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From The Sunday Times
September 9, 2007

Zeitkratzer: Lou Reed's Metal Machine, recorded live

Robert Sandall

When Lou Reed subtitled his 1975 double album of noise guitar “an electronic instrumental composition”, hardly anybody believed him. It’s doubtful whether many more will now, but this fully scored version by the German contemporary-music ensemble Zeitkratzer, recorded in a Berlin opera house in 2002, is still a revelation of sorts. It can’t have been easy transcribing an hour of howling guitar feedback for an 11-piece group of wind and strings, but the result is more interesting and listenable than Reed’s original. It’s not as pretty as Bang on a Can’s version of Brian Eno’s Music for Airports, and will appeal only to lovers of modern esoterica – but few records investigate the concept of “noise” more intelligently than this one.

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Zeitkratzer's transcription of Lou Reed's original 1975 Metal Machine Music album is stunning. It's incredible to think how the German music ensemble transcribed the original feedback and turned it into a convincing classical contemporary acoustic score performed by 11 musicians. No doubt Reed was way ahed of his time with what has since become the benchmark of industrial rock. Everything's gone full circle now. Impressive stuff.

William Seaton, Nottingham , England

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