Track Listing

1. The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song
2. Free Radicals
3. The Sound of Failure
4. My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion
5. Vein of Stars
6. The Wizard Turns On...
7. It Overtakes Me
8. Mr. Ambulance Driver
9. Haven't Got a Clue
10. The W.A.N.D.
11. W.A.N.D.
12. Pompeii Am Gotterdammerung
13. Goin' On

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25140 in Music
• Brand: FLAMING LIPS
• Released on: 2006-04-04
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Album Description
Cosmic, consciousness-expanding and mind-shattering, At War With The Mystics, the highly anticipated follow-up to The Flaming Lips' Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots brings together the expressiveness of recent albums with the heaviness, volume and intensity of the band's earlier work. At War With The Mystics is personal, political, psychedelic and powerful pop.

Amazon.com
After two expansive yet winsome epic albums like The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots that dealt with the inevitability of death in the face of life, the Oklahoma City art provocateurs have abandoned the concept album approach and done an about face. They've returned to their earlier canon, channeling their messy psychedelica through a 70s funk scrim, and yet again figured out a way to elevate the ordinary to the sublime--even out-weirding Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd on a track like "Pompeii," and precariously balancing out on the astral plane on "Wizard Turns On." And while you might be tempted to believe that this band is just about their cartoonish space bubbles on pink rabbits, it is at your own peril. At War With the Mystics is an intelligent and searing indictment of George W. Bush, his administration, suicide bombers, superficiality and undeserved stardom--branding them all sinners of similar stripe. A song like "Sound of Failure/It's Dark...Is it Always This Dark?" boldly calls out pop culture princesses Gwen Stefani and Britney Spears, but not without first giving them a wet kiss goodnight. "Free Radicals" is a precious soul romp that sounds like Prince in his prime, but instead was oddly inspired by a dream about Devendra Banhart, and is an sharp arrow aimed straight at the heart of would-be terrorists. Major domo and head Lip Wayne Coyne is a shrewd observer of human nature, and an even shrewder songwriter and this album stands as his greatest and most varied work yet. --Jaan Uhelszki

Customer Reviews

Grows on you in your sleep
Being a semi-recent Flips fan I am not the best barometer to measure whether it's a 'return to roots' or 'more of the same'.

What I can say is that after many, many listenings I can honestly say it will take many more to get my head around this record.

On first listen I was ecstatically singing along to "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah Song" then getting confused by the sudden turn of minimalist funk of "Free Radicals". Then the saddest ballad in the world "Sound of Failure".

The rest of the album continued to turn unexpected corners, leaving my expectations trembling and confused. Was this awful? Was this brilliant?'

The only choice was repeated listening. And it paid off. Each song is so amazingly great in its genre that it makes the following track wiggle like a worm on a hook.

Only after repeated listenings can one appreciate the gestalt of the album. It's a 12-part course of unique flavors and styles. Last week 'Free Radicals' was my favorite track. This week it's 'Sound of Failure'. Next week maybe 'Mr. Ambulance Driver' will grab me the way it's grabbed most people.

In any case, The Flaming Lips are following their own muse, and I'm happy to join the queue.

Ignore what I have to say
Don't listen to me--or anyone else for that matter. Instead go to flaminglips.com, select the audio section and there you can hear every track in its entirety for free. That's what I did. And I bought the CD immediately.

no chapped lips here...
how do you describe the flaming lip? 'art provacateurs?' 'cartoons?' 'experimentalists?' 'mad geniuses?' all those superlatives, and more, apply to the flaming lips. as mentioned above, coyne and co., have ditched the concept album approach in favor the more 'traditional' album (but suprisingly isn't *that* different from 'yoshimi). the result? a suprising vibrant and solid record. (their best? maybe.)

i didn't know what to expect after back-to-back genre defining albums. how do you follow up two of the better albums of the last twenty years? well, in this case, you try to top it. do they do it? yes. with 'mystics,' coyne and co. up the ante and delivered a truly great album

the beauty of 'mystics' is that channels so many past and present influences. much of 'mystics' sounds mined from 70s AM Gold radio (except in stereo). the flutes in 'the sound of failure' and 'the wizard turns on' are unexpected, yet perfect, addition. there are touches of weirdness (the sped-up vocals on 'it overtakes me,' and the sirens on 'mr. ambulance driver') and a song ('goin' on') that sounds like the perfect theme song to a 'welcome back, kotter' spin-off. lest that description scare anyone, you needn't worry--it's a brilliant song and the perfect album closer. The disco-influenced 'Mr ambulance driver' and the soporific 'pompeii...' are distant cousins to 'yoshimi's' 'in the morning of the magicians.' 'w.a.n.d.' sounds like one of queen's long-lost songs, yet is quintessentially flaming lips through and through.

the more i listen to this album, the better it gets. it really does. wayne delivers some absolutely exhilirating melodies. they aren't always immediatly evident, but they're are indeed there. dave fridman's production is stellar, as usual. as with every lips album before it, 'mystics' is an endlessly interesting listen. one gets the feeling coyne and co. will never rest on their laurels, and it's never more apparent than on 'mystics.' it's a dizzying, wonderful release from a band that twenty years in seems to be barely tapping their full creativity. thank god for the lips. highly recommended.

p.s. listen to it with headphones, repeatedly. you won't want to miss it.