stream the Donovan tribute album ft. The Flaming Lips, Sharon Van Etten, Hamilton Leithauser & more

by Andrew Sacher

photo: The Flaming Lips at Levitation 2015 (more by Tim Griffin)

Last month, Sharon Van Etten released her cover of “Teen Angel” from the upcoming Donovan tribute album, Gazing With Tranquility: A Tribute to Donovan. Rock the Cause Records releases the album next week (and proceeds go to Huntington’s Hope) and now NPR’s got the full stream of it. Most excitingly, that means we can now hear the covers from The Walkmen frontman Hamilton Leithauser and The Flaming Lips.

It feels pretty safe to assume that The Flaming Lips’ sound as we know it wouldn’t exist without the influence of guys like Donovan, so it’s pretty great to hear their take on his 1968 song “Atlantis.” They deliver the spoken word portion with pitched-down vocals and once the singing comes in, they more or less make it sound like a Flaming Lips song. It’s a cool take, and definitely not just a retread of the original. Hamilton, meanwhile, gives crooning pop bombast to Donvan’s subdued “To Susan On The West Coast Waiting.” Listen to those, and the rest of the compilation, below.

As you may know, The Flaming Lips will soon hit the road as Miley Cyrus’ backing band.

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