Flaming Lips
Christopher Locke
Dark Side of the Moon
You may say to yourself "I thought Dark Side of the Moon was a Pink Floyd record." And you would be right. It's the third best-selling album of all time. It's amazing. There's no arguing that. But really, after listening to the same recording of "Us and Them" seven hundred thousand times, you may grow a little tired of it. At the very least, you might appreciate a fresh take on an old classic.
So (the) Flaming Lips recorded a cover of the entire album. That's right. The whole thing from beginning to end, in order, and in a magnificent way. There's so much to say about it, I don't know where to begin!
My wife gave me this album for my birthday a whole bunch of years ago. I still remember hearing it for the first time. It's the musical equivalent to putting on a pair of rubber hip waders and sloshing through a vat of knee-deep chunky beef stew. It's insane. I sat stunned and let the music pour over me in large globs, like I was on "You Can't Do That on Television," and someone had just tricked me into saying "I don't know."
This entire album is phenomenal. Every track is true to the original, but brings a fresh new style and flavor that cannot be beaten. It's even better than Dub Side of the Moon, which is really saying something!
-Technically, this record is called "The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side of the Moon" but who really wants to go through all that every time? Not me.
-Henry Rollins does all the spoken word segments that originally came from recorded interviews, that are woven throughout the album.
-We all know that "The Great Gig in the Sky" is the best song ever, after "Let it Be." Don't argue. But I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the TFLASAWDWHRAPDTDSOTM cover of "The Great Gig in the Sky" may even be better than the original. I know, you're thinking it's impossible. But you should hear it before you make that call.
-Peaches does the wailing part of Great Gig, and she kills it! Maybe you've never heard of Peaches. Maybe you've heard of a singer named Peaches, but you think it must not be the same one. Yeah, it's the same one. Peaches sings some really raunchy stuff. It's the kind of stuff I am not sure I even want to talk about here, because it may poison your semi-sophisticated mind. She's incredibly capable, and I admire her work a great deal.
-Peaches used to live upstairs from a sex shop with another musician, named Feist. Awesome. Feist is also amazing.
-The album was originally released on sea foam green vinyl, but my copy is clear vinyl.
-Listen to it, but please please PLEASE play it on a real stereo, not the doodoo speakers on a laptop or phone.
You'll thank me later.