MUSIC
COURTESY OF FLAMINGLIPS.COM
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The Flaming Lips go to war
UNTIL THE LATE '90S, the Flaming Lips were known as that weird grunge/punk band from Oklahoma that made painfully loud and goofy records and then somehow scored the novelty hit 'She Don't Use Jelly' in 1994 thanks in large part to "Beavis and Butt-head."
"At War with the Mystics"
Warner Bros.
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Frontman and lead singer Wayne Coyne, along with bassist and chief technician Michael Ivins and musical genius Steve Drozd, had managed to keep the faith through the early lean years after their drummer and lead guitarists had quit the band. Even so, after years playing to small crowds in relative obscurity, the band seemed adrift as it engaged in bizarre sound experiments with boomboxes and car stereo concerts.
As a testament to the Lips' state of mind toward the end of the 20th century, they created "Zaireeka," a four-CD box set that required listeners to play all four CDs at the same time with four separate CD players. The experimental effort was a work of daring brilliance but did not expand their audience to a large degree.
Then, in 1999, the band released the beautifully ambitious album "The Soft Bulletin." Many critics hailed it as the best album of the year, even if most of the public still had no idea who the Lips were.
Three years later the Lips released an even more amazing album, called "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots," which featured the semihit song "Do You Realize?" "Yoshimi" did not sell well at first, but after the Lips relentlessly toured and began to create dazzling live shows that featured cartoon animal costumes, tons of confetti and eye-popping light and graphics displays, the tide finally turned.
The "Yoshimi" album did what no other Flaming Lips albums ever came close to: More than a million people bought it -- and it won a Grammy in 2003. The Lips had arrived in a big and strange way.
Now, four years after creating the masterpiece that is "Yoshimi," the Lips have just released "At War with the Mystics," and it shows the band returning to a more playful -- and sometimes downright silly -- state of mind.
This is not to say that there are not dearly felt or substantive melodies on "Mystics" -- there are plenty of tracks that will strike a meaningful and moving chord. But the Lips seem to have backed away from the serious, introspective nature of their last two albums and decided to have some good old rock 'n' roll fun again. That means that pounding drums and crunching guitars are back with a vengeance.
"At War with the Mystics" begins with the catchy "Yeah Yeah Yeah Song," and this track goes a long way in setting the tone that permeates the entire album. While the song questions the nature of power and self-interest, the way in which these questions are answered by the chorus is funny and harmonious at the same time.
"Free Radicals" is the funk-inspired story of, according to Coyne, a man pleading with a suicide bomber to rethink his goal of blowing himself up. "The Sound of Failure" takes a somber but brilliant angle of teen angst and seems to be saying that it's better to face up to things like failure, fear and sadness than just pretending everything is just fine. This is probably the best song on the album.
"My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion" brings back the sounds and textures of the last two albums, with flowing keyboards and very pretty layers of all kinds of odd instruments. "Vein of Stars" follows in the same vein (pun not intended) and asks some interesting questions about the indifference of the universe. The arrangement is gorgeous, as is the next track, "The Wizard Turns On," a spacey instrumental piece that gives a respectful nod to the essence of Pink Floyd, circa 1973.
"Mr. Ambulance Driver" changes the trippy tone back to a more reflective mood, using a wailing siren as a musical lead. The results are wonderfully sad and uplifting at the same time. Coyne's voice is rarely so moving.
"The Wand" is a solid and rollicking song about a magic wand that destroys war-mongering fools with a wave of the hand. "Pompeii Am Gotterdammerung" tells the tragic story of two lovers through a melody that borrows heavily from, oddly enough, the German national anthem.
The final song on the album is "Goin' On," an optimistic take on life's trials and tribulations. The basic thrust of the song is that simply accepting the life we have is the best way to keep yourself "going on."
"At War with the Mystics" is one of the Flaming Lips' best albums. It's not "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots," but that's just the point. The band has already done that album, and it's time to move on to the "Mystics."