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The Flaming Lips – The Dark Side of the Moon (2009/2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 41:06 minutes | 467 MB | Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Experimental, Indie Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Records

The Flaming Lips have a flair for making other artists’ music their own. Their versions of T. Rex’s “Ballrooms of Mars,” Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure,” and Madonna’s “Borderline,” a song they recorded with Stardeath and White Dwarfs, who also appear on the literally titled The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side of the Moon, all show what they took from those artists and what they gave back. Though the Lips always seemed more indebted to Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, they put their own stamp on Dark Side’s paranoia and moody atmospheres. They performed this version of Dark Side of the Moon at their 2010 New Year’s Eve celebration, capping a triumphant 2009 that included the release of their revitalized-sounding Embryonic. While the Lips recorded that album on their own, it’s still easy to hear how this album is symbiotic with Embryonic. The same wildness permeates these songs, giving them a feel that’s more primal than the original’s polished reflections. “Speak to Me/Breathe” opens the album with short-circuiting keyboards and raw, vaguely Latin-sounding percussion immediately tying it to the Lips’ last album, while “Time/Breathe (Reprise)” rides on the driving, fuzzed-out bass that was Embryonic’s spine. However, …Doing Dark Side of the Moon feels more focused than its predecessor of course, the familiarity these songs have helps with its rawness providing contrast instead of adding an intentionally primordial feel, as it did on Embryonic. Elsewhere, the Flaming Lips and guests are just as faithful to Dark Side of the Moon as they need to be, using Peaches as a stand-in for Clare Torry on “The Great Gig in the Sky” although Peaches’ super-saturated howls are far more odd and jubilant. As on the original, some of the best moments are the spookiest ones. “Us and Them” sounds like a conversation held across a kitchen table instead of in deepest space, regardless of the synths whooshing around Wayne Coyne’s vocals, and tender guitars underscore its unique intimacy. “Brain Damage” is even more stripped-down while remaining true to the original’s air of eerie knowingness, of being just sane enough to know you’re going crazy. As always, the Flaming Lips approach this tribute by exploring how they can serve the songs, without worrying about the legacy or image of the artist they’re covering. The only time this backfires (slightly) is on “Money,” which has a cleverly tinny drum machine that sounds like coins piling up, but its heavy vocoders and stiff beats lose too much of the original’s jaded swing. Despite the sheer number of musicians playing on it, The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side of the Moon is a distinctly non-bloated treatment of one of rock’s most epic albums. While it might be more fun than impressive, fun has always been a vital part of the Flaming Lips’ best music.

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The Flaming Lips – King’s Mouth (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 41:16 minutes | 431 MB | Genre: Alternative Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Bella Union

‘King’s Mouth’ sees the iconoclastic outfit once again tread uncharted territory. These 12 originals are threaded together by cinematic narration courtesy of The Clash’s Mick Jones. Additionally, the music parallels front man Wayne Coyne’s immersive art installation of the same name.

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The Flaming Lips – Hit to Death in the Future Head (1992/2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:09:09 minutes | 777 MB | Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Experimental, Indie Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Records

With Hit to Death in the Future Head, the Flaming Lips make the leap to major-label status as though it were the moment they’ve been waiting for all their lives. Though not as conceptually tight as In a Priest Driven Ambulance, the album is no less cohesive or imaginative, and in its way serves as the bridge between the band’s noisier, more hallucinatory indie work and the acid-bubblegum aesthetic perfected on their later Warner Bros. albums. Nowhere are the band’s pop smarts more evident than on “The Sun,” which freely quotes Carole King’s “So Far Away,” or on the undeniably catchy “Gingerale Afternoon (The Astrology of a Saturday)” and “Frogs”; tracks like “Felt Good to Burn” and “Halloween on the Barbary Coast,” meanwhile, indulge fully in the trademark weirdness that got the group this far. (And speaking of indulgence, check out the unlisted bonus track, which offers some 29 minutes of speaker-hopping static assault.)

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The Flaming Lips – Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 (Deluxe Edition) (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 03:44:12 minutes | 3,68 GB | Genre: Alternative, Indie Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Records

Warner Bros. Music will issue a Flaming Lips greatest hits in June, which will be available both on vinyl and as a set. Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 will include singles, B-sides, outtakes and previously unreleased tracks, with audio remastered from the original tape source by Dave Fridmann. While the triple-CD deluxe boasts a massive 52 tracks, the single vinyl LP edition is a extremely condensed 11-track affair.

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The Flaming Lips – American Head (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 50:42 minutes | 1,02 GB | Genre: Acid Rock, Alternative Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Bella Union

American Legends The Flaming Lips release their 21st studio album, American Head via Bella Union. The album is comprised of thirteen new cinematic tracks, produced by longtime collaborator Dave Fridmann and The Lips. Among them, God and the Policeman featuring backing vocals from country superstar Kasey Musgraves. American Head takes on a welcome temporal shift that occupies a similar space to that of The Soft Bulletin or Yoshmi Battles the Pink Robots and just may be their most beautiful and consistent work to date.

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