rock and roll musings by Tim Byrnes

 The Flaming Lips: Laughing in the Face of Depth

     I was flipping through channels on the old tv last night and stopped suddenly on PBS (again). What stopped me was the sight of Wayne Coyne, face splattered w/stage blood, wearing an American flag like a cape, duetting w/Cat Power on a letter perfect version of Black Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’.
     Is it just me or has Austin City Limits gotten a LOT hipper recently?
    Anyway, I brought that remote control to a screeching halt and caught the last 15 minutes of a gloriously manic set by America’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band, The Flaming Lips. Bringing out a sax player, the boys played an achingly beautiful rendition of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’, Coyne singing in that altar boy soprano, stage blood still on his face and now trademark white suit jacket. As  Steven Drodz played counter melody on his cheapo Casio and Michael Ivins thrummed bass and  Kliph Scurlock pounded drums (letter perfect, btw, on the aforementioned ‘War Pigs’) and Dave Fridman banged all Sonic Youth-like on Coyne’s old Jazzmaster, Coyne himself melded his wild theremin  with the sax player and brought the house down. Confetti flew as they then tore into their ‘hit’ ‘She Don’t Use Jelly’. With bunny suited (complete w/heads) roadies dancing on stage , huge balloons being bounced about the stage and audience, the Lips created a high mass of merriment rarely seen on a rock stage where lately all the rage is all the rage.
    The Flaming Lips have never been a band to do the currently hip thing, though. Over the course of 20 years and 11 records (and one compilation) the Lips have morphed, regrouped and reinvented themselves more times than a busload of David Bowies. Starting off as a self-proclaimed ‘Death Rock’ band. Coyne and company have evolved into a Merry Prankster roadshow part circus part live anime fever dream. Singing matter of factly about matters of fiction, although always coming from a loving heart, this band confounds any, let alone easy, categorization.
    Starting with their self-titled, self-released 1985 debut, the Flaming Lips were a fairly standard punk band, although the follow up, 1986’s ‘Hear It Is’ (Restless) showed the boys edging into the noisy symphonies that would characterize their mid period. Finally ‘hitting it big’ with 1993’s ‘Transmission From the Satellite Heart’, with the single ‘She Don’t Use Jelly’ the Lips came into their own. Quirky, rocking and sounding like nothing but themselves.
    It was, however, in 1997 w/’Zaireeka’ that the Flaming Lips staked their claim to rock and roll legend. ‘Zaireeka’ is a 4 CD set. Sure, lots of band have 4 CD sets, but how many of them were designed to be played simultaneously on 4 separate CD players? You guessed it. Just his one. A monumental undertaking,, and not just a publicity stunt ala ‘Metal Machine Music’ (a great, great record, but something of a stunt none the less), ‘Zaireeka’s charms are many and otherworldly. Perhaps the most intriguing record ever made, certainly the most interactive (play just Disc One. Play Disc One and Three. Four and Two. Two, Three and Four. Start simultaneously -each track has a spoken announcement to help cueing- let the time lag. The possibilities are almost endless) ‘Zaireeka’ stuns and smokes and glows and damn near levitates.
    If only for this record, the Flaming Lips deserve to be carried around in sedan chairs for the rest of their lives (Not really, rock and roll being a populist artform and all, but you get my drift ). This is the kind of outside the box (set) thinking that will save rock and roll from the slag heap of dead arts. This type of sonic bravery/foolishness will mark the rock and roller as more than a bad haircut making strange noises. Since the release of that record, the Flaming Lips have put out a compilation of their early music, the beguiling ‘The Soft Bulletin’, (a kinder, gentler ‘Zaireeka’ to my ears) and the magnificent ‘Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots’ a sweet geek fest of science fiction doo wop anthems and my pick for 1st masterpiece of the 21st century so far.
    Death songs w/confetti and mirror balls, animal costumes and theremin shrieks. Welcome to the Blade Runner Happy Birthday House.
    

For more info, concise history and just a ton of cool stuff go to: http://www.flaminglips.com/main.php

Posted by: timbyrnes at 07:42 | link | comments (2)

Comments:

#1  07 April 2005 - 16:02

 

I saw Flaming Lips live in Madrid two years ago, with the show you've described: the white suit, the blood, big balloons and confetti, a boy and a girl in animal costumes dancing and jumping till go breathless. It was amazing. Although the concert room is the worst we have in our city (I'm sure is the worst of the universe) it was the best show I've ever seen. Flaming Lips are since then one of my favorite bands. They do the kind of music you feel scare of just because is too beautyful.

Anonymous

#2  07 April 2005 - 18:37

 

Ain't it the truth?! I love the fact that they're not afraid of looking silly and in fact, kinda revel in it. Too many bands nowadays try to hard to be 'deep' and 'intense'. Bunny suits and all, the Lips are depper and more intense than a thousand Lambs of God etc.

timbyrnes

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