Rating: NNN
You get the feeling Wayne Coyne really wishes he’d released Dark Side Of The Moon. And so he went ahead and did, with help from his Flaming Lips, plus Stardeath and White Dwarfs, Henry Rollins and Peaches. Mostly faithful to Pink Floyd’s iconic 1973 work, it adds fuzz and quirky clicking and clacking and removes some of the jazziness. If this doesn’t strike you as sacrilegious, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by Coyne’s homage.
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Peaches is great, striking hard and fast on opener Speak To Me/Breathe and taking on Clare Torry’s wordless vocals in a darker, scarier, incredible version of The Great Gig In The Sky. Money is the obvious miss, trading trademark coin sounds for a sluggish drum machine and stopping the album dead. Rollins is another bad choice, mainly because his American accent throws off the Everyman voice-overs.
Lips fans will find lots to love, but this will wear out anyone whose appetite for weird isn’t insatiable.
Top track: Great Gig In The Sky
The Flaming Lips hit the Molson Amphitheatre July 8.
