Flaming Lips

[moom]

What're you thinking about these incredible Americans ?

I have their first two albums, and they blow my head off

[fatoldbob]

You have to love a band that has a man in a bunny suit with a megaphone onstage.

[garygreen]

What a wonderful quote! Thank you....

[drafsack]

They are totally amazing both on record and Live - which 2 albums have you got??

[drafsack]

With regards to the Flaming lips a good place to start is "The Soft Bulletin"

This is an explosion of psychedelia and bubble gum pop and starts with "Race For The Prize" this is the track that they have been using to start their live shows and it sets the album up well. After this track it?s a roller coaster of good music the symphonic swell its piano bursts and great guitars. A view common to most Flaming Lips fans is that The Soft Bulletin represents their crowning achievement and for me the best track on the album ?Feeling yourself disintegrate? which is everything a love song should be its about the importance of love and how you fall apart (disintegrate) when love ends. Other highlights on this album include ?what is light? which then leads into an instrumental called ?the observer? and then ?waiting for superman?. On the UK version tracks 12 and 13 are remixes of Race for the prize and ?waiting for superman? on the US version these appeare earlier and as a result the album doesn't flow as well but both albums ends with buggin.

The natural progression from Bulletin is ?Yoshimi?. Again it starts on a high with ?Fight test and stays good pretty much all the way through my favourites on the album are Flight test and all we have is now. My single favourite lyric on the album is also one of my signatures ?The sun doesn?t go down its just an illusion caused by the world turning around?.

Next up is Mystics From the outset, it's clear that the Lips haven't lost touch with their pop inner child. The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song is made up of multi-tracked harmonies, handclaps and quirky guitar and keyboard riffs. Although this comes across more as a party song, the lyrics are more serious with lines such as "if you could make everybody poor, just so you could be rich, would you do it",
The claustrophobic rhythms of Free Radicals make the Lips sound like Prince, while the laidback Mr Ambulance Driver is soulful, melancholy and oddly touching and a bout a person talking to the ambulance driver as his partner lies dying in the back on her way to hospital,
Vein Of Stars is a lush masterpiece that sees the Lips questioning "if there ain't no heaven, maybe there ain't no hell". It's very uplifting and fantastic live.
The W.A.N.D.", a good song built on gnarly guitar riffs and reminds me of ?Lightning strikes the postman?
Pompeii am G?tterd?mmerung could very easily be mistaken for ?sets the controls? era Pink Floyd and hits its target full on - it's almost the best song that fat guts and Rog never made.
This album is a slow burner and takes a few listens to like but now I can?t stop listening to it.

Its then best to work backwards through Transmissions which starts on a good footing with ?Turn it on and has the minor hit of ?she don?t use jelly? on it. after that track the album dips a bit but finishes on an absolute high with ?Slow nerve action. Hit to death is probably my least liked album of this era of the Flips. It starts good, has some good tracks on it but not enough to keep you interested all the way through. Clouds Taste.. is another classic Flips album It starts good and maintains the tempo all the way through. My favourite is ?Lightening strikes the postman? but in general there is not a track I don?t like.

Zaireeka is next and this comes on 4 discs that have to be played simultaneously to get the full effect, which means 4 stereo systems!! The whole point of the album is to invite all your friends to bring their stereos over and have a happening. So unless you have 4 Stereo?s that you can start playing at the same time the album will change with every listen. Whole songs differ depending on where you sit, how loud stereos are and how close you synched them together. I have managed an almost perfect synch, but this took a lot of planning and effort and required me to go and buy 4, exactly the same stereo systems (which I took back after a couple of days). It was really good having music coming out of 8 speakers surrounding me. What was also an amazing experience was playing the discs out of synch it gave a mind disorientating head f**k. My favorite track in this album is ?Riding to Work in the Year 2525 (Your Invisible Now)? followed closely by Thirty-Five Thousand Feet of Despair and the track ?March of the rotten vegetables? is amazing coming through the 8 speakers at points the echo arrives before its originator.

"The punks are finally.." and "Jesus egg" are a compilation of their first couple of albums with the addition of bonus tracks - worth a listen when you are in an accepting mood. Disc 1 is made up their first EP and first album called ?Here it is? the best track on the first album is ?Jesus Shootin' Heroine? which has become a Flips classic. Disc 2 is the album ?Oh My god? its very much in the same vain as disc 1 and IMO the best track is ?One Million Billionth?. Disc 3 is made up of the album ?Telepathic Surgery? it is an interesting album with the highlights of ?Drug machine in heaven? and ?Chrome plated suicide? the rest of the album could pass you by without noticing. Disc 5 is made up of ?In a priest driven ambulance? This album starts with a couple of belters in ?Shine on sweet juses? and ?Unconsciously screaming? and is certainly a step in the right direction. It dips a bit in the middle but picks up towards the end. Disc 5 is ?The Mushroom Tapes? these are pretty much out takes, demo?s and stuff that did not make it on to some of the other albums. The highlight on this cd for me is a cover of the ?Chainsaw Kittens? song ?She?s gone mad? it?s a brilliant track and has a sample of ?brain damage? on it.

?Ego tripping? has got a few unnecessary remix?s from Yoshimi plus a couple of new tracks which are alright but not brilliant and ?1984 ? 1990? is the best bits from that era ? essentially the best bits from ?Punks? and ?Egg?.

If you get the chance to see them then do so its the best concert you will ever go to with confetti, balloons, people on the stage in animal concerts and lasers. Once you have seen them live every gig after that seems flat

[drafsack]

Forgot to mention their latest DVD - UFO at the Zoo - absolute Brill

[Stephen]

I was introduced to them by Draf and I have to say that Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is my favourite of theirs, closely followed by The Soft Bulletin. Both great albums though.

[Sonic Destruction]

I have only got their two most recent studio albums "Yoshimi" and "Mystics". Both took a while to grow on me, as I was expecting more of a "rock" sound; psychedelic pop would be a good desciption of what they do. Having said that, I have come to love them both, and will look out more of their stuff.

I think they would be a stunning live act, although I haven't had a chance to find that out for myself.

They do a brilliant rendition of "Lucifer Sam" as well.

[Damn!t]

Interesting band.
I'v so far bought Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots and The Soft Bulletin.

[nosaj]

A personal fav. of mine.

[David Smith]

Yeah love 'em too

Not all that fond of the earlier albums (although i haven't really given them that much of a chance yet) but love Soft Bullitin and Yoshimi. Mystics i'm kind of undecided on at the moment, but this thread has inspired me to give it another listen right now

* David starts to play it on his Ipod *

[drafsack]

Mystics is a grower

[David Smith]

Liked it a lot more when i heard it last night

I reckon along with Beck the Lips are probably the strongest pop act around today

[moom]

They are totally amazing both on record and Live - which 2 albums have you got??

the 1st 3 I have also dwnldd most of the rest, but haven't had time to listen yet.

[cwta eugene]

Got to see them live at Red Rocks in Colorado last month during a business trip. They were absolutely astounding! They played a strange version of Kashmir that I thought was cool as well as a re-working of the "taps" tune in honor of the fallen soldiers in Iraq. It was a real religious experience for me, especially for the fact that I have two brothers over there right now. They also played "Pompeii Am Gutterdammerang", or whatever it's called, which is very reminscent of One Of These Days. It is powerful on record, but the live version just blew me away!

The only thing I wasn't too happy with was the fact that I waited in the hot sun for a few hours in order to be close to the stage (I was on the third row) and I was hoping for huge amounts of confetti, fake blood, big balloons, and Wayne Coyne in a human hamster-ball to come my way. Unfortunately, the way Red Rocks is shaped, Wayne was not able to climb very far in his ball because it is a steep amphitheatre. For the same reason, all the baloons quickly made their way from the top of the amphitheatre, where they were released, to the stage, where the roadies gathered them all up because they were hitting the band too often. All the confetti and fake blood that was shot got hit by wind once it was shot out, and didn't make it much past the first row. In watching the Zoo DVD, it looks like the crowd is having a great time because the show is very interactive if done on a level field with the right weather conditions. I'll have to try and see them again.