If you want to make the world a better place for your children, then buy this album. It’ll fill you with hope.
If you want to make the world a better place for your children, then buy this album. It’ll fill you with hope.
The Flaming Lips – At War With The Mystics.
The track by track review….
Track One. Yeah Yeah Yeah Song. Quite possibly the maddest thing you’ll hear all year. Exciting, invigorating and the type of song that will just make you smile every time you hear it. It’s like a political rally hosted by the Muppets. Wonderful.
Track Two. Free Radicals. David McAlmont and a wasp fight it out in the world of Tron. Something high pitched, truthful and rather bonkers at the same time in other words.
Track Three. The Sound Of Failure / It’s Dark….Is It Always this Dark? 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dave heads into the star gate and says, “My God… I’m in a lift.” At the end of his journey he ends up in the Spanish Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Marvellous.
Track Four. My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion. As heartbreaking as discovering that your Dad is Santa Claus.
Track Five. Vein of Stars. Very relaxing. Very Mercury Rev. Very, very good.
Track Six. The wizard turns on…. Pink Floyd have a lot to answer for.
Track Seven. It Overtakes me / The Stars Are So Big, I Am So Small…. Do I Stand A Chance? The first part is a space age equivalent of a Motown classic. The second is like an out of body experience. Be careful or you may just float away. Astonishing.
Track Eight. Mr Ambulance Driver. The band that released She Don’t Use Jelly is still here, although this is probably closer in tone to Do You Realize? This is a wonderful little pop song. Catchy as hell.
Track Nine. Haven’t Got A Clue. “Every time you state your case, the more I want to punch your face.” Genius. Wow.
Track Ten. The W.A.N.D. Do not listen to this in enclosed spaces. It may just blow the roof off. Fabulous.
Track Eleven. Pompeii am Gotterdammerung. Amazingly, this reminds me of Yes and yet I don’t want to puke. For that reason alone it deserves a round of applause.
Track Twelve. Goin’ On. Probably the only track on here that I don’t particularly care for. Still it’s tucked away at the end so you can easily forget about it.
The full album review.
The first essential buy of the year, this is an astonishing album. Lyrically profound and direct, but sonically expansive and incredible. Surprising, enlightening and completely astonishing, At War With The Mystics is as good as The Soft Bulletin. Which means it’s a work of genius. The Flaming Lips have spent the best part of twenty years crafting their own little world and we should get down on our knees and thank them for it. Creative, imaginative, thought provoking and utterly enchanting, At War With The Mystics is a small universe you’ll want to spend a lot of time in. It’s like a Birthday Party in a box. If you want to make the world a better place for your children, then buy this album. It’ll fill you with hope.
Words : Damian Leslie