The Flaming Lips - The Dark Side Of The Moon

Before delving into this review, let me make a couple of admissions. One, I don't really care for the Flaming Lips. Yes, they're inventive and weird and they're not stagnant to any one musical idea. I can respect their existence I just don't listen to them all that much.

Second, and I said this to the Smithereens a couple of years ago (and they keep doing), what's this bullshit about covering an entire album. What makes you think that you can re-record one of the biggest, most important classics in rock history and bring anything to it that sounds like your own or unique? Why, if given the choice, would anyone listen to your version? But then I learn that Henry Rollins is involved, so I give it at least one spin. Let's see if Wayne has an answer...

For me? Not so much. Sure, Wayne and his blotting buddies change some stuff around here and there. The first quarter of the record, for example, is quite crunchier than Pink's original. "Any Colour You Like" dials up the funk to a much fuzzier level. "Money" is creeped out with updated electronic sounds and tweaked vocals, which I think undercut the smooth R&B walking bass coolness of the original.

My fave from the original is the "Brain Damage/Eclipse" conglomerate. Here, the Lips dial down the Damage to a hushed church organ, and do not even play the guitar riff at all. The Eclipse is punked out, aside from Wayne's vocals, which never waver from his standard tin can chalkboard murmur.

The highlight of the album is "The Great Gig In The Sky". The instrumental is faithful to the power of the original. Taking Clare Torry's place on the wailing vocal is, oddly enough, Peaches, a weirdo obnoxious singer known for the youtube hit, "Fuck The Pain Away". To her credit, she delivers a great vocal, as you can hear below.

But at the same time, even with some knob twisting, all the lyrics and melodies are the same. The arrangements are basically faithful. There's nothing ironic here to laugh at. So it comes to, how do you like your psychedelic rock? Classic or Neue Indie? (3 of 5 stars)

The Great Gig In The Sky [feat...