The Flaming Lips: Dark Side of the Moon

For the first time in his illustrious career, Wayne Coyne has made a miscalculation.  Perhaps that’s too polite.  The Flaming Lips have royally screwed up.  To be fair, there was no possible way they could win.  How the bloody hell can you improve Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon? The answer is now crystal clear.  You can’t.

Dark Side of the Moon is in the DNA of every rock fan born after 1972.  It is a monolithic ritual of suburbia.  A young man turns fourteen.  His dad, older brother or stoner uncle takes him aside and says, “My boy, take this record to your room.  It contains the meaning of your white suburban teenage existence.  Go forth and light some incense.”

The Lips version of Dark Side alternates between a faithful reproduction and an experimental reboot.  Some of the experiments work well.  Casting Henry Rollins as the lunatic is one of them.  Rollins puts a human face on the character.  It’s easy to picture him sitting in a windowless room with his fists balled up, ranting about nothing in particular.  Peaches’ take on “The Great Gig in the Sky” updates the song while remaining true to the original.  Her muffled vocals capture the sanity buried within the lunatic’s torment.

Rollins and Peaches work because they make slight changes to the source material.  When the Lips make radical changes, it falls apart.  “Time” is one of the focal points of Dark Side of the Moon, highlighted by David Gilmore’s soaring guitar solo.  The Lips’ version of “Time” omits the guitar solo entirely.  The “Breathe” reprise starts immediately after the verses.  There is a huge gaping hole left behind.  Even worse, the laid back arrangement of “Breathe” has been replaced by a high pitched squeal.   “Breathe” is supposed to wash over the listener, not annoy them.  If these techniques were used on an ordinary Flaming Lips album, it would be fine, but this isn’t their music.   I don’t want to hear walls of electronic noise on “Time.”  I don’t want to hear Wayne Coyne singing in a higher pitch than Roger Waters.  Call me old fashioned, but if I want to hear Pink Floyd, I’ll listen to Pink Floyd.

When the Lips announced that they were covering this album, a wave of excitement went through the critical community.  The Flaming Lips were going to make us reevaluate our love for Dark Side of the Moon.  To their credit, they did.  They made me realize just how much I love the original.  Dark Side of the Moon has touched a wide cross section of listeners, from casual fans to hardcore audiophiles.  Like all great popular art, it now belongs to the people.  Once something becomes part of our cultural fabric, it should be left alone.