The Flaming Lips. The Worlds Most Frustrating Band?

I have! If you like the Flaming Lips, and if you like King Crimson, you'll like it.

 

i saw them once years ago, the singer went over the aud in a big bubble.

 

They were perfect in the 90s. Collect their 90s output and you are good with just touching on the highlights of other decades.

 

2009-2013 hit the sweet spot for me. I love that suffocating, heavy fear that runs through all that. 99-06 is probably when the Lips Mk. II were in their prime, but it can be a bit too bubbly at times; the nightmare music they made around the turn of the decade is IMO their best work. I'm not huge on the stuff that came after and I'm not huge on the guitar-based stuff from before (though I do like it). They can hit emotions like no other band can and IMO they do that best when they're going for pure fear in the most melodramatic, over-the-top pretentious way possible.

 

Hmmm, that new song sounded pretty good. They lost me with the last few albums, but this gives me some hope that maybe the new album will be somewhat of a return to form.

 

I'm a fan of this band, but the mastering on the Heady Fwends cd which I just sampled at a store, had the same loudness war type mastering.

 

Everything they do is an attempt to win the loudness war. Christmas On Mars has good DR numbers but still has that bloated sound.

 

It is an improvement compared to their previous album but not nearly close to their run of 1999-2009 albums.

 

I don’t mind them releasing all the weird stuff or indulging in so many collaborations and side projects. Just think it’s their way of keeping things fun for themselves and their more obsessive fanbase. Other bands do it too with exclusive EPs, live stuff, merch etc. I don’t feel it’s all directed at me but this is coming from a casual fan. Their "main" discography is enough for me, and if I look at the records in my collection - every major release since the 90’s + some EP’s - I see a distinctive, interesting body of work and to me there isn’t really a drop in quality at any point.

To me Embryonic and The Terror were a welcome change of direction and generally strong LPs, definitely have to be in a certain mood to listen to them but the music is terrific. Oczy Mlody is ok, not a perfect record but enjoyable, I would compare it to At War With The Mystics because it sure has highlights but as a whole it doesn’t always keep me engaged. I check out the occasional cover album or EP, kind of expecting those secondary releases to be spottier but I end up liking some of it quite a bit (Peace Sword and Electric Würms still get regular spins). But then again, I have never been a hardcore follower so never felt I needed to collect rarities or listen to the more obscure stuff. Might be missing out on some gems of course.

 

Rest assured that the obscure stuff you can't buy won't be worth the extra effort, otherwise they'd give it a wider release.

Don't like the band myself, so easy for me to say, of course.

 

Yes that’s probably true, though others in this thread have praised some of those releases. But I don’t think I will ever find the motivation and the time to do the Zaireeka experiment or sit through hours and hours of a single track.

 

A lot of what the Lips did reminds me of Eye and Boredoms. There were releases that only came if you bought other releases and sent in the included cards. There were many hand-made cassette versions of the studio material on albums Boretronix 1,2 3. There was a one-off lathe-cut single cut ON-TOP of another single. There were the domestic-only fluorescent bubble covers. There was the box that had a light-activated track inside it. Luckily, I have 95% of it. At one point a 50 (150?) CD set of Zorn and Eye playing live in China was announced. It never happened.

 

While the albums in question sound absolutely nothing like one another, I can't help but notice this little parallel in my opinions of all their stuff from Bulletin onward:

• First release of the "decade" (using the term loosely here): groundbreaking album which sounds nothing like anything they made before it: Soft Bulletin and Embryonic

• Second release of the "decade": album which is cut from the same cloth as the previous one, but presented very differently; a more emotionally direct tuning of the previous sound - Yoshimi and The Terror

• Third release of the "decade": the band tries to tailor the previous two albums to their "fun" stage presence with mixed results; plenty of good music, but a sense that they're just goofing around rather than trying to create a fully realized work - Mystics and Oczy Mlody

At this point, though, I don't think King's Mouth will start a third "decade"; I hear a continuation of the "third album" thing. Even though I like that "City" song more than anything on Oczy Mlody - I get the feeling they're still trying to have fun, and IMO they're at their best when they're as bleak and un-fun and pretentious as they can possibly be. My top three are Embryonic, 7 Skies H3 (the "miniature" version should have been much longer than 50 minutes), and The Terror.

 

This seems like it may be their best album since Yoshimi, only time will tell.

Sounds wise, I've only a needledrop, it sounds fantastic

 

I really like the music, but the narration tempers my interest in this quite a bit. Instead of buying it new upon release, I'll wait for a cheap used copy.

 

Well.... the new video for the new song here....
a little 're-hashy'...but, nice enough...

 

Yeah, agree that wss a fantastic post and a grest opener for a thread. I was just writing on a thread last night about how frustrating it is (or was before Join The Dots released) to follow The Cure (but I am still looking for a hard copy of their Love Will Tear Us Apart cover), but The Lips have taken it to a whole other level, times 1000. If you don't want fans to lose interest or just outright alienate them, you've GOT to make your music available to to the fans who want it. I think these stunts are purely for their own amusement and entertainment. It seems a little (what's the word I'm looking for?...nar...narci...)...I'll say self-centered.

 

To be fair, the band does not oppose people trading their files online. Or at least Wayne doesn't. I think they caught on early enough that not everybody is going to obey copyright laws, and if John Doe emails Robert Taxpayer an MP3, there's nothing he can do about it. That's quite commendable, especially back in an era where you were pretty much threatened under punishment of death for doing so.

For people like me with OCD, it's a pain in the ass to have to decide whether or not to track this crap down, or just be satisfied with the Lips releases that have a barcode on them. I haven't endured the whole thing yet, but I treasure my WAV of "7 Skies H3" (16-bit only). I'm not sure I want to shell out ten grand for a human skull when I already have the content that I want from inside it.

I have been seriously tempted by the gummy skull and fetus, as well as the spinning top toy thing (I'm blanking on the title - the one with the six-hour song). I wish that for the tenth anniversary of all that stuff, they'd officially/properly release full-quality downloads of all those songs. A bunch of songs are vinyl-exclusive and I believe that some of the gummy stuff is MP3 only. We have gotten official/proper released for the secret Christmas album, and a handful of songs on the Heady Fwends album (which itself has songs that are format-exclusive). IMO that wild experimentation is what the Lips do best, and I love the handful of rarities I've heard like "Drug Chart". I would love for all of this to become available digitally in full quality.

Here's hoping that FYE - the only record store within an hour of me - stocked King's Mouth on CD. I'm looking forward to hearing it.

 

There was also a WEALTH of wonderful 'mash-ups' using Lips music!
I don't they ever applied any 'cease & desist' orders on any of 'em!
Here's a few:

 

This one's fun!
Flying White Dots - At War With The Misfits EP

 

and this:
Flaming Mary Can (Out) Run Prince (Flaming Lips vs. Mary J. Blige vs. Can vs. Run DMC vs. Prince)

 

Status: Failure! Disappointed. These guys are probably at #6 in my top ten artists, and I couldn't get their album on release day. Nobody working there had even heard of the band. Oh well, I'm going to real record stores on Sunday, I'll find it then.

 

I just noticed that the CD listing on amazon says the album is manufactured on demand. I would post the link but amazon has been a pain the a** for me all day. Also a no go in stores here and I live in Oklahoma.

 

That's strange. Judging by the Discogs picture which features a hype sticker on shrinkwrap, I wouldn't imagine it's a niche thing like that. Plus, the LP got released back in April with July being the date for "digital and CD", it was advertised. Odd if true.

The Flaming Lips Featuring Narration By Mick Jones - King's Mouth (Music And Songs)

It seems that this is the first physical new album release on "Warner Records" after the WB trademark expired. We have 3 digital singles, a Prince download-exclusive album, and a reissue LP on Discogs, plus this. That's... a good way to (re-) start? I guess?

 

Has anybody actually managed to get a pressed CD of this? None of the stores I visited even had it in their system (buying from their wholesaler presumably).