The Flaming Lips

I loved the Soft Bulletin, so I'll definitely give this one a go. I tried a few of their earlier albums, but they seemed a bit too noisy for my tastes. Hopefully they're not returning to that style.

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

Just got my copy and am being mesmerised by the music. 'Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots' does away with most of the orchestral pieces that pervaded throughout 'The Soft Bulletin'. Instead it indulges on electronics giving the album a more upbeat and lush feel. I absolutely love it. Destined to be one of the top albums of 2002.

Heard their latest single on the radio in the car today.

Sounded like someone whingeing in a karaoke style over a bad pub bands version of Lennons Mind Games.

Not my cuppa.

Sorry

P

Yes, the guy's vocal performances are a bit "non-standard", but there's an earnestness there that grows on you.

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

Are you trying to say that you find someone whining "You've such a beautiful face" in such a winsome and annoyingly foppish style engaging?

Lord help us.

I really love Coldplays new single though.

Hope the new album's as good

P

On the new album at least, far from 'earnestness' I take his lyrics to be ironic. Certainly "Do You realize" strikes me as less than serious with all that "Happiness makes you cry and someday everyone you know will die" stuff. And the title track brings a wry smile to my face precisely because of it faux earnestness ("Come Yoshimi! Fight those evil machines! You can do it with your special Karate powers!").

Something of a Hobson's Choice for single I guess as there is not an obvious radio friendly track but even so its far from my my favourite track -- that would be eithet the title track or "Are You a Hypnotist?", or "It's Summertime", or...

His singing voice reminds me of Jason Lytle from Grandaddy and musically the album reminds me of "The Sophtware Slump" (although its better than that IMHO) not least because of the Robot connection.

Matthew

Saw the Flaming Lips live the other week. They kicked off with Do you Realise and it was fantastic. And they're not being ironic!
However, I assumed P was being ironic regarding his comments on the new Coldplay single...

Irony? Not lil ole me. I don't have the capacity to understand such concepts.

I do love Coldplay though.

Maybe I'll listen to the Lips album. Given the weight of support here it's just got to be great and the single IS just a red herring.


P

P,

If you don't like the single you won't like the album.

Simon,

If "Do You realize" is not ironic its the chessiest lyric since "Grandad". I mean "Don't you realise happiness makes you cry", puh-lease.

Matthew

So the whole album IS as good as the single?

Woah.

Thanks for the warning Mat.

P

I suspect that the emotional stance posited by the Lips is almost entirely fabricated. Yet that doesn't negate the fact that it's sung in an earnest fashion. Also his willingness to belt it out, even though he is not a "good" singer, lends credence to the possibility that he might really "feel it" (however unlikely that may be). In fact, his general demeanor hints at a childlike innocence.

BTW, I'm basing all of my comments on their prior albums; I haven't had a chance to pick-up the latest yet. However, the various descriptions here strongly imply that his vocals (both the lyrics and his performance style) have not change all that much since The Soft Bulletin.

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

His vocal style is very similar to Soft Bulletin although the lyrics on that album didn't particularly register so I don't have an opinion (like I said I didn't like that half as much as this one).

The man must be well into his 30s and I refuse to believe that such a talented and experienced musician could write such undergraduate quality lyrics as "I'm really sensitive" lyrics as "Happiness makes you cry and someday everyone you know will die" and want them to be taken seriously and litereally.

And the lyrics to "Yoshimi" are outright funny IMHO -- you can't have enough songs about schoolgirls using special karate powers to defeat crazed robots bent on world domination.

Still, a fine album though. Easily best of the year for me so far. Just not for Coldplay fans I guess.

Matthew

quote:

---

The man must be well into his 30s and I refuse to believe that such a talented and experienced musician could write such undergraduate quality lyrics ... and want them to be taken seriously and litereally.

---

It might be that he's just not an eloquent lyricist. I know that I'm not: when I write lyrics, it's a struggle for them not to sound trite and banal. My instrumental expressions are rich and sophisticated in comparison.

I'm often tempted to write nonsense lyrics, simply for the sake of getting a voice into the mix. (Lots of bands do this.) Or perhaps I should just give up and write the obvious, trite stuff.

It seems that The Flaming Lips are taking both of these approaches.

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

Please, listen to the album (or The Soft Bulletin, which is better imo) before making your mind up. I think The Flaming Lips are looking at the world almost from a child's perspective, and perhaps finding some insights - they're not being ironic. Uncut magazine put it well when, in reviewing the album this month, they said they make "music that understands the glib and the profound are sometimes interchangeable".

Let's not take a few lines out of context of the whole song / album e.g.

Look at the stars,
Look how they shine for you,
And everything you do,
Yeah, they were all yellow.




Anyway, that's enough moaning from me.
Cheers
Simon

Simon,

Yes reading the lyric as intentionaly child-like would be a much better interpretation.

Mike said "when I write lyrics, it's a struggle for them not to sound trite and banal. My instrumental expressions are rich and sophisticated in comparison"

<shudder>

Matthew

Hey Mike - I take it you finally learned how to play Chopsticks then?

P

quote:

---

They kicked off with Do you Realise and
it was fantastic. And they're not being ironic!

---

The 'Lips are one of the most relentlessly ironic bands out there. I've seen them live at least twice, and much of the show is given over to parody; usually of the worst, most treacle-filled elements of pop music. At one show, Coyne spent the first half hour doing a fantastic Yanni parody; sickening, cliched lyrics over a monotonous, synthesized pan-flute drone. This ended with him furiously banging a large gong-show-style gong behind him and the band generating some very wicked noise. Understandably, if you don't get the joke, some of they're doing is going to seem unbelievably trite.

Keep in mind that the 'Lips are coming out of the same Bible-Belt mold (at the same time) that generated the Butthole Surfers, The Jesus Lizard, Thighmaster, and many others (they have close links also to NYC bands like Ween and Bongwater). The 'Lips, Ween, and B-hole surfers have actually done shows together, IIRC.

One of the things that's great about the 'Lips is the fact that unlike their fellows the irony is not in your face, to the point that people quite understandably miss it (as some also did with Pavement).

"Childlike innocence"

A quick search turned up this.

Hope your kids aren't like this.

That should give you an idea of how bad my lyrics can be.

As to the quality of the music, I'll post a link to a some of it, and you can judge it for yourself. Give me a couple of days to get it together.

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

The 'Lips are one of the most relentlessly ironic bands out there.

My comments related to the new album, and the song "Do you realise?". Not previous shows.

It was record of the week on cd-wow, so I bought a copy. First listen left me none too impressed, but I will persevere with it.
John

My copy arrived today [also from CD-Wow, aren't they just amazing - if only their catalogue was larger ....DVD's are bargains too - got Lord of the Rings in the same batch] and have had a first listen. It doesn't have the epic quality of The Soft Bulletin, no orchestras or whip cracks, but sounds very promising all the same. That last album had the design & typography of the sort of stuff Warners released in the late 60's early 70's - off centre, whimsical, culty - and it lived up to the look in spades. I'm slightly baffled why the are suddenly such a big thing, but pleased for them nevertheless.

I'd more or less decided to get this on the strength of the reviews and the great title and cover art, and the thread here took me the rest of the way...

Good call, a fine album. I'd guess if you find Neil Young's vocals just too annoying to appreciate you might have trouble with it (I don't), but it's fine and fun. I'll probably look further into their catalogue on the strength of this.
Pete.

Pete,

Do check out 'The Soft Bulletin' then. Slightly different from Yoshimi but still a great album as well.