Pitchfork

Lou Reed has switched his focus from one old album to another, from Berlin to the even more daunting Metal Machine Music. With his theatrical adaptation and subsequent European tour of the former out of the way now, Reed will release a CD/DVD performance of the latter via Asphodel on September 4 in the U.S. and September 3 in the UK and Europe.

The new Metal Machine Music release is a live document of Reed's performance of the album with German avant-garde chamber orchestra Zeitkratzer at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele on March 17, 2002 in Berlin. The performance showcases Zeitkratzer's transcribed score of the piece (quite a feat for a record that's bascially a bunch of guitar feedback) and features Reed slinging the electric guitar.

The DVD portion of the package includes the performance and an exclusive, 25-minute interview with Reed himself.