Music Sep 15, 2011 at 4:00 am

The Fading Flicker of the Flaming Lips

THE FLAMING LIPS A whole lot of fun. Not much music.

Comments

1
I really think you're short-changing Embryonic; that album is the start of the fourth phase.
2
Also, you're forgetting that The Flaming Lips have always been interested in releasing music in unconventional formats. The 6-hour song is just this phase's Zaireeka.
3
I saw them at the la luna way back in like 1998 or something. they did the weird album where they sat up a ton of boom boxes on stage and played everything at once. It wasn't that great. I would venture to say it kind of sucked. It's cool that they've managed to turn into the band that they are today. I'd like to see the modern form of them sometime.
4
'Embryonic' is definitely a fourth phase, and (as a fan since about '94 who'd written them off) I think it's their best. It's a bummer they still tour like they're still loving bunny suits and confetti--but I guess they've got to feed the monkey. As long as they keep making the dark stuff I'm excited for them (and the numerous EPs they've released since 'Embryonic' certainly are dark, though more susceptible to the "lacking content" charge).
5
I remember getting passionately into this band a little late, around Yoshimi, and then just suddenly not feeling it anymore. Strange for me.
7
Saw them open for the Butthole Surfers and Stone Temple Pilots (whoa!) in 1993. They were pretty good. Saw them again a year after Yoshimi came out, and it was still pretty good. All things considered, I still prefer their guitar/feedback-driven phase. *shrug*
8
Granted that music is something so subjective one's opinion's of music will always differ everyone else's tastes, but personally I think Embryonic is the best thing they've done since Soft Bulletin. It's a very dense album though and takes several listens, preferably with headphones, to really get into it. But god damn, by the time the album rolls around to it's final track, Watching the Planets, it sends an excited chill down my spine in a way not much music has evoked in my in recent years.
9
I think it's great that there is a banner ad for OKLAHOMA! at the top of this page right now.
10
Embryonic came out in 2009 (to almost unanimous positive critical reception, sorry you didn't like it) and it's only 2011 now. It also was a pretty big departure from At War with the Mystics.

I don't think a band should be criticized for not putting out an album every year, especially not a band that has been putting out albums since 93. Your case for 'musical stagnation' is pretty weak.

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