And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes...

We are living in the age of the death of creativity. The majority of what we're exposed to in pop culture anymore is a tired retread of something that's already been done. One could argue that this is not a new concept, that everything we see and hear is directly influenced by something before it; the Black Keys were influenced by Led Zep who were influenced by Howlin Wolf who was influenced by Robert Johnson and on and on and on. The difference is that we're out of the realm of influence and into carbon copies. Part of it is that in our disconnected, self-concerned, convenience-centered modern day American lives we're losing our ability to connect with each other and our ability to come up with an original thought. The other part of it is driven by money. Why take a chance on a new concept? Why not rely on something that had a proven track record that may not live up to the original, but will at least generate enough interest to earn a bit of profit? Major movie studios are most guilty of all. If the original sold more than a handful of tickets you can be sure someone's ripping off the screenplay, making a few tweaks and putting it back on the big screen. How did we get by this long without seeing Kelly from the Bad News Bears as Freddy Kreuger?

It was with this attitude I first approached the recent release with the cumbersome title The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side of the Moon. I won't go into detail describing the premise here, I think the name says it all. I will however, comment on the ballsiness of deciding to do something like this. Most would argue that Dark Side of the Moon is one of the few perfect albums of the last 50 years. To try to cover something like this should be a surefire failure for any band. Take too many liberties and with the material and you're a rock n roll heretic. Follow the original material too closely and you're no better than the mindless majority I described above. The first I'd heard about it was when they announced they'd be performing the Pink Floyd classic in its entirety on New Year's Eve to their hometown crowd in Oklahoma City. Sounded like a bit of a gimmick, cool idea and probably a fun show, but I didn't give it much more thought than that. I was apparently a bit more intrigued when they released it on double vinyl for Record Store Day, as I had it in my hands in the checkout line before I decided to put it back, deciding I'd better take a listen before dropping vinyl-type dollars. Finally, I decided to give it a try. On the first listen it felt a little stiff, a little too mechanical, not quite right. I think it was because it is decidedly different than the original, to which I was naturally comparing it. But with each subsequent time through I'm appreciating it more and more as it's own organic entity. With an audacious project such as this I think it's much more important to come into it as a Flaming Lips fan than a Pink Floyd fan. In fact if you love Pink Floyd and are even indifferent to the Flaming Lips I will guarantee that you will hate this record (sorry PD). As someone who appreciates both, I like hearing these familiar legendary tunes poured through the filter of the 'Lips spacey, psychedelic instrumentation. There are some downright funky moments, as on Great Gig in the Sky and Any Colour You Like and Dennis (Wayne's nephew) Coyne and his band deliver respectable versions of the slower tracks Time and Brain Damage. I'm not crazy about Henry Rollins' dialogue contribution, but because he's otherwise awesome, I'll give him a pass.

The album obviously doesn't match the heights of the original and I don't think that's what anyone is really expecting. The Flaming Lips do, however, pull off this seemingly impossible task of reimagining a masterpiece by creating a fresh, yet faithful version in their own signature style. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and the fact that the remaining living members of Pink Floyd gave these guys a green light to release this album tells me the lads from London were at least somewhat impressed.

I give it 1 (out of 2) Flaming Lips