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The Flaming Lips Album: “At War with the Mystics [Japan Bonus Track]”
| Album Information : |
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| Title: |
At War with the Mystics [Japan Bonus Track] |
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Release Date:2006-03-27
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Type:Unknown
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Genre:Classic Rock, Indie Rock, Mood Swing
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Label:
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Explicit Lyrics:Yes
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UPC:4943674062782
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| Track Listing : |
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| 1 |
Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power) |
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| 2 |
Free Radicals (A Hallucination of the Christmas Skeleton Pleading With. |
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| 3 |
Sound of Failure/It's Dark... Is It Always This Dark?? |
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| 4 |
My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion (The Inner Life as Blazing Shield of Defianc |
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| 5 |
Vein of Stars Video |
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| 6 |
Wizard Turns on...the Giant Silver Flashlight and Puts on His Werew |
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| 7 |
It Overtakes Me/The Stars Are So Big...I Am So Small...Do I Stand a C |
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| 8 |
Mr. Ambulance Driver Video |
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| 9 |
Haven't Got a Clue Video |
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| 10 |
W.A.N.D. (The Will Always Negates Defeat) |
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| 11 |
Pompeii am Götterdämmerung Video |
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| 12 |
Goin' On Video |
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| 13 |
Gold in the Mountain of Our Madness |
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Review - :
Since 1999's {^The Soft Bulletin}, {$the Flaming Lips} have issued an album once every three or four years -- roughly once per presidential term, making {^At War with the Mystics} the second album they've made during {%George W. Bush}'s presidency. While {^Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots}' themes of seizing the moment and accepting mortality could easily be read as a reaction to 9/11, {^At War with the Mystics} is a more overtly timely album for the mid-to-late 2000s, dealing with the motivation behind the war in Iraq and {%Bush}'s presidency. By grappling with heavy subjects like these, it could seem like {$the Flaming Lips} are taking their role as one of America's most prominent and beloved {\alternative rock} bands too seriously, but {^Mystics}' light touch shows that they can still be important without being self-important. In fact, the album's most pointed tracks are the most playful. As they did on {^Yoshimi}'s {&"Fight Test,"} {$the Lips} couch their aggression in bouncy melodies and playful production tricks. With its robotic {\doo wop} vocals and strummy acoustic guitars, {&"Yeah Yeah Yeah Song"} -- which asks its listeners if they could do any better if they were handed all the power in the world -- sounds oddly like a {$Paul Simon} song updated for the 21st (or maybe even 22nd) century. {&"Free Radicals,"} which sounds like {$Prince} via {$Beck} with a dash of {$Daft Punk}, and {&"Haven't Got a Clue,"} which boasts the refrain "Every time you state your case, the more I want to punch your face," get their points across emphatically -- almost too emphatically, actually, for as catchy as these songs are, they don't really expand on their thoughts or sounds much. However, the middle section of {^At War with the Mystics} is expansive and intimate at the same time, like many of {$the Flaming Lips}' best moments have been. {&"My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion"} and {&"Vein of Stars"} play like updates of {^The Soft Bulletin}'s effortless, weightless beauty, and {&"The Sound of Failure"} is a reminder that it's OK to be sad sometimes (while getting in digs at the {\teen pop} platitudes of {$Britney Spears} and {$Gwen Stefani}) set to a gorgeous backdrop of {\soft rock} flutes and guitars and twittering electronics. This stretch of songs plays almost like a suite, which ties right in with {^At War with the Mystics}' {\prog rock} leanings. {$Pink Floyd} is a major influence on the entire album: {&"The Wizard Turns On..."} is a spacey, late-night instrumental that could easily be synched to {#The Wizard of Oz}, while {&"Pompeii Am Götterdämmerung"} also taps into {$Floyd}'s elaborate, epic power. These trippy moments make {^At War with the Mystics} the most {\psychedelic} and least immediate album {$the Flaming Lips} have done in a long, long time, and the way that {^Mystics} bounces back and forth between its ethereal and zany moments gives it a disjointed, uneven feel that makes the album a shade less satisfying than either {^Yoshimi} or {^Soft Bulletin}. Still, as standout tracks like {&"Mr. Ambulance Driver"} and {&"Goin' On"} show, the band is still fighting the good fight and confronting the bad things in life with hope, optimism, and just the right amount of (magical) realism. [The Japanese version included a bonus track.] ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
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![The Flaming Lips Album: “At War with the Mystics [Japan Bonus Track]”](http://www.poprockbands.com/covers_yaF/the-flaming-lips/2006_170_170_At%2520War%2520with%2520the%2520Mystics%2520%255BJapan%2520Bonus%2520Track%255D.jpg "The Flaming Lips Album: “At War with the Mystics [Japan Bonus Track]”")
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