Normally collaboration-themed albums fractures the style of the principle artist. Blunders like DJ Shadow's 2006 collaboration effort "The Outsider" come to mind. It was a full-on sonic war, the collaborators fought viciously and no one really emerged as the winner. The is similar to Yankee's Law, which I named for the catastrophic super-group failure Damn Yankees. When one combines the creative forces of 2 or more commercially and or artistically successful entities there is a division or subtraction of talent rather than an addition or multiplication. Some high-profile collaboration efforts buck that trend but normally that's a surprise, not the rule.
The real reason this album succeeds is that at no point do the Flaming Lips succumb to the temptation to do silly cross-over numbers that no one wants to hear.
Collaborations on here are done largely with fellow rock artists who have their own stylized way of doing things (sorry Kings of Leon). I was bracing myself for a catastrophic hip-hop breakdown but that never came. Best collaborations include Prefuse 73, Plastic Ono Band, Bon Iver (who normally puts me to sleep), and lastly the electrifying Nick Cave.
The only track that sounds a little ridiculous at first is the opener "2012" which is the product of working alongside Ke$ha. Now I have no beef with Ke$ha. She is super hot in my opinion and has the stage presence and musical sensibilities to write/perform some truly high energy pop. She's no Brian Wilson but still, as far as radio fare, she does a better-than-average job. But the track gets marred firstly because of the corny repetition of the dystopian "you must be upgraded". Then the song starts into this strange space-rock cabaret led by Ke$ha. It was the only track I hated the first time I listened but it gets better as it unfolds. The intro still remains questionable to me though upon further listening.
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