Lou Reed [ tickets ]'s infamous 1975 double-LP "Metal Machine Music" will take on a drastic new shape in September with the release of a reinterpretation of the work by an avant-garde ensemble.

German contemporary chamber music group Zeitkratzer [ tickets ] will release a live CD/DVD of its re-imagining of Reed's most notorious work, which is widely held to be unlistenable, even by the bulk of the former Velvet Underground member's fans. The set, entitled "Lou Reed: Metal Machine Music--Performed by Zeitkratzer Live," will hit stores Sept. 4.

Zeitkratzer saxophone player Ulrich Kreiger transcribed the original album in its entirety to create an acoustic score for the ensemble to play live, according to a press release. The group premiered the piece in March 2002 at a concert hall in Berlin. Reed himself appears on the recording, playing guitar on the album's third track.

The DVD includes the entire concert mixed in 5.1 Surround, and also includes an exclusive 25-minute interview with Reed.

Widely derided upon its initial release, "Metal Machine Music" consists mainly of what a press release calls "noise: feedback squalls, amplifier hums and the tortured screech of electronic gadgets." The double album consists of four sidelong tracks, each listed in the liner notes as being exactly 16 minutes and one second long.

According to Rolling Stone magazine, Reed once claimed in an interview that "anyone who gets to side four is dumber than I am."

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