Send "The Flaming Lips " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Like the prism on the iconic cover of Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd's legacy can be refracted many different ways. For one, there's the different eras marked by different bandleaders, from Syd Barrett's storybook psychedelia to Roger Waters misanthropic art-rock to David Gilmour's inoffensive arena-filling stuff. But there are also more subjective takes on the Floyd's influence: you could view them as psych-prog pioneers or the bloat that inspired punk, the band that pushed the limit of the rock concert or the band that made the concert more about theatrics than music, studio wizards or mere inventors of a popular stereo test record.You might divine then why Floyd appeals to the Flaming Lips right now. I count at least five of those things on that list that could be lobbed (fairly or un-) at the Lips after 27 years; being hated by Johnny Rotten is the only one (probably) beyond their reach. And their appreciation runs deep-- in an interview with Pitchfork's Ryan Dombal, Wayne Coyne remembered goofing on Jesus and Mary Chain fans by covering "Wish You Were Here", when the bands toured together in 1984. But why tackle hoary old Dark Side now, on the heels of the band's triumphant return to in-your-face psychedelic weirdness on last year's Embryonic? And why invite a cavalcade of characters-- Peaches, Henry Rollins, Coyne's nephew's band-- certain to make people think it's all a gag?...full text |
| Onethirtybpm |
| The Dark Side of the Moon is an album that, despite its indisputable status as an art-rock classic, I have increasingly avoided over the years. Were my iPod library a physical collection of discs and records, Dark Side would be among those having accumulated the most undeserved neglect. Perhaps I have snubbed Pink Floyd’s masterpiece because of its popularity. Saying that Dark Side is your favorite album of all time is akin to saying that Robert Frost is your favorite poet or that Dane Cook is your favorite comedian. But, truth be told, The Dark Side of the Moon is an incredible album. I rediscovered that recently when I gave it a spin to brush off the metaphorical dust. It may not be quite worthy of the hyperbolic love it has received, but it is doubtlessly a timeless piece of work. Flash forward to the year 2009, 36 years after Pink Floyd released The Dark Side of the Moon. Oklahoma’s defacto state band, The Flaming Lips, have just released their twelfth studio album, Embryonic, to critical acclaim after the mediocre At War With the Mystics. The album effectively revitalizes the band’s relevance in the musical realm. Doubters of the band’s creativity are silenced. So what do ringleader Wayne Coyne and his fearless freaks decide to do next with this magnificent momentum that they’ve acquired? Why, to re-record Dark Side, of course! Sounds like an interesting concept, doesn’t it? Well, it does…but The Flaming Lips don’t pull it off. At all. Instead, they create an absolute train wreck of a cover album. If the original Pink Floyd version is a meticulously formulated dreamscape, the Lips version is a sloppy nightmare. It does no justice to the original. It is a gimmick. It is a farce. Opening track “Speak to Me/Breathe” takes the spoken line, “I’ve been mad for fucking years,” and butchers it. The delivery is half-assed and unbelievable, as if the speaker isn’t even trying. All of a sudden, The Dark Side of the Moon has become a high school production of a Shakespeare play. What I mean is that The Flaming Lips – and their partners in crime, Stardeath and White Dwarfs – have misinterpreted a classic. I realize that accuracy was not part of this album’s plan, but there is a fine line between reworking an album and destroying its integrity through reinterpretation. “Money,” a fan favorite from the 1973 original, here is presented as a satire. Not only is the new version unfaithful to the original, but also the musicianship itself is awful. The rest of the album is not much better. Nostalgic Pink Floyd enthusiasts will be disappointed to hear this, but this is the truth: there is nothing redeeming about The Flaming Lips’ cover of The Dark Side of the Moon....full text |
| Rollingstone |
| The Flaming Lips will release their version of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon (one of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums) digitally starting December 22nd. The Lips’ Dark Side — full title The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs With Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side of the Moon — will be an iTunes exclusive for one week until December 29th, at which point it’ll head over to the other digital retailers. As you probably guessed from the rerecording’s epically long title, both Henry Rollins and Peaches contribute “vocal assistance,” or those talking-head bits that served as segues between songs on the original TDSOTM. As Rolling Stone previously reported, the Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs will team up to perform Dark Side in its entirety at the band’s New Year’s Eve Freakout! in Oklahoma City. It is currently the Lips’ only planned live performance of Dark Side, and Rolling Stone will be on the ground for a full report. Frontman Wayne Coyne has promised, “Oh, it’s going to be a good time.”...full text |
The Flaming Lips lyrics
