When I interviewed Kliph Scurlock a couple of weeks ago, the Flaming Lips drummer talked at length about a very exciting project the band was putting the finishing touches on: a full cover version of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. That news excited me easily as much as the release new Lips studio album, Embryonic.
A few days after the interview, though, Scurlock contacted me and politely asked that I not mention anything about the DSOTM project. Originally planned to accompany the release of Embryonic on iTunes as exclusive content, the Lips' tribute to Floyd was to be held back until later in the year, when the label could give this awesome project a more proper push. In the meantime, mum was the word. So, I bit my pencil in half, said a prayer for Syd, and left the Dark Side out of the Q&A.
I guess when you get a roomful of Angelenos together, though, all bets are off. Thanks to bloggers at the L.A. Times and, subsequently, Pitchforkmedia, the loony's out of the bag. "Track-by-track reinterpretation features Henry Rollins and Peaches," read the recent Pitchfork subhed.
My understanding is that the tribute began when iTunes asked the band for bonus content to go with Embyonic's exclusive iTunes package (out October 13). Evidently, when bands do an iTunes exclusive, they usually provide alternate versions of tracks on the album. But Embryonic was already a double record, so there wasn't much left over. And the band wanted to do something fresh, so Wayne Coyne came up with the idea to bang out Dark Side, and the band got to work, tapping Coyne's nephew's band, Stardeath and White Dwarfs, for collaborative muscle.
Meanwhile, the Lips gave iTunes four bonus tracks for the $13.99 deluxe Embryonic release. "UFOs Over Baghdad," "What Does It Mean?" and "Anything You Say Now, I Believe You" are B-sides that were given out earlier this summer to fans who bought concert tickets. The fourth, "Just Above Love," seems to be a more recent cut.
That's the story as I know it. Hopefully the leaked word of DSOTM won't screw up the project actually getting released, because my brain has already started imagining what songs like "Time" and "Us and Them" will sound like as interpreted by the Flaming Lips.
The lunatic is in the hall...
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Wrong, Leo S.!
What you wish is that more Pink Floyd albums sounded like Flaming Lips albums. Especially anything post-Wall.
I think it's a terrible idea. The Lips' are pretty decent, ok, but anywhere near the same quality of band that Pink Floyd is? This is like one of the greatest albums ever made. I wish the Flaming Lips weren't doing it. Especially if they're going to be blaring it all over the airwaves
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