METALLICA: Fan-Created, LOU REED-Free Edit Of 'The View' Available

A two-minute fan-created edit of "The View" from "Lulu" the collaboration between Lou Reed and METALLICA can be streamed in the Vimeo clip below (courtesy of MetalInsider.net). The edit features none of Reed's vocal contributions and consists solely of METALLICA's parts, with guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield telling us repeatedly that he is the view, the root, the progress, the aggressor and the "table," which in the song's official lyrics is actually written as "the tablet," as in the blocks of stone.

"Lulu" will be released on November 1 in North America via Warner Bros. Records and one day earlier (October 31) in the rest of the world through Universal Music. The CD was co-produced by Reed, METALLICA, Hal Willner who has produced albums for Reed, Marianne Faithfull, and Laurie Anderson, among others and Greg Fidelman. Fidelman also mixed the record.

METALLICA frontman James Hetfield sought to soothe fans alarmed by the music they've heard so far from the band's upcoming collaboration with Lou Reed in an interview with an Argentinian radio station. Hetfield said about the album, "It's definitely different. This is not the new METALLICA studio record . . . I'm sure there's some METALLICA fans that will think that 'This is the new METALLICA record. I don't like it. I'm scared.' And it's not. This is a project that was presented to us that we wanted to challenge ourselves with."

Hetfield added, "There will be fans that it will be difficult for them to understand, but we can't stop being METALLICA, we can't stop exploring what we wanna do as an artist. We don't like limiting ourselves. But we're not doing it just to mess with the fans; that's for sure. If they don't like it, wait until the next record where we're fully focused on METALLICA, which we're actually writing right now."

Hetfield described how the collaboration was born after Reed and METALLICA jammed together at the 25th anniversary concerts for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. He recalled, "After the playing, [Reed] felt so good, he felt so alive that backstage there were some friends of his coming up to us and saying, 'What did you do to him? We've never seen him smile so much.' And then he just yelled down the hallway as we were leaving, 'We should do a record together' . . . He had told us that we're the band he always wanted to have."

On whether METALLICA and Reed will perform "Lulu" live, Hetfield said, "We would love to do some shows I don't know how many, I don't know where. How many can we do together? It doesn't need to be 20 shows and it doesn't need to be one show somewhere in the middle there, I think, to give everyone a taste of it and just see what it's like."

Lou Reed-free version of "The View":

EPK (Electronic Press Kit):