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The Flaming Lips And Stardeath And White Dwarfs With Henry Rollins And Peaches Doing Dark Side Of The Moon

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Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" is an amazingly powerful and passionate album about the anxieties of the human race. "The Flaming Lips and Star Death and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing Dark Side of the Moon" is something quite different. I am not blown away by the power and passion of it. I'm more impressed by its weirdness and originality than anything.

Let's start at the beginning. Pink Floyd's "Dark Side" opens with eerie sound effects and voices before easing into a mellow slide guitar tune ("Breathe") that I find very relaxing. To contrast, this album's version of "Breathe" is a loud bass-driven space-rocker, the slide guitar replaced with an array of strange, dissonent guitar noises that give the sensation of taking off in a rocketship. Interestingly, it sounds somewhat like Barrett-era Floyd.

The rest of the songs are full of weird surprises, some of which are more succesful than others. The highlight is probably The Flaming Lips' "Us and Them". While the Pink Floyd original is a dramatic epic that sounds like it has been made to fill a stadium, the version on this album has been made quiet, with Wayne Coyne sounding totally alone in a small room on the outside of which the world is collapsing. On the other hand, there's "Money", which has also been left to The Flaming Lips, who have turned it into an annoying robo-funk jam monstrocity.

This is no generic, "faithful" re-production. Some might even complain that the songs have been butchered, but I believe that so-called butchery is part of the art of making fresh interpretations of old songs. I don't want a Pink Floyd nugget with Flaming Lips sauce all over it, I want a new nugget with good cuts of both Flaming Lips AND Pink Floyd meat in it.

I love the Flaming Lips, and I love Pink Floyd. Knowing that Pink Floyd are a huge influence on the Lips, you'd think that Wayne Coyne & company would hit their cover version of the Floyd classic, "Dark Side Of The Moon," right out of the park. Right? Well, not exactly. The Lips' take on "Dark Side" is really sick & twisted, in both great ways AND not-so-great ways. It's a real mixed bag. On the positive side, the Lips' musicianship and studio prowess are still in top form---and if you're gonna cover this legendary Floyd album, you'd *better* be in top form---and the two standout tracks for me are the two that are most faithful to the Floyd original: "The Great Gig In The Sky" (featuring a scorching vocal turn by singer Peaches), and a totally slammin', barnburning workout of the instrumental "Any Colour You Like." And getting the one-and-only Henry Rollins to do all of the spoken-word stuff is truly inspired casting.

As for the rest of the album, which is *drastically* altered by Coyne & company from the Floyd originals...."Breathe" and "On The Run" are a little bit jarring; the soft, acoustic remake of "Time" is, sorry to say, pretty boneheaded; the electronic, punch-drunk rendering of "Money" is....amusing (I suppose), and "Us And Them", minus *both* the percussion AND the classic echo effect on the lead vocals, just kinda lies there. However, the concluding "Brain Damage" and "Eclipse" come off okay (I guess).

So, to sum up, dear reader: The Flaming Lips' reworking of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" ain't gonna make you forget the classic original album, but, if nothing else, it's certainly interesting. The Lips' tribute to Floyd is well appreciated, and I'll give the Lips points for effort. Do you like the Flaming Lips and/or Pink Floyd? You do? Then go ahead and buy it. Why not.

I'm a huge FLAMING LIPS fan, and as far as DARK SIDE OF THE MOON goes, for someone of my Generation X vintage, the album is practically burned into my DNA. Naturally, that makes this an automatic buy for me. Normally FLAMING LIPS do a pretty good job with remakes, having heard remakes of BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY by the LIPS that sounds almost mirrorlike, and Radiohead's KNIVES OUT another excellent choice. So, what happens here? The short answer might be that the LIPS decided to take a very postmodern, psychedelic electronica, and mash it to artrock, to give this FLOYD classic a new lense to view it thru. After all, if FLAMING LIPS simply remade the album note for note, sound for sound, why even bother listening? Going into it, they must have decided to use either distortion to overwhelmed the electronic soundscape, while at times matching the late night, washed out DUB effects, for the isolation and madness, that whisper of insanity insistantly calling from the back of the skull . The LIPS brought in cool supporting characters to help with the little extras. Casting HENRY ROLLINS as the crazy man who talks deranged nonsense, works perfectly. My only question, is how and/or if these STARDEATH & WHITE DRAWFS musicians, add anything substancial to the songs they play on. Their songs have a bit more overdrive than I normally enjoy. BUT...it works, it relates to the insanity theme of the DARK SIDE album. As the lazer first hits the CD disc, SPEAK TO ME pulls you right in, with the sonic effect of heartbeats fading into Rollin's psycho talk. The listener clings to the parts of the songs that remained fixed to the original arangement, while processing thru the parts of the album where distorted electronics and mind searing guitar solos, sit on top a simple rock beat. The leads mirror the original guitar leads, without slavish reproduction...exactly what you might expect with musicians this original. Thankfully, the singer keeps the melodies recognisable. BREATHE, at least when it starts, reproduced far less of the original album's sound, except for the layering of effects that both PINK FLOYD and FLAMING LIPS exploit occasionally within their style. ROLLIN's mad laff, sets the song up, and we ride shotgun til the piece CRASHES and EXPLODES into ON THE RUN. Just like the original, ON THE RUN opens with an asthmatic cough and weeze, which is looped to produce a totally cool rhythm. A keyboard set to HELL HOUND SCREAM gives those eerie organ chords Wright used. The movement into the song TIME is hard to pinpoint, since you dont hear tons of alarm clocks. Yet, it hardly seems to matter. Its when the TIME lyrics are sung, that the intensity and creativity of this album's direction really starts to shine. From all the heavy texture on the album's opening numbers, suddenly the LIPS are nearly producing a DUB remix of the original FLOYD version, with the lyrics being forced up front and center. THE GREAT GIG IN THE SKY replaces the free jazz vocalizing of Doris Troy with "Peaches"...and she puts down her take on Doris's iconic vocals PERFECTLY. Of course, MONEY is the album's original mega smash world wide hit, and the LIPS dont disappoint with this number. It keeps the jingling coin loop central to the song, just as FLOYD used the coins hitting the opening draw of the cash register. (Would a cash register's 1972 sound be recognisable today, since the modern electronic registers never make that sound anymore?) Various electronics and synthesizers do a good job replacing the bass line, with a clean, nearly underproduced picture of the 7/4 riff that continues thru most of the song, til the BASS WALK DOWN comes in. The vocals on this song, are EXTREMELY transformed, with overdrive and distortion. Somehow the song comes off as heavy and understated simultaneously. US AND THEM utilizes the same distant, soft, spacey opening as the original. When classics like this are performed, the fans often wish to hear their favorite guitar solos reproduced as closely as possible, even if the guitar effects have been substancially altered. For the most part, that is how this guitar lead was approached, ie, with reverence. It shined a new light on an old favorite, without ripping the heart out with an overuse of overdrive effects. ANY COLOUR YOU LIKE has hard rock drums, pushed under distorted guitar, tacked onto beautiful electric piano parts, braced against noise-like keyboard buzzes and bumps. It sounds....crazy. As it should, of course. Once more there's enough of PINK FLOYD's DARK SIDE married to FLAMING LIPS acid punk overdrive, to make the whole project work. The sparse textures, and quiet whispering lyrics, bring an ominous vibe on the remake of BRAIN DAMAGE. When the electric guitar lines holler out, along with what sounds like a musical saw sound, it adds a mindnumbing florish to FLOYDS original. Nothing is taken away, except the acute expectations which come from hearing the same album a thousand times. Towards the song's end, the soundscape freaks out, becoming increasingly textured and atonal, to match the insanity of DARK SIDE'S lyrics. (My mind views the troubled distortions portrayed in the guitar, as the band's collective memories of Syd Barrett's meltdown). WHen ECLIPSE starts, the FLAMING LIPS have metamorphised out of their freaky internalized monologues, and are back to being a punk band using DUB effects to make the song have a completely relevant, 2010 appeal. ITs an album that begins and ends clinging to sanity, that's wrapped around a creamy insane center.

Lets face it, an album like this is going to have a limited appeal at its best. If you are into that whole genre of music related to Flaming Lips, what might be called 80s psychedelic punk, morphed into 90s experimental alternative, linked onto 00s Techno-rock YOSHIMI --EMBRYONIC albums, and if you like PINK FLOYD's "DARK SIDE of the MOON", its likely you'll enjoy this album. If you just like PINK FLOYD, and think a overdriven metal version is what you might be getting here, you might as well pass this album by. IF you dont like any FLAMING LIPS past SOFT BULLITINE, don't expect freaky orchrestral rock either. However, if you have a punk alternative heart, matched to a 70s art rock soul, with the eyes of a Yoshimi robot synthesizer, you will GROOVE this baby all the way to the Dark Side of the Moon. And that's quite a trip.

Enjoyed this CD tremendously...saw the Flaming Lips at Bonnaroo with my kids...it was a great concert. The first time the CD came it was cracked, but the seller took it back and replaced it without a problem.

Possible leads considered for the review of The Flaming Lips' rethinking of Pink Floyd's most popular record and one of the highest selling albums of all-time: 1) In 2005, after buying and selling Dark Side at least five times (due to reissues, loss of interest, needing money, thinking I was "too cool" to like Pink Floyd, etc.), I told myself I'd never buy the record again. And here I am, buying Dark Side again; 2) Despite Wayne Coyne's nephew, who fronts Stardeath and White Dwarfs (who also play on this record), trying to sound exactly like his uncle, this star-studded long shot of a remake works quite well; and, finally, 3) The Lips' art-damaged, anything-goes take on Darkside is already better than Floyd's original version.

Don't get me wrong, at one time I loved Pink Floyd's Dark Side. I can recall being 14 and riding my bike home from somewhere I wasn't supposed to be, way-to-late at night in the late fall, listening to "The Great Gig In the Sky," feeling six-foot-one (instead of five-feet-nine). I'd just had my inaugural beer, was part of a solid set of friends and, most of all, was really into Dark Side of the Moon. Chances are, you've been there too.

But, after years of reissues and changes of taste, I finally grew bored of the record at age 25. So when I heard that one of my favorite current bands, The Flaming Lips, were not only covering the record live, but also making their own recording of it (featuring guests Peaches, Henry Rollins and said Dwarfs), I was not exactly intrigued. As reviews of the record came in I felt my every hunch coming true: this is an unnecessary, annoying record. Still, being the Lips junkie that I am (and considering that their recent Embryonic was my favorite record of last year), I bought their Dark Side with low expectations.

Note to self: in art, never trust critics and always trust heroes. Needless to say, I instantly loved Coyne & Co.'s reimagining of the Floyd's seminal 1973 record. The sound is very out there and unique, an artsy rock record that makes no attempt to appeal to Floyd fans. The songs are all there, buried deep below a thick layer of Flaming Lips-style risk taking and sonic art.

If Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon is the King of all drug records, then The Flaming Lips' Dark Side of the Moon is the King's outsider artist cousin-in-law, twice removed. Different yet somehow the familiar - and with a completely different appeal. One of the most interesting - and challenging - remakes ever, surely, and made better by the low expectations that accompany its release. That the Lips took a played-out record and made it into such an unlikely and entertaining piece of work only furthers their legacy. Surely a someday cult classic of some sort, made perfect for late fall nights.

Leave it to those deliciously wacky guys from Oklahoma City to close out the year for me with this all-cover album of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Think about it for a minute: Dark Side is one of the biggest rock albums of all time, and remains omni-present on classic rock with tracks like Money, Us and Them, and Time. But it does not deter the Flaming Lips from giving it a shot.

"Dark Side of the Moon" (9 tracks; 41 min.) gets tackled by the Lips from the inside out, and hence gets a refresh that is long overdue. From the first sounds of "Speak To Me/Breathe", you can instantly feel a renewed energy in the songs that has been lacking for too long. I just love the killer-riff that carries "Breathe". You knew going in that the instrumental "On the Run" would be right up the Lips' alley for a pyschelic freak-out, and they do not disappoint. "Time/Breathe (Reprise)" caps a brilliant first third of the album. After that, things settle down a bit, and at times even... conventional (gasp!). The best remaining track for me is "Any Colour You Like", which comes with a nice change of pace, and super-heavy drums that crash into the song. The last 2 tracks ("Brain Damage" and "Eclipse") are the closest to the Pink Floyd originals.

In all, I can't say enough about how pleasantly surprised I have been with this album. 37 years after the original album, the Flaming Lips have managed to "breathe" new life into an old and tried-sounding "Dark Side of the Moon". Well done by Wayne Coyne and the rest of the guys. I've experienced the luncay and craziness that is a Flaming Lips concert these past few years on more than once occasion, but I haven't seen them perform DSOTM yet. Can't wait for that!

If you are going to cover an album, why in the world would you faithfully reproduce what had already been produced? It makes no sense, especially in this case, because let's be honest, if you want to hear "Dark Side of the Moon" sound like "Dark Side of the Moon", no one does it better than Pink Floyd. And the Flaming Lips and Star Death and White Dwarf know this, so they did not merely re-record this album in a manner similar to Van Sant's faithful remake of Hitchcock's "Psycho". They re-invented this album. They took its pulse, its soul, its inspired essence, and turned it into something that sounds like a Flaming Lips/Star Death album, but has the extra benefit of being songs you know and love.
The album,as a whole, isn't perfect, but when it works, it is as close to musical genius as it gets. The opening duo "Breathe-> On the Run" is nothing short of exhilarating. Both songs have been amped up and turned into space rock dance numbers, and it is only when Wayne starts singing in the former or when the bass starts playing that galloping bassline in the latter that you realize what songs are being covered. Same goes with "The Great Gig in the Sky", which sounds like an aggressive Star Death track with Wayne screaming over the unrelentless instrumental attack. "Any Colour You Like" is the most faithful remake of the tracks that work, succeeding thanks to the rhythmic muscle that both the Lips and Star Death have at their disposal.
The tracks that really don't work are the tracks that are so iconic in the Floyd canon that it's not that surprising that the two bands cannot pull them off. "Time" starts off strong before slowing down to a minimal pace for the vocals and then abandoning the middle jam altogether. Same goes for "Money", which pretty much follows the same path as the original, only with a more electronic edge. And sadly, "Us and Them" may be the most disappointing track on the album. Too true to the original yet sorely lacking any life or inspiration.
On the whole, the album still succeeds on the strength of the stronger tracks- which are great- and the mere chutzpah it took to re-record and release this album. If the two bands had taken more liberties with all the songs, the results may have upset the purists, but would have made the rest of us ecstatic. Worth owning, and hopefully this can serve as a template for other bands to aggressively re-interpret other classic works.

When I first started listening to the Flaming Lips in the early '90s I remember describing them as musical hallucinagenics and throughout the years I think they have had some hits and some misses but hearing their take on this iconic album I am pleasantly surprised. When I was a kid I wore out many Pink Floyd cassetes and by the time I was a teenager Pink Floyd had lost its luster for me. But this new Dark Side puts a different and relevant spin on a great album and I'm glad someone had the guts to try something different with such a classic. Think of it as Dark Side for the 21st Century.

This album may seem like an uninspired cover album, but it is second only to Pink Floyd's original release. If you like The Flaming Lips, you need this CD. It is the first CD I bought in over a year, and with good reason. Words do it little justice. Buy it and check it out for yourself.

First, while Pink Floyd is not my favorite band by any means, I am of the personal opinion that Dark Side of the Moon is the best album ever created. Second, I love the Flaming Lips and am a particularly big fan of their last 3 or 4 albums. With that said, I can only say that this album is quite the disappointment. Not that I expected it, but it certainly does not sound anything like the masterpiece album that Pink Floyd created. And on the other side of things, even the songs that are primarily or exclusively the Flaming Lips are not their best work. My honest opinion is that this is not an album worth paying money for, and I really wish I wouldn't have.