The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends
A series of thin white lines on a black background, with a rainbow effect at the far right
Standard edition cover
Studio album by
the Flaming Lips
ReleasedApril 21, 2012 (2012-04-21)
Recorded2011–2012
Genre
Length69:17
LabelWarner Bros., Lovely Sorts of Death, Bella Union
ProducerThe Flaming Lips, Dave Fridmann
The Flaming Lips chronology
The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side of the Moon
(2009)		 The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends
(2012)		 The Terror
(2013)
CD/Digital cover
A black-and-white photo of Kesha holding her foot to the camera with a smiley face drawn on her toe, standing in front of Wayne Coyne who is giving a peace sign with his fingers and smiling. The title of the album and the collaborators are written in red to the right.

The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends is the first album in the "Fwends" series by the American rock band the Flaming Lips in collaboration with a variety of guests.

Recorded throughout 2011 and 2012, the album was released as a limited edition on vinyl for Record Store Day on April 21, 2012 and on CD, vinyl and digitally on June 26, 2012.[1] Four songs from the album were previously released on collaborative EPs in 2011.

Background

Following their last full-length album, 2009's Embryonic, the band produced several EPs with other artists including Neon Indian, Lightning Bolt, Prefuse 73, and Yoko Ono.[2] Four tracks from these sessions appear on the album. The remaining seven songs were recorded at different times and locations, and are exclusive to the LP. The CD, vinyl reissue and digital releases of the album omit the track "I Don't Want You to Die" featuring Chris Martin, but feature an exclusive track with Aaron Behrens of Ghostland Observatory, "Tasered and Maced".[1]

The Erykah Badu version of Ewan MacColl's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", was a result of Lips frontman Wayne Coyne's unsolicited calls to the singer.[3] Badu was initially opposed to covering the well-known 1957 song, but Coyne was able to convince her.[3]

Other pairings resulted from the initiative of other artists, such as the Kesha track.[4] Kesha had expressed interest in working with the Flaming Lips while visiting the band's hometown, Oklahoma City. She contacted Coyne by text message on his birthday. Her track, "2012 (You Must Be Upgraded)", was recorded in Kesha's home studio in Nashville.[4]

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic72/100[5]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Entertainment WeeklyA[7]
Pitchfork8.2/10[2]
Spin6/10[8]
Clash8/10[9]

Pitchfork commented on the wide variety of collaborators; mainstream artists such as Kesha and Coldplay's Chris Martin share space with more experimental artists such as Lightning Bolt and Prefuse 73. Despite the disparate artists involved, Pitchfork stated "[t]his piecemeal patchwork of tracks hangs together amazingly well as a front-to-back album."[2] The website rated the album 8.2 out of 10.[2] Entertainment Weekly gave the album an A rating.[7] Spin was less positive; giving a 6 out of 10 rating, they quipped that the other artists were "globetrotters on Gilligan's Acid Island".[8] Clash commented that the numerous guests tempered the band's usual outlandish workouts but did note that "Whilst that suppressed weirdness may be a detraction to the diehard fans, it makes for the band's most accessible work since Yoshimi...."[10]

The music video for "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" provoked controversy between the band and guest vocalist Erykah Badu when a rough cut was leaked online that misrepresented Badu.[11] As a result, this video was never officially released, however new vocals were recorded featuring Amanda Palmer, and a similar video to the one with Badu was filmed also featuring Palmer.[12]

Packaging

The band released the double LP in vinyl form in a 10,000 unit run on April 21, 2012, as part of Record Store Day. Each disc was hand-pressed using multiple shades of vinyl pellets and has a unique pattern.[13] Coyne claimed that he had requested and was given blood samples from some of the album's collaborators, including Kesha and Neon Indian's Alan Palomo.[4] His plan was to have small amounts of the blood sandwiched into the vinyl of a limited edition of the album, and make them available to "interested rich Flaming Lips people."[14][15] The double LPs with blood inside were pressed at United Record Pressing in Nashville. Custom editions have been sold via the headyfwends.com site: One copy was traded for two copies of prominent United customer Jack White's blue liquid-filled 12" single "Sixteen Saltines" (a Record Store Day 2012 exclusive only available at the Third Man Records store).[16] 10 more copies (encased in plexiglass with a photo collage cover made from the front cover photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins) were sold by Wayne Coyne for $2,500 USD each (plus $200 hand-delivery fee), with the proceeds going to the Oklahoma Humane Society and the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma. Customers who bought a copy of this edition also received a copy of the regular vinyl set for listening. The records were hand-delivered by AnatomyOne, of Oklahoma City's Womb Gallery, and photos of the buyers holding their copies were linked on Coyne's Twitter account.

Track listing

Compact disc and digital editions

The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends track listing
No.TitleFeaturingLength
1."2012 (You Must Be Upgraded)"Kesha, Biz Markie & Hour of the Time Majesty 124:09
2."Ashes in the Air"Bon Iver6:13
3."Helping the Retarded to Know God"Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros7:03
4."Supermoon Made Me Want to Pee"Prefuse 733:17
5."Children of the Moon"Tame Impala5:32
6."That Ain't My Trip"Jim James of My Morning Jacket3:47
7."You, Man? Human???"Nick Cave3:34
8."I'm Working at NASA on Acid"Lightning Bolt7:59
9."Do It!"Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band3:28
10."Is David Bowie Dying?"Neon Indian6:36
11."The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (written by Ewan MacColl)Erykah Badu10:04
12."Girl, You're So Weird"New Fumes3:21
13."Tasered and Maced"Aaron Behrens of Ghostland Observatory2:43[1]
Total length:69:17

Vinyl original RSD edition

Side 1
No.TitleFeaturingLength
1."2012 (You Must Be Upgraded)"Kesha, Biz Markie & Hour of the Time Majesty 124:09
2."Ashes in the Air"Bon Iver6:13
3."Helping the Retarded to Know God"Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros7:03
Side 2
No.TitleFeaturingLength
4."Supermoon Made Me Want to Pee"Prefuse 733:17
5."Children of the Moon"Tame Impala5:32
6."That Ain't My Trip"Jim James of My Morning Jacket3:47
7."You, Man? Human???"Nick Cave3:34
Side 3
No.TitleFeaturingLength
8."I'm Working at NASA on Acid"Lightning Bolt7:59
9."Do It!"Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band3:28
10."Is David Bowie Dying?"Neon Indian6:36
Side 4
No.TitleFeaturingLength
11."The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (written by Ewan MacColl)Erykah Badu10:04
12."Girl, You're So Weird"New Fumes3:21
13."I Don't Want You to Die"Chris Martin4:09[1]
Total length:69:17

Vinyl reissue edition

Side 1
No.TitleFeaturingLength
1."2012 (You Must Be Upgraded)"Kesha, Biz Markie & Hour of the Time Majesty 124:09
2."Ashes in the Air"Bon Iver6:13
3."Helping the Retarded to Know God"Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros7:03
Side 2
No.TitleFeaturingLength
4."Supermoon Made Me Want to Pee"Prefuse 733:17
5."Children of the Moon"Tame Impala5:32
6."That Ain't My Trip"Jim James of My Morning Jacket3:47
7."You, Man? Human???"Nick Cave3:34
Side 3
No.TitleFeaturingLength
8."I'm Working at NASA on Acid"Lightning Bolt7:59
9."Do It!"Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band3:28
10."Is David Bowie Dying?"Neon Indian6:36
Side 4
No.TitleFeaturingLength
11."The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (written by Ewan MacColl)Erykah Badu10:04
12."Girl, You're So Weird"New Fumes3:21
13."Tasered and Maced"Aaron Behrens of Ghostland Observatory2:43[1]
Total length:69:17

Vinyl edition has locked grooves at the end of each side.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Battan, Carrie (May 31, 2012). "The Flaming Lips to Release Collaborative Album Heady Fwends Comp Digitally and on CD". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved June 12, 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Berman, Stuart. "The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  3. 1 2 Rogulewski, Charley (April 21, 2012). "Erykah Badu Talks Flaming Lips Record Store Day Collaboration". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 Fitzmaurice, Larry (April 5, 2012). "Wayne Coyne Talks New Flaming Lips LP, Working With Ke$ha, Blood". Pitchfork Media. Archived from the original on August 23, 2013. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Reviews for The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends by The Flaming Lips". Metacritic. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
  6. ↑ Heaney, Gregory. "The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends – The Flaming Lips". AllMusic. Retrieved June 26, 2012.
  7. 1 2 Anderson, Kyle. "Music Review – The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  8. 1 2 Weingarten, Christopher. "The Flaming Lips, 'And Heady Fwends'". SPIN. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  9. ↑ "The Flaming Lips – The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends – Clash Music Latest Album Review". Clash. July 23, 2012. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
  10. ↑ "The Flaming Lips – The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends – Clash Music Latest Album Review". Clash. July 23, 2012. Retrieved July 23, 2012.
  11. ↑ Hyden, Steven (June 7, 2012). "The Flaming Lips infuriate Erykah Badu, chase silly Guinness World Record". The A.V. Club. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
  12. ↑ Breihan, Tom (August 27, 2012). "The Flaming Lips & Amanda Palmer – "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" Video (NSFW)". Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  13. ↑ Triplett, Gene (April 20, 2012). "CD review: The Flaming Lips 'The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends'". Look at OKC. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
  14. ↑ Erlich, Brenna (March 27, 2012). "The Flaming Lips' 'Fwends' Vinyl Will Contain Collaborators' Blood". MTV Hive. Retrieved April 23, 2012.
  15. ↑ Hudson, Alex (March 27, 2012). "The Flaming Lips Collecting Collaborators' Blood for 'Heady Fwends' Release". Exclaim!.
  16. ↑ "Wayne Coyne Tweets Show How Blood Vinyl Is Made". Glide Magazine. May 2, 2012. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
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