The flaming Lips are back

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by pinkrudy, Jun 3, 2020.

  1. Oyster Boy

    Oyster Boy Forum Resident

    Playing it now, masterpiece & unbelievable spring to mind. Absolutely ticks all my musical boxes.
     
  2. Porkpie

    Porkpie Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Very happy with my copy and sounds plenty dynamic. Only had a chance to play it once but already picked out a couple songs that hooked me in (I think track 1 on side 3, which then is sampled on a later track).
     
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  3. LeeGriffin

    LeeGriffin Forum Resident

    Location:
    Fort Mill, SC
    The copy I ordered from Bella Union shipped a week ago but I have no idea how long it will take to get over here. I'm trying to hold off listening until I can spin the vinyl.
     
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  4. Chemically altered

    Chemically altered Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ukraine in Spirit
    Great! Mine is in the post but should get it in a couple of days. Cheers.
     
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  5. pinkrudy

    pinkrudy Senior Member Thread Starter

    i'm listening to the 96/24 files while i wait for my deluxe vinyl set from europe.

    I've played the album about 3 times all the way through. I feel like the first half is better than the second half.

    my religion is you is a great track but maybe they could have ended on a more grandiose song?

    i really like god and the policeman though. kacey is great throughout this album. Also really love her "great gig in the sky moment" on watching the lightbulbs glow.
     
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  6. scotti

    scotti Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta GA
    So have only heard a few minutes if that from the record, but called my oldest son earlier today and told him I think we got a really good one this time from them and you should get the Indie vinyl blue/pink version. Then earlier tonight, we were talking and a seller on ebay had two copies of the limited #500/lithograph/holograph/tricolor version for $128 and $5 to ship, plus the seller was located in the US and my son nailed both of them for us. I still have the standard Indie version I'm getting next week...

    Talk about a gut reaction...now I'm really looking forward to it!
     
  7. pinkrudy

    pinkrudy Senior Member Thread Starter

    I think you won't be disspointed. This album is the best since yoshimi. I feel like this should have been released instead of war with the mystics and we'd all be talking about the "Lips Trilogy". war with the mystics does have the lips sounding younger and the songs have more humor and experimental things. But what bulletin and yoshimi had was beauty. Thats what you get with american head. makes a great trilogy.
     
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  8. InStepWithTheStars

    InStepWithTheStars It's a miracle, let it alter you

    Location:
    North Carolina
    Just ordered the CD off Amazon because I had some return credit from a mangled order. Here's hoping I don't get a CD-R - I know they did that for King's Mouth. Downloading the MP3s now (forgive me, Heavenly Father, for I have sinned; I have downloaded an inferior format and it shall be my punishment).
     
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  9. Bakeryrec

    Bakeryrec Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    I’m glad somebody else picked up on that...I was describing her presence as akin to the importance of the female vocals throughout Dark Side of the Moon as well.
     
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  10. InStepWithTheStars

    InStepWithTheStars It's a miracle, let it alter you

    Location:
    North Carolina
    A few thoughts after my first listen:

    - They're obsessed with drugs
    - Wayne's voice is probably never going to recover, although it's not as bad as Oczy Mlody or King's Mouth
    - They've left the apocalypse vibe I loved so much about the 2009-2017 era behind
    - I appreciate that they're moving back toward a more organic instrumental approach, rather than the almost totally electronic approach of the past two albums
    - Dave Fridmann, despite being the unquestionable winner of the loudness war, is still an unparalleled producer/engineer
    - This is the first time in a while I've listened to MP3s on my main headphones, and oh man did it suck

    I thought that a lot of the lyrics on this album weren't very good. However, the ones that are good are really good. "Mother Please Don't Be Sad"? Hoo! That's a tear-jerker on the level of "All We Have Is Now" or "Mr. Ambulance Driver". They've still got the power! It's also worth noting that while I only listened to that song and "Flowers Of Neptune 6" one time each, I remembered the words and the melodies like I'd played them dozens of times. For a comparison point, I've listened to King's Mouth probably about ten to fifteen times and a few of the songs I couldn't sing for you.

    The standout, head and shoulders above the rest (and I don't mean to denigrate the rest) is "Mother Please Don't Be Sad", mainly for the reasons mentioned above. Now I really don't care for the "when we die" part - musically it's a bit too predictable, and lyrically it's a bit dumb, especially in a song whose main lyrics are so powerful. But I love the music and melody in the verses. And the lyrics are some of their finest. This is what sets this band apart from the pack: they can put you in the saddest situations you could ever imagine and still show you the silver lining. "Mother, please don't be sad/it's only me that's died tonight/there's so much you still have/remember all the others who are still alive." Oh, I love this band so much. I haven't cried like this in a while. :cry:

    I don't want to complain too much, so I'll state my biggest problem with the album and state that it's also an improvement over the two preceding albums. Wayne's voice is almost entirely gone - and, in fact, it's been going down hill since around 2008 or so. I didn't notice it on Embryonic, because his vocals on that album were very cold and emotionless; I didn't notice it on 7 Skies H3 because he was singing from the perspective of a character with deteriorating sanity; I didn't notice it on The Terror because that album was all about being unpleasant and painful (not an insult, I adore that album). But when he tried to sing "Sunrise" on Oczy Mlody, it became incredibly apparent how far gone his voice was, and "The Sparrow" and others on King's Mouth didn't give me much hope that it was on the mend.

    It's still bad on this album, but not nearly as bad as the previous two. I went into these songs wondering how well his voice would hold up and paying attention to it; I wonder if somebody who wasn't aware of his vocal deterioration would have noticed if they only heard this album. The music of this album suits that voice better than the previous two. And onto the music: this is a blend of 90% Pink Floyd and 10% David Bowie thrown into the Fearless Freaks' blender. I've always loved their twisted take on Floydianism ("Pompeii Am Gotterdammerung", the ending two hours of "7 Skies H3"), and it's all over this album. Being in the midst of a Bowie re-discovery, I picked up on some huge influences from ol' Jonesy on songs like "Watching The Light Bugs Glow" and "Brother Eyes". I miss the more organic, less electronic sound of the Soft Bulletin through Mystics era, and I miss the claustrophobic apocalypse sound of Embryonic through The Terror, but musically this is my favorite album of the three most recent ones.

    Overall? Yeah, this is a good 'un. I don't think it quite stacks up to their past glories, but it doesn't have to. It has to stand on its own as a good album, and I feel it achieves that. There are weak moments ("You 'N' Me Sellin' Weed" was one I didn't care for at all, and a few like "My Religion Is You" made basically no impression on me), but the highs it hits are as good as ever, and it hits enough of them to warrant a recommendation. I was lukewarm on Oczy Mlody and King's Mouth and I remain that way to this day. First impressions of American Head are good. Will it change? Maybe. But I get the feeling all I'll need to do is spin "Mother Please Don't Be Sad" and in short order, all my criticisms will just become minor.

    Oh, I love the Flaming Lips. However small their contribution may be in the grand scheme of things, a world without them would not be a world I would want to live in.
     
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2020
  11. pinkrudy

    pinkrudy Senior Member Thread Starter

    yea the drug references on this album are insane lol

    i also feel soft bulletin and maybe yoshimi are better. but this ranks as my 3rd favourite lips album.
     
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  12. InStepWithTheStars

    InStepWithTheStars It's a miracle, let it alter you

    Location:
    North Carolina
    Sticking only to the "main" albums, I'd rank the ones from 1999 onward as such:
    1. Embryonic
    2. The Terror
    3. The Soft Bulletin
    4. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
    5. At War With The Mystics
    6. American Head
    7. Oczy Mlody
    8. King's Mouth
    7 Skies H3 (the 2014 version) would probably place at #3 if I included those other albums. At War With The Mystics should have been #3, maybe even #2, if not for two crappy songs and two which should have been changed. There's an alternate track list where that's a 10/10 album. King's Mouth is much more consistent than Oczy Mlody, but the high points on that one are greater than those on King's Mouth.

    I don't want to put American Head that low, because I do really like it. I enjoyed my second listen a lot, and I suspect subsequent listens will continue to be as rewarding. It's only where it is on the list because they've made so many great albums!

    I haven't listened to the pre-Zaireeka albums enough to rank them, much less against the later stuff.
     
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  13. Greg Smith

    Greg Smith Forum Resident

    People forget about Clouds Taste Metallic which is similar lyric wise to the last few and has great tunes.
    Soft Bulletin
    Embryonic
    Yoshimi
    The Terror
    At War With The Mystics
    Clouds Taste Metallic
    American Head
    Kings Mouth
    Oczy Mlody
    All great pieces of work that any band would be proud off.
    Plus their earlier stuff is worth listening too
     
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  14. notesofachord

    notesofachord Riding down the river in an old canoe

    Location:
    Mojave Desert
    My favorite Lips era is 1990 - 1995.
     
  15. pinkrudy

    pinkrudy Senior Member Thread Starter

    1.soft bulletin
    2. yoshimi
    3.american head
    4. the terror
    5. kings mouth
    6. oczy mlody

    i also have transmissions from satellite heart and in a priest driven ambulence. but i only ranked the later stuff.

    I never bought embryonic and war with the mystics. they have great moments but a little too weird for me. I didnt like any of the covers albums either. clouds taste metallic wasnt really my style either.

    A actually really like the terror. even though there is no real singing in it.
     
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2020
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  16. InStepWithTheStars

    InStepWithTheStars It's a miracle, let it alter you

    Location:
    North Carolina
    I don't dislike the pre-Soft Bulletin stuff. A lot of it is great! It's just so wildly different from what they turned into that it's hard to compare. It really is like two separate bands with the same name and members.
     
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  17. smartiepants

    smartiepants Senior Member

    my local record store that I pre ordered months back had all of his allocated stock delivered and was all damaged, he cannot even get replacements himself, he was good enough to let me know as soon as he found out, lucky for me a second store that I use had stock yesterday morning so was fortunate to get a copy although it will be a few days before i get it, he is selling the damaged stock he had at a reduced price but unsure how many he has left
     
  18. Porkpie

    Porkpie Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    I first got into them when She Don’g Like Jelly came out and I bought that album, Clouds, Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi but then stopped following them as it got a bit overplayed and seemed to be heading in a more commercial direction.

    This is the first album of theirs I’ve bought since Yoshimi, did I miss anything that’s worth exploring?
     
  19. scotti

    scotti Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta GA
    Yeah this is a total crock! As someone that came from that side, I just don't get why labels and suppliers won't take care of these Indie retailers when they get defective vinyl. Even the owner of my local store told me that even if a record arrives broken because of shipping, he's still stuck. All this does is help drive more sales to retailers like Amazon that can afford to take the loss on returns because of their size. My alternative is AS, but when it comes to certain exclusives, you have to shop local or buy from a retailer considered an Indie on line...don't mean to derail, but this is not right. Now the larger the Indie, of course they can work with customers more on defective vinyl...
     
  20. smartiepants

    smartiepants Senior Member

    agreed, feel sorry for him, he is literally a one man band just him and his partner running the shop with no other back up at all so has had to take it on the chin, rather than refund I told him to keep the money and I'll have store credit (he would have ended up with it anyway)
    anyway back on track i'm so looking forward to this release and was holding off until I get my copy but as Amazon music has it in "ultra HD" i will give it a listen tonight
     
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  21. Mr. Bewlay

    Mr. Bewlay It Is The Business Of The Future To Be Dangerous.

    Location:
    Denver CO
    Are you sure it wasn't Spinal Tap?
     
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  22. InStepWithTheStars

    InStepWithTheStars It's a miracle, let it alter you

    Location:
    North Carolina
    I would say absolutely. At War With The Mystics is severely flawed, but there's a 10/10 album hidden amongst the wreckage. Embryonic is very, very, very "listener un-friendly". It's a very extreme album. There's virtually no humor (not even "I Can Be A Frog", which has playful lyrics but spooky music). It's very unrelenting. It's also one of my top five albums of all time. The Terror is also worth checking out. It's another entirely humorless album, built almost exclusively around synthesizers, but it's a very unique experience. It's 100% mood, and if you don't like the mood you'll probably hate the album. I love it personally. 7 Skies H3 is a 50-minute distillation of their 24-hour song from 2011 and it's also essential, easily the most accessible of the three I recommended.
     
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  23. scotti

    scotti Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta GA
    Well said, because when its good, it really is, just somewhat of a mess scattered throughout, but I do like that record!
     
  24. thnkgreen

    thnkgreen Sprezzatura!

    Location:
    NC, USA
    I streamed the new album yesterday and only made it half way through before switching it off, unfortunately.
     
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  25. Porkpie

    Porkpie Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    I liked the Golden Path with the Chemical Brothers, I think that was actually the last thing of theirs I bought before this.
     
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