Flaming Lips

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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.

Primus and the Chocolate Factory

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Once upon a time, I was a little weirdo.  I know, it's hard to believe.  It's also hard to believe that MTV used to play music videos.  But there I was, sitting at home, eating Bagel Bites pizza fresh from the microwave, flipping back and forth between the Comedy Network and MTV.  And suddenly, I found myself watching a man dressed like a giant pig, playing standup bass while circus performers juggled and flipped and posed in the background.  It was so different, so strange, so unlike anything else on TV...  And it felt like home.

When I was old enough to buy concert tickets myself, and go to shows at the 930 Club in DC, Primus was my first.  A boy at my school wanted to fight me because I listened to Primus.  I tried (unsuccessfully)  to convince my art teacher to let me play a Primus song for the class while we painted.  So my love affair with Primus runs deep.

So, imagine my excitement when I found out Primus had covered the soundtrack to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  (Or was it Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?)  Whatever.  Can you think of a better band than Primus to play the Oompa Loompa song?  I can't.

This version of the soundtrack is really dark.  They've done a great job of taking a jaunty set of bouncy songs into a really deep place.  It's fitting, considering the underlying tone of the story.  Kids going into a factory staffed by dwarves, and getting sucked into the equipment?  Gloomy!  When I played the album in my classroom, the kids said it was a little too spooky, and I should change it.  One kid asked a week later if we could listen to "that music that was like space cows."

This isn't a record I will listen to on a daily basis.  But this album will scratch an itch that no other can reach.  But wait, there's more!  The record came on chocolate colored vinyl.  What more do you want?  If you're not convinced, listen to "Cheer Up Charlie."  You can thank me later.