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David Bowie reportedly believed that Lou Reed's reviled Metallica collaboration Lulu was a 'masterpiece'.
Reed’s widow, Laurie Anderson, revealed the information at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony this weekend when Reed was inducted.
“One of his last projects was his album with Metallica,” she said. “And this was really challenging, and I have a hard time with it. There are many struggles and so much radiance. And after Lou’s death, David Bowie made a big point of saying to me, ‘Listen, this is Lou’s greatest work. This is his masterpiece. Just wait, it will be like Berlin. It will take everyone a while to catch up.’”
Watch the video for 'The View' by Lou Reed and Metallica below
Lulu received some of the worst reviews of Reeds' career, including Pitchfork awarding it 1/10 ("For most of the record, Lou Reed and Metallica barely sound like they're on the same planet, let alone in the same room") and The Quietus memorably dismissing it as "Not only is Lulu the worst thing any of the players have been involved in, it's quite possibly a candidate for one of the worst albums ever made."
Lou Reed was induced into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame on 18 April with Patti Smith paying tribute. Smith told the crowd; "I made my first eye contact with Lou, dancing to the Velvet Underground when they were playing upstairs at Max’s Kansas City in the summer of 1970," she told the crowd. "And then somewhere along the line, Lou and I became friends. It was a complex friendship, sometimes antagonistic and sometimes sweet. Lou was sometimes emerge from the shadows at CBGBs. If I did something good, he would praise me. If I made a false move, he would break it down."
She continued: "One night, when we were touring, separately, we wound up in the same hotel, and I got a call from him, and he asked me to come to his room. He sounded a little dark, so I was a little nervous. But I went up, and the door was open, and I found him in the bathtub dressed in black. So I sat on the toilet and listened to him talk. It seemed like he talked for hours, and he talked about, well, all kinds of things."
"He spoke compassionately about the struggles of those who fall between genders. He spoke of pre-CBS fender amplifiers and political corruption. But most of all, he talked about poetry. He recited the great poets — Rupert Brooke, Hart Crane, Frank O’Hara. He spoke of the poets' loneliness and of the poets' dedication to the highest muses. When he fell into silence, I said, "Please, take care of yourself, so the world can have you as long as it can." And Lou actually smiled."
Anderson also revealed that Reed's induction would have meant a lot to him. "It’s wonderful to be here in Cleveland. Lou's genuinely proud of what he'd done and could really appreciate his own work. And, tonight, he would have been so immensely proud to be a part of this."
Lou Reed died in 2013 from liver disease at the age of 71.
