7895 - THE FLAMING LIPS - WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FWENDS (2014)

THE FLAMING LIPS
''WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FWENDS''
OCTOBER 28 2014
51:18

1 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club (featuring My Morning Jacket, Fever the Ghost & J Mascis) 02:45
2 With A Little Help From My Friends (featuring Black Pus & Autumn Defense) 03:33
3 Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (featuring Miley Cyrus & Moby) 05:41
4 Getting Better (featuring Dr. Dog, Chuck Inglish & Morgan Delt) 04:07
5 Fixing A Hole (featuring Electric Würms) 03:48
6 She's Leaving Home (featuring Phantogram, Julianna Barwick & Spaceface) 03:10
7 Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite! (featuring Maynard James Keenan, Puscifer & Sunbears!) 02:32
8 Within You Without You (featuring Birdflower & Morgan Delt) 04:39
9 Four (featuring Def Rain & Pitchwafuzz) 03:19
10 Lovely Rita (featuring Tegan and Sara & Stardeath and White Dwarfs) 04:18
11 Good Morning Good Morning (featuring Zorch, Grace Potter & Treasure Mammal) 03:14
12 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club (Reprise) (featuring Foxygen & Ben Goldwasser) 05:14
13 A Day In The Life (featuring Miley Cyrus & New Fumes) 04:51

REVIEW
by Gregory Heaney
Though it may seem like a quaint, family-friendly entry into their iconic discography, the Beatles made major waves with the release of their eighth album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, in 1967. With wildly intricate and far-out production that wowed listeners, and possible references to drugs and counterculture to freak out the establishment, the proto-concept album would become a major influence on psychedelic music for decades to come. Looking to revisit this landmark album, Oklahoma's fearless freaks the Flaming Lips reinvent the classic album with a slew of guests on With a Little Help from My Fwends. No strangers to the covers album, having previously reworked Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon and King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King, the Lips, along with an army of guests, artfully transform the album from an intricate pop masterpiece to a fractured, acid-fried freakout. With its skittish and fuzzed-out production and tendency to shift direction on a whim, the album feels as though it's trying to re-create the feeling of hearing an album like Sgt. Pepper's for the first time in 1967, re-creating that feeling that absolutely anything could happen at any moment. Like some of their past collaborations, the album shows that not all fwends are created equal, so even though cuts like "Getting Better" can be pretty uneven, guests like Miley Cyrus and Tegan and Sara on "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "Lovely Rita," respectively, provide the band's sound with a new dimension and attitude, providing With a Little Help from My Fwends with the kind of eclectic atmosphere that made the original so charming. Although die-hard Beatles fans might see the album as a bit blasphemous, the Flaming Lips' treatment of the classic work makes it clear the band have a great respect for the Fab Four's legacy and influence, making the album a wonderful distraction that provides fans with a window into the influences of one of rock's most enduring and joyously weird bands.

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1800 - THE FLAMING LIPS And Heady Fwends (2012)

THE FLAMING LIPS
''THE FLAMING LIPS AND HEADY FWENDS''
JUN 26 2012
67:53

1/2012 (You Must Be Upgraded) /4:11
2/Ashes in the Air /6:13
3/Helping the Retarded to Know God /7:03
4/Supermom Made Me Want to Pee /3:17
5/Children of the Moon /5:32
6/That Ain't My Trip /3:47
7/You, Man? Human??? /3:34
8/I'm Working at NASA on Acid /7:59
9/Do It! /3:28
10/Is David Bowie Dying /6:38
11/The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face /Erykah Badu /10:05
12/Girl, You're So Weird /3:23
13/Tasered and Maced /2:43

REVIEW
by Gregory Heaney
After the release of their freaked-out twelfth album, Embryonic, the Flaming Lips went on a predictably unpredictable musical bender. Rather than just getting back to it and putting out another full-length, the band seemed to be following whatever flights of fancy came their way, first covering Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety before embarking on a string of psychedelic collaborations released in giant gummy skulls, ultra-limited vinyl, candy fetuses, and even actual human skulls. While getting hold of a lot of these limited-edition EPs generally required some combination of dedication, luck, and money (with the human skulls containing the bands 24-hour long song costing $5,000 each), the Lips brought a lot of these hard to find team-ups, as well as a host of new collaborations, to the masses with the 2012 release of The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends. Originally released on limited, multi-colored vinyl for Record Store Day 2012, the spaced-out compilation has also seen a wider release on compact disc, allowing people the opportunity to experience previously hard-to-own tracks like "Is David Bowie Dying," "Supermoon Made Me Want to Pee," and "I'm Working at NASA on Acid?," which feature Neon Indian, Prefuse 73, and Lightning Bolt, respectively. The compilation also finds the Lips working with a host of guests that runs from the expected (Tame Impala, Plastic Ono Band) to the downright strange (Biz Markie, Ke$ha). The high point of the album is the cover of the iconic "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," which finds the band working with Erykah Badu to transform the song into a haunting and glacial, ten-minute shoegaze epic. The stunning cover is the most beautiful and cohesive on what is an otherwise (understandably) uneven collection which, while definitely appealing to hardcore fans, might be a bit too out there for casual listeners.

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