The Flaming Lips Album: “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots”

I had never heard of the Flaming Lips before hearing "Do You Realize?" late in 2002. I was instantly captivated by the soaring vocals, lush harmonies and orchestrations, and sterling production. But this song did not prepare me for the rich and varied experience of the entire album.

There are pop singles (the catchy yet wistful "Fight Test," the tongue-in-cheek title track), instrumentals (the aggressive "Part II" of the title track and the smooth & mellow, Grammy-winning "Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon") and even a prog rock number ("In the Morning of the Magicians") reminiscent of mid-1970's Yes. The range of music on this record is simply astonishing. The pristine production values help the songs flow together and enhance the overall listening experience.

Superficially a concept album about a Japanese girl who battles evil robots, "Yoshimi" is really a meditation about life and death, and the need for mortal humans to seize the moment. In many ways, it's a bookend to Radiohead's "OK Computer." Where Radiohead's brilliant work lamented the dehumanization of mankind and the rise of computers, "Yoshimi" glorifies the humanity in technology ("One more robot starts to feel...") and our ability to overcome machines of our making (shades of "2001: a space odyssey"). The Flaming Lips have given us a profoundly beautiful and optimistic work of art, without forgetting to entertain us. "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" is one of the very best recordings of the new century.

I stumbled upon the Flaming Lips live at the Leeds festival in the UK three years ago. They were promoting the release of their new album, 'The Soft Bulletin', and were breathtakingly magnificent. I had never even heard of them before I saw that beautiful act, but as soon as I had I resolved to buy their album as soon as possible. I was pleased to find it utterly wonderful. Imagine my joy when I found that their new album, 'Yoshimi...' was even greater, having purchased it ahead of release date using shady contacts in the record store industry...

Full of swooning pop melodies conducted in bizarre ways; 'Yoshimi' sounds like the number one album from an alternative universe. This album is brimming with sunlight and beauty. It is also an album about death and resignation, hope and living life to the full. 'Yoshimi' takes the idea of an eccentric Japanese girl fighting killer robots and uses it as an alegory for coping with the mortality of loved ones. Wayne Coyne somehow takes a strange manga fantasy and runs with it through the album, sculpting it into a plea for you to enjoy your time with people you see as vunerable and on the cusp of death and to make their life full by living life with them as if in ignorance to their mortality. Not only that but it also concerns the mortality of the listner, emphasising the need to enjoy the benefits of life and nature rather than worry about the spectre of death. The Flaming Lips convey this in format that sounds akin to The Beach Boys meets Neil Young, Autechre, Kraftwerk, Radiohead, 50's pop, Beatles, New Order... practically anybody who had a strange yet instinctive knowledge of pop.

Which is basically what Wayne and his two mates have. An almost uncanny concept of what makes pure pop. The single 'Do You Realize' has the most rousing pulse and chorus, driven by Wayne's cracked vocals and Dowd's masterful multi-instrumental work. The title track is a bouncing song with absurd lyrics that you believe in because of the conviction with which they are carried. Several tracks use squelching retro-future battle noises, majestic synths, orchestral sonics and immensely catchy tunes to explore a future facade that is an anime big-screen vehicle for Wayne's concerns as to the state of happiness of the summer time and coping with loss. This is the best album I have heard in the past four years, possibly the album of it's decade. The Flaming Lips are glorious and needed more now than ever. I implore you to buy this and enjoy.

BLIM!

What a bizzare, gorgeous album.

What a freakshow.

What kind of genius, what sort of brilliant lunatics make an album like this?

"Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" is a concept album about a little Japanese girl fighting giant evil robots, about time travel, hypnotism, and about a robot who might have a heart and feel emotion. On paper that might sound like a Weird Al Yankovic album, but in actuality it's an album crammed with timeless themes of love, and beauty, and regret, and death, and the value of appreciating life, and being strong. The robot thing is fun, but in the end it's almost incidental.

It's the songs, the songs. The songs! Oceans of strings, choirs of aliens, sampled crowd sounds sort of used as an instrument, audio from robot battles, Stephen Drozd's whacked-out experimental drums, and whole tunes sampled from other artists (whether The Flaming Lips will admit it or not) and completely reinvented.

Every time you listen to this album it gets better. It's a masterpiece that no amount of scrutiny will ever completely analyze. It's beautiful. Songs like "Do You Realize?" are soft and gorgeous enough to sing as lullabies to your baby, while songs like "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" could be called experimental punk.

If you don't already own this album, you need to sort out your priorities in life. Somewhere, you're spending fourteen dollars that could be better spent here. Make the changes needed; buy this album; rock out accordingly.

Having been a fan of the Flaming Lips for close to 14 years, it has been amazing to see the band develop into one of the truly great American bands of all time. Ever since they dropped their first beginning-to-end classic "In a Priest Driven Ambulance", the band has continued to push its vision of what music should be: well-formed songs brimming with a unmistakably unique Flaming Lips musicality.

"Yoshimi" is an excellent follow-up recording to the band's best album, "The Soft Bulletin". My expectations for this new release were high, and I am not at all disappointed in the results. "Fight Test" opens the album with a huge bang--Stephen Drozd's drums full and booming. One thing you'll immediately notice, as you do with all the Warner Bros.-era Flaming Lips records, is the quality of the production values. "Yoshimi" sounds HUGE; it is thick with beautiful noise that is no doubt due to long-time collaborator Dave Fridmann.

Lyrically, "Yoshimi" seems to parallel "The Soft Bulletin" in its thematic content. The contemplation of life and death along with the fight to lift above all the difficulties we all face are the common thread here. I never felt that the lyrics on "Bulletin" were sad or negative, quite the contrary. Life and all its foilables are touched on here as they were on the last album to stunning effect. You will definitely find yourself singing along with Wayne Coyne's sweet warble at the onset of hearing this.

The highlights: "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots pt. 1", "Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell" and "Do You Realize??" are all superb songs. I must admit at first that I had some trouble with "Yoshimi...pt. 2" and the final song, but after repeated listens, these songs fit snuggly within the context of this disc.

If you are familiar with previous Flaming Lips albums, you will not be disappointed in "Yoshimi". It is the perfect companion piece to the epic "Bulletin". This may not be the best place to start for neophyte Lips listeners--go to "The Soft Bulletin" first then "Yoshimi". After doing so, you will find going backwards through the Lip's back catalog as exciting and rewarding as I have going from the (near) beginning to their present-day excellence.

I work at a music store. I saw this album knowing nothing of the Lips besides only hearing of them through the odd article in a magazine. One day when I got home from work I deceided to download some Flaming Lips. I downloaded 'Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots pt 1' and 'Fight Test'. Thoses two songs were enough to make me buy the album. So I bought the album, gave it a listen, and thought, yeah, it's ok. But over a period of time, while always playing it, it grew on me. I am writing this review on November 10, 2002. I have been listening to the Lips since August, non-stop. They are the only band I have any interest in right now. Not since Radiohead has a band affected me so much. Wayne Coyne seems to speak to you so personally through his lyrics unlike any other musician. I have never been so passionate about music until now. And the funny thing is, is that I almost disregarded this album after I bought it. Wow. I almost did the same thing when I bought OK Computer back in 1997, what does that tell you. All I can say is if you are taking the time to read this review I wrote, listen to the album, listen to their other albums, especially The Soft Bulletin. The Lips are the, in my opinion of course, the most amazing band on the planet right now. Just give them a chance.