The Flaming Dark Lips of the Moon: A Review

(Sorry about the dinky little picture. I really couldn't find a bigger one of the actual album artwork)

Now that I have given the Flaming Lips' cover of "Dark Side of the Moon" a few listens I feel I can now make a judgment call about it.

Before even listening to the album, I had extremely high hopes, but at first listen I was almost offended. "What the hell is this shit?", I thought to myself. I was taken aback, being such a huge fan of the original album and even previous other cover attempts (such as Easy Star All-Stars 'Dub Side of the Moon'). I realized though, that I had approached this album from a wrong angle. This wasn't Pink Floyd, this wasn't even The Flaming Lips during their Soft Bulletin or Yoshi Battles the Pink Robots days. This was The Flaming Lips, right NOW, after releasing Embryonic and reaching back to their Psych-Rock-Acid-Punk freakout days (but not totally forgetting their musical endeavors over the last 10 years).

Taking that into consideration, I retract my distaste of the album. The Lips (with help from Stardeath and White Dwarfs, Peaches, and Henry Rollins) actually did a pretty nice job with it. It's ambitious and it's very Lips-esque, as it should be. A complete freakfest, with some interesting moments (and some not so interesting).

Here's an extremely brief and very lacking in vocabulary description runthrough/commentary of said "interesting moments" and "not so interesting" moments on the album:

1.Speak to Me / Breathe is done pretty well
2. the danceable On The Run jam is one of my favorites
3. Time wasn't too great (Dennis Coyne's voice sounds kind of weak and lame on it but the Breathe Reprise was cool.
4. The Great Gig In the Sky is cool (really nice try with Clare Torry's crazy vocal part.
5. Money starts of with potential but it's overall pretty horrible after the first 50 seconds, no energy really.
6. I miss the echo parts in Us and Them but overall it's pretty good.
7. Any Colour You Like is great (the screaming/scatting in the background is kind of hilarious.)
8. Brain Damage is more of a somber tune and fits Dennis's voice better. So with that in consideration, it's not too bad.
9. Eclipse has a similar feel to the original but for some reason I feel like it's missing something (maybe the background vocals?) nonetheless it's good.

And that's it!

This album is definitely worth a listen. Check it out.

Twas The Night Before Lipsmas....

Oh how clever Dan.

Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd from the Flaming Lips perform a few Christmas Classics (in a very Flaming Lips fashion)

Twas the night...


White Christmas


Silent Night

Flaming Lips: "Watching the Planets" Video

*WARNING*
*EVERYONE IN THIS VIDEO IS BUTT ASS NAKED*
*WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK*


I've been waiting to see this for quite some time and ummmm it's been...a while since I've seen something so outrageous, disturbing?, great? Just because I don't really get it doesn't mean there's something wrong with it. God I love the Flaming Lips.


For some reason I can't embed the video so go to NME and watch it there.

Or you can watch a squeaky clean (and fully clothed) live version HERE.

Flaming Lips in Studio Performance

Watch the Flaming Lips perform a few songs at KCRW studio including: Convinced Of The Hex, I Can Be A Frog, Watching The Planets, a rare Lips song called Enthusiasm for Life Defeats Existential Fear, and a little sneak peak into their Dark Side of the Moon cover project with the performance of the song Eclipse. Only question I have is why Wayne has all those notes to the right of him, kinda weird that he doesn't know the songs?

More Lips (DARK SIDE OF THE MOON!!!)

Sorry about the Flaming Lips overload here. BUT

According to the LA Times:

The Flaming Lips have already recorded a follow-up to “Embryonic.” The band will release a track-by-track interpretation of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” in the near future, which it recorded with Stardeath and the White Dwarfs, a band that features Coyne’s nephew Dennis.

Henry Rollins and Peaches make guest appearances on the album, Coyne told the crowd during a pre-concert question-and-answer session. A Flaming Lips spokesman says the album will likely be an iTunes-only release, at least initially.

It will certainly be a more comfortable -- at least familiar release -- than the sonic experimentations of “Embryonic.” But the Flaming Lips’ fan base is one that’s always ready for a challenge, at least that's what Coyne is betting on.

“I think our audience would forgive us for going out in the further regions of whatever we could think of,” Coyne says. “But I don’t think we’d be worthy of being forgiven if we didn’t do that. They’re giving us the freedom, the encouragement, the money and the time to say, ‘Go somewhere where no other band could go, and come back and tell us what it was like.’”

HOLY SHIT!!!!! One of my favorite albums of all time covered by a band a happen to quite enjoy. I don't know about you but I'm ecstatic.

In other news, this isn't the first time Dark Side has been covered in it's entirety. A few years ago the reggae band the Easy Star All stars released "Dub Side of the Moon", a reggae/dub reinvention of Pink Floyd's masterpiece. Very cool and if you have never heard it, check it out.

Dub Side

Flaming Lips Friday

Happy Flaming Lips Friday everyone!! I figured this was in order because the Lips have just released their 12th album (and first double album) entitled "Embryonic" this past Tuesday. The album is quite an ambitious effort and combines their psychedelic space-rock sound from previous efforts such as: At War with the Mystics and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots with their acid/alternative/punk rock roots.

According to Wayne Coyne, The album came out of some extended jam sessions and "draw inspirations from Plastic Ono Band era John Lennon and Bitches Brew Era Miles Davis". There is certainly some interesting stuff going on in this album and it's certainly worth a few listens and if you are a Lips fan, maybe several. (hey the music guru/snobs over at Pitchfork even gave the album a 9 ! wow wow)

Here's a little video history of the band, from their early beginnings up to now.

Enjoy!

Tunnel scene might make you throw up

She Don't Use Jelly, John Stewart.

Waiting for Superman

This is fantastic hahaha

Yoshimi

Big Hands and Wand

I can be a frog!

Flaming Lips on the Colbert Report

Watch the Flaming Lips perform a new song off their upcoming album Embryonic . The album will be out on October 13th and if the rest of it sounds like this song, I CAN'T WAIT. Actually, you can stream the whole album right now until Monday on ColbertNation.com. Give it a listen!



Check out a little interview with Wayne as well.

The Lips Are Coming

Attention! The Flaming Lips are coming to Penn's Landing Festival Pier in Philadelphia on Saturday August 29th. That is all. Carry on.

New Flaming Lips Album !!!!!

(from Rolling Stone's Spring/Summer Music Preview)

"After the Flaming Lips' Steven Drozd failed to sell his Oklahoma house last year, the band turned the empty home into a temporary recording studio. "We're capturing more immediate kinds of rock sounds there," says frontman Wayne Coyne. "It's different than the computer-generated beats of the last couple of records." The group is re-teaming with longtime producer Dave Fridmann for its 12th LP — and has already written enough material for a double album, which Coyne describes as "Plastic Ono-era John Lennon mixed with Bitches Brew-era Miles Davis."

I can't wait to hear this. Their last 3 albums have been fantastic (Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots ranks up among the very top of my favorite albums) and most of their older albums are pretty solid as well (although some of their early work is a little rough) Definitely looking forward to this record.