covers by the flaming lips

songs covered by the flaming lips are definitely an acquired taste. the first lips covers i remember hearing are beck and radiohead. wayne's falsetto is pretty hard to get used to on these tracks, especially since the original songs have very smooth vocal perfomances from beck and thom yorke. both beck and yorke are virtuosic singers, in their own way. beck has a breathy richness to his voice and an impeccable sense of rhythm and timing. yorke, for all his tortured posturing, actually has a voice that is very well-controlled, and he never misses a note or seems to strain. both beck and yorke make singing and performing seem effortless.

but when wayne sings, there are times when you hear his voice reach for impossible notes. it's quite beautiful, actually. but matched up with the beck and radiohead songs, it's very hard to get into. other covers are much more suited to wayne's voice, but still bug me in other ways. like the lips version of queen's bohemian rhapsody, a song i have never liked. after several listens, i still wasn't feeling it. but recently, i found myself craving the song, so i put it on. i listened to it twice. and you know, something about it really kicks ass. it's hard to accept that the lips can cover a song that i hate, and make me like it.

i think they chose the song because it's three sections really echo a lot of the lips' music. the dramatic, slow tempo at the beginning, with soft instrumentation and a lot of emotion. the utterly silly middle section, which shows off how the lips are willing to simply act up. and the last, best section, where they just rock out. always a lips favorite - the epic rock song.

a good playlist of lips covers might be good project. it takes some listening - at least for me - to really get into the lips covers. but it's absolutely worthwhile.