After a listen to the end product in full, I'll say this: fan reactions are bound to me... mixed.

Hell, my own reaction is mixed. This is NOT going to be what a lot of people expected it to be, but that's the Flaming Lips for ya. In that sense, they're truly operating with a Beatlesque spirit here. Some fine moments, and some moments that could be finer.

Awesomely, I think Pitchfork is going to hate it, which has become something of a universal symbol of quality lately.




Best tracks: Sgt Pepper's LHCB (Intro), A Day in the Life, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite

Same here; this is my first Sunn O))). This is my first Scott Walker too.
That's a record you can't help paying attention to.

Before that, I had given Ex Hex a try, and I could have played the thing and watched a football game, the music would not have distracted me.
The same can't be said about SW+SO.

yeah I'm mixed too. Half I thought was great. Half kind of a mess. But I like it more than The Terror haha. My favorite track is "She's Leaving Home."

hell yeah.

Why doesn't anyone like the Terror? Albjms is fucking glorious! It's depressing as all hell, but beautiful.

Btw: I just started rocking the Flaming Lips & Friends tribute to Stone Roses- s/t, and I think it's probably the best tribute they've done. The Lips and their host of special guests make the songs their own without shitting all over them or turning them into something that's more of a shock-rock parody of the original.


I'm liking With a little Help From my Fwends more. The first three songs are mad decent, and I think the spirit and tone of the "Sgt. Pepper" intro is pretty reverent and appropriate. Some of the songs could have been epic reinventions, but sadly the Lips opted for weirdness over quality on at least 1/3 of the tracks.

I was really looking forward to "A Day in the Life," and while it's "Lennon" section is pretty coold, the transitions and the middle bit (Paul/Miley Cyrus) sound pretty phoned in.

And why isn't there a big, whopping, noisy Lips interpretation of the countdown and sustained piano slam at the end? They cut that bit out entirely. Or if they did include it, It was warped beyond recognizability, and that's just a waste.

The first three songs are great. Miley kills it on her cuts man. I think the real jam is on the reprise of "Sgt Peppers" that appears before "Day In The Life." It's cool.

https://soundcloud.com/carlocattano/shantijaz-rehearsal

this starts playing after every single sunburned hand of the man track i click on.

Be Free, a Way is absolutely beautiful & great song, but the rest of the album is just boring. But I am not Flamig Lips-fan at all.

I gotta give it up to "With a Little Help Form my Friends" too. That call and response, gentle little ditty to ROBOT NOISE FEEDBACK SQUAWK is pretty fucking awesome.

But imagine what they could have done with "A Day in the Life" if it was Soft Bulletin-era Lips! Or even Yoshimi! That would have been perfect, and right up the Lips' alley.

I've always felt like the Lips are kind of like a Beatlesque presence in indie rock, more than just about any other band. Sonic Youth are the essential 4-piece of indie rock, but they're so out there that they're not really comparable to anyone other than the VU.

Guided by Voices sound a lot like Revolver and Rubber Soul-era Beatles. But they've always sounded like that (blasted through a $10 PA), and they've never really had a creative transformation.

The Pixies might be the most common choice for Beatles of Indie Rock, but they're not. They never had the full band, everyone plays an equally important role kind of vibe... neither did GBV.

And honestly, neither do the Lips. They're an oligarchy. Coyne is a dictator, Drozd is such a brilliant musician that Wayne can't live without him, so he's become a permanent fixture. Ivins has been around for a while. So the core trio is almost completely different from the original 1983/4 line-up.
BUT... in terms of sonic tendencies, reinvention, experimentation, and sound, they're quite Beatlesque. And since Embryonic (which must have been their White Album) they've been on this frantic, bipolar experimental music kick, and they only broke from it to release the Terror (which is like their Let It Be... their super depressing late career whine fest, fueled by impending doom in the Beatles' case, and probably some art-school whim of Wayne's in the Lips' case).

But Priest Driven Ambulance was so fucking new and fresh, they finally found their identity and set themselves apart from all the bands they were trying to be early on (Butthole Surfers, SY, J&MC) and that was like their first album as a real, serious band. Since then their career trajectory has been like an Alterna-rock version of the Beatles' career.

Soft Bulletin may have been their Revolver, but it may have also been their Rubber Soul, or even their Sgt. Pepper... So might Yoshimi, though Yoshimi fits the Sgt. Pepper archetype a bit better... making At War With the Mystics their kinda so-so Magical Mystery Tour, and then we've covered Embryonic and shit.

They clearly adore the Beatles, and they could have made a majestic and beautiful cover album. Instead they missed a lot of opportunities for greatness, and I'll bet they regret it in the end. They can make a hell of a cover when they try. Their "Bohemian Rhapsody" is the best cover I've ever heard of that song, and it's reverent and respectful to the original.

Fucking shit mang.

Anyway, right now I'm blasting this mothaf***in' gem. I forget how dead fucking awesome this record is. Totally different than what he's dropping these days. And I love what he's doing now. Jesus Piece was better than Blood Moon... But Game is sorely underrated in the greater hiphop conversation. He rocked shit then, rocks shit now.

But damn, this might be the #1 Game LP.

^ definitely his best album in my opinion.

Not just Game's best, possibly one of the top-100 rap records of all time, period.

I CANT STOP LISTENING TO THIS RECORD!!

That's because it's wicked bitchen and on this issue there can be no debate.
:)

hell yeah. So so so good.

I agree w/ all you 've said. But at the same time, this album is good enough that it's reminding me why I'm a Lips fan. Even though I've not enjoyed as much of their output after say At War... I'm reminded why they're so special.

Also I think their cover of "Borderline" is their best cover ever. EVER>