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Yesterday, it was announced that avant-crooner Scott Walker and drone metal pioneers Sunn O)))are working on an album together. It's the sort of pairing that might seem odd at first, but actually has a deeper logic: While Walker began his career as a mainstream pop singer, the last 20 years of his career have found him moving towards noise, darkness, and abstraction. Though it remains to be seen just how Scott O))) will pan out, these kinds of team-ups are always at least... interesting, aren’t they? From David Bowie's work with Trent Reznor to the notorious Lulu, here are five notable examples from over the years.
Neil Young + Pearl Jam: Mirror Ball (1995)
The apex of Neil Young's "Godfather of Grunge" years came when the flannel-clad rocker hunkered down in a Seattle studio with Pearl Jam for a few days in 1995 and knocked out Mirror Ball. The finished product isn't a masterpiece by any stretch, but it has its moments. Young's connection to grunge was always a little tenuous—it's hard to find anyting on the first few Pearl Jam records that sounds explicitly influenced by him—but Mirror Ball shows that the band had definitely worn out the grooves on their Crazy Horse LPs, as they get (relatively) loose, crank up the distortion, and send Young soaring off on some inspired guitar excursions.
High point: Relentless and churning, "I'm The Ocean" stands tall as one of Young's 1990s masterpieces.
Lou Reed + Metallica: Lulu (2011)
In a career that confounded expectations at every turn, the late Lou Reed went out with a doozy. Lulu, his brutal double-album collab with Metallica, was mostly met with derision from fans and critics. Pitchfork's Stuart Berman: "exhaustingly tedious." Blabbermouth's Don Kaye: "a catastrophic failure." Grantland's Chuck Klosterman: "If the Red Hot Chili Peppers acoustically covered the 12 worst Primus songs for Starbucks, it would still be slightly [better] than this." Is it all that bad, though? While Lulu is undoubtedly flawed, one can't help but admire the harrowing, often pug-ugly imagery of Reed's lyrics—the work of a truly restless and uncompromising soul. If only they had decided to wipe James Hetfield's unfortunate backup vocals from the mix.
High point:Lulu's closer "Junior Dad" burns slowly for nearly 20 minutes, moving from meditative Metallica riffage to ambient-classical drift as Reed whispers hauntingly of "psychic savagery."
David Bowie + Nine Inch Nails: Outside Tour (1995)
At the height of their mid-90s, Downward Spiral-era ubiquity, Nine Inch Nails could have easily sold out arenas on their own. But in 1995, they opted to fill the opening slot on a double bill with David Bowie. Audiences weren't particularly thrilled with the pairing; many NIN fans headed for the door once Trent Reznor and co. left the stage and Bowie devotees were frustrated by the singer's concentration on material from the just-released Outside album. "I personally did like the combination of NIN and me, but my fans didn’t," Bowie quipped after the fact. "Bad luck!" Clips of Nine Inch Nails and Bowie's band playing together onstage (as they did for a portion of every show) demonstrate that they could set off plenty of musical sparks, however.
High point: The Nine Inch Nails/Bowie live rendition of Outside's "Hallo Spaceboy" is an explosive industrial rock powerhouse.
Brian Eno + U2 (Passengers): Original Soundtracks 1 (1996)
Eno and U2 had been working together for more than a decade when they released the collaborative Original Soundtracks under the name Passengers. Taking Eno's Music For Films as a template, the compositions here are meant to be soundtracks for imaginary films. The music suggests that Eno was given free reign, with skittering beats and oddly beguiling washes of keyboards that might surprise most U2 fans. But the album is worth discovering, as it hints at a "road-not-taken" for the band—an artier, more interesting path when compared to their latter-day work. Even though Original Soundtracks 1 had that numeral appended to its title, a second volume has yet to materialize.
High point: "Slug" offers up a beautiful, slow-motion groove and features one of Bono's least-annoying vocals of the last decade-and-a-half or so.
Warren Zevon + R.E.M.: Hindu Love Gods
Having Warren Zevon replace Michael Stipe as the lead singer of R.E.M. might not sound like a great idea on paper, but it worked out surprisingly well for a little while there. The two parties first got together for a crackling 1986 single with a cover of the Easybeats’ “Gonna Have A Good Time” on the A-side and an early unreleased R.E.M. number, “Narrator”, on the flip. Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry would later serve as the backing band for a good portion of Zevon’s 1987 solo album Sentimental Hygiene, one of his strongest efforts in the 1980s. But the chemistry between Zevon and R.E.M.’s instrumentalists is probably best showcased on the raw, booze-fueled covers set recorded during the Sentimental Hygiene sessions, later released under the name Hindu Love Gods.
High point: The Hindu Love Gods’ rendition of “Raspberry Beret” lovingly reimagines Prince’s classic tune as a rollicking garage rock number.