Hear the Flaming Lips' Trippy 'Sgt. Pepper's' Tribute LP | Rolling Stone
My mind, it is blown. If you liked their (and their friends') version of Dark Side of the Moon, you'll love this.
The Flaming Lips will release their all-star Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band tribute, With a Little Help From My Fwends, on October 28th – but chapped Lips fans can stream the fearlessly freaky LP one week early at NPR. The album, a track-by-track reworking of the Beatles' 1967 masterpiece, finds the psych-rock mainstays collaborating with likeminded artists such as Miley Cyrus, My Morning Jacket, J. Mascis, Tegan & Sara, Moby, Maynard James Keenan, Dr. Dog and MGMT's Ben Goldwasser.
The results are as headphone-friendly and experimental as one might expect. The opening title track culminates in a spastic noise-rock guitar solo from Mascis. Cyrus and Moby add their eerie voices to a majestic take on "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds," while Tegan and Sara help transform "Lovely Rita" into a throbbing electro-pop jam.
Besides offering an excuse to reinvent one of the greatest albums ever made, the Fwends LP is also benefitting a good cause. All proceeds from the album will go to Oklahoma City's Bella Foundation, which assists low-income or elderly pet owners in paying for veterinary care. Earlier this month, Lips frontman Wayne Coyne launched a PledgeMusic campaign for the project, which offers limited edition autographed vinyl and CD copies, T-shirts, a special "Making of" documentary and silkscreens by Fwends artist Oliver Hibert.
"It's really just a lot of great friends of mine who are all contributing," Coyne told Rolling Stone of the album back in May. "Sometimes it's two groups doing a song; sometimes it's one. And it's not always the Flaming Lips and someone; sometimes it's just other groups. But I think all that's gonna be great."