'With a Little Help From My Fwends': Remakes with original sound
This CD cover image released by Warner Bros. Records shows "With a Little Help From My Fwends," by The Flaming Lips. Credit: AP
The only way to even consider remaking The Beatles' classic "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" is to rework the songs so much that they don't sound like the originals. That's what The Flaming Lips do on "With a Little Help From My Fwends" (Warner Bros.), altering everything except the indelible melodies as they team up with everyone from My Morning Jacket to Miley Cyrus. In fact, Cyrus does especially well here, her simple, direct delivery offering the perfect counterpoint to the wild, synthesized psychedelia of "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" and the trippy, reverb-heavy vocals of Wayne Coyne in "A Day in the Life."
FLAMING LIPS
"With a Little Help From My Fwends"
THE GRADE B+
BOTTOM LINE What happens when The Lips meet The Beatles
