Well, it’s been a couple weeks since Record Store Day, but I’m still working through the embarrassment of riches I brought home with me.

There were a few items I didn’t track down that Saturday, like the Black Kids’ Wizard Of Ahhhs EP on 10-inch vinyl and a reissue of The Stooges “1969” single, so it was off to the Interweb to cross those elusive exclusives off my list. Visiting eBay, I purchased both from kind folks in the UK who, unlike my American brethren, didn’t seem intent on ripping off folks who missed out.

Alas, the same wasn’t true for the split 7-inch from The Flaming Lips and The Black Keys, its price now exponentially inflated. Thanks to the ineptness of a cashier at my first stop on Record Store Day (who seemed to have no idea why so many guys had flooded the store upon opening and immediately lined up in front of the counter), I left without that one in my bag.

While the Flaming Lips/Black Keys single was a vinyl exclusive, the songs on it are not. Both are pulled from Covered, A Revolution In Sound, a compilation celebrating Warner Bros. Records’ 50th anniversary. Current artists on the label’s roster, like Against Me!, The Used, and Michelle Branch, cover songs from its history. If that concept sounds familiar, it should; Elektra Records did something similar for its 40th anniversary with 1990’s Rubáiyát.

Covered is a simple one-disc affair, illustrating just how lackluster Warner Bros. current lineup really is (The Used covers Talking Heads, Adam Sandler covers Neil Young). Though The Black Keys do a good job with Captain Beefheart’s “Her Eyes Are A Million Blue Miles,” The Flaming Lips’ cover of Madonna’s “Borderline” is why I was so intent on finding that 7″ single, running from store to store. In the end, I settled for picking up the Covered CD for about $5, saving myself a good wad of cash.

As I said in a previous Sunday Cover Story, I don’t really “get” The Flaming Lips, so my interest has everything to do with Madonna. Joined by Stardeath and White Dwarfs, the Lips’ take on her 1984 #10 hit, written by Reggie Lucas, is a rocking six-minute symphony set in space. Hear here:

Purchase The Flaming Lips (with Stardeath and White Dwarfs) – “Borderline” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.