would do that, and I don't imagine Talking Heads will reunite to record a Peter Gabriel cover, but you never know!

One month after Scratch My Back comes out, Peter and his former bandmates of Genesis will be getting into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 15. I doubt Peter will perform, and keyboardist Tony Banks has said he'll be happy just to be there and enjoy the night, (plus Phil Collins is injured and probably can't play drums), but I hope he shows up.

HOLY S*&^! THE VELVET UNDERGROUND TO REUNITE (SORT OF)

I have no idea how this happened, but former Velvet Underground members Lou Reed, Mo Tucker and, surprisingly, Doug Yule, are "reuniting" on stage... at the New York Public Library for a conversation hosted by Rolling Stone's David Fricke. Already sold out!

I'm surprised about Yule - he replaced the much more "avant-garde" violinist/pianist John Cale in the band. More to the point, he continued on as "The Velvet Underground" after Lou, Mo and guitarist Sterling Morrison left the band. I think he actually recorded a VU album where he played all the instruments, but with future Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice. He didn't participate in the Underground's reunion tour in the '90s, and wasn't inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the band either. I hope a video or transcript of this event becomes available somewhere.

PETER GABRIEL'S NEXT PROJECT: "SCRATCH MY BACK"

A few months ago, I wrote about Peter Gabriel's new project, and that he has reunited with Bob Ezrin, who produced some of his early albums. Well, I just looked into it a bit, and it turns out that the album is going to be called Scratch My Back, according to Peter's website. The idea of the album is that is a "song-swap": Peter will cover songs by artists, who, in turn, will cover his songs. Stylistically, it is an acoustic, orchestral album, meaning that there will be no guitars, drums, or "world music" instruments. One of the songs on the album will be Paul Simon's "The Boy In The Bubble," which is an interesting choice. Peter 's So and Paul's Graceland were some of the first albums by so-called "western" artists that were referred to as "world music" in the '80s. They were both incredibly original albums that still hold up to this day. Coincidentally (or not!) I wrote about both albums for VH1's 100 Greatest Albums of All Time book. Anyway, Peter is collaborating on the new album with a guy named John Metcalfe, who, in an interview with the UK's Guardian, said that other "swaps" on the album would be with Radiohead, Lou Reed, Bon Iver, David Bowie and Neil Young. The album is supposed to come out in the spring of 2010.

If you're a Peter Gabriel fan and new to No Expiration, by the way, check out Big Blue Ball, a hard-to-explain album that Peter curated which was released last year. I wrote about it here.

DON'T MESS WITH LOU REED

You've got to check out this interview that New York magazine did with Lou Reed about his new SIRIUS Radio show on SIRIUS Disorder. Classic Lou! Did the interviewer really think he was going to get Lou Reed to comment on the SIRIUS/XM merger? 

My Lou Reed story: in 2004, while working for Video Hits One, I covered a benefit concert for WEDRock, an organization that was working to legalize gay marriage. It was a cool concert: Moby performed, so did Bob Mould, Le Tigre and Margaret Cho. Lou Reed did a spoken word performance, and let me tell you that "Walk On The Wild Side" is funnier without the music. 

Anyway, I was there doing interviews, and I was told not even to expect Lou Reed. Then, some publicist asks me if I'd be interested in speaking with Lou. I was like, I thought he wasn't doing interviews, but I'd always wanted to interview him. I turned around, and there he was. It was a noisy club, so I figured maybe he didn't hear me. But he probably did. Or maybe he was looking at me like that because, you know. I was from VH1. 

I remember it being one of the very few times I'd interviewed someone whose music I loved, but yet I wanted the interview to end as soon as possible. I didn't get intimidated much, but the fact that I was taken off guard by the opportunity to interview him, plus him hearing me being a fan, plus... well, he's Lou Reed, not Mr. Friendly, I wasn't on my game. So I guess I asked him a few questions about gay marriage, and wrapped it up. Then, as he was getting up, I asked him about a lyric from the song "The Last Great American Whale," from my favorite Lou album, New York. 

"Is it true that 'My painter friend Donald' is really John Mellencamp?" I thought I even remember Mellencamp saying that in an interview. 

Lou turned around, and I was like "Uh-oh." I won't say he smiled. I won't say he grinned. But one corner of his mouth raised maybe a half millimeter, and the shape of his eyes changed just a little bit. 

"No. 'My painter friend Donald' is actually my painter friend Donald." At least he didn't call me an asshole though 

ROCK HALL PRESENTERS ANNOUNCED

It's always fun to try and figure out who will be presenting at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's induction ceremony. Often, they try to keep it a secret up until the event, but this year they've announced it.

Billy Joel will be doing the honors for John Mellencamp. I would have thought that they would have gotten one of his Farm Aid homeboys - Neil Young, Willie Nelson or Dave Matthews. Or Bruce Springsteen. But Billy is a good choice, and in fact, I think Mellencamp was asked to do the speech for Billy Joel a few years, but when Ray Charles agreed to do it, John bowed out (as Ray Charles is an obvious huge influence on Billy Joel). Billy and Mellencamp are both artists of the people: regular-seeming guys, with lots of talent and tons of unforgettable songs, who never seemed to get their due respect from critics.

Justin Timberlake will induct Madonna. He's working on her album, and is an ambitious pop artist like Madonna. I was thinking they'd try to get one of her influences, but Justin is a good pick for that. He and his bandmates did a decent speech for Michael Jackson a few years ago. But now Justin has proved he at least has staying power.

Lou Reed will be making the speech for Leonard Cohen. Makes sense to me. Ditto for John Forgerty and The Ventures. Ben Harper will be doing the honors for Little Walter, which I think is great - just that the Hall is acknowledging Ben as an important enough artist for the event. I was thinking it would be Clapton, but I'm glad to see Ben getting some shine. He belongs in the Hall one day.

Tom Hanks will be bringing some star power, as he'll be inducting The Dave Clark 5. Apparently, this makes sense because of a role he played in the film That Thing You Do. That's cool - although I don't see how it isn't Little Steven, who has campaigned on the band's behalf for years. Maybe Bruce has a gig that night though.