The Flaming Lips

• Year: 2002
• Rating: 10/10
• Cat. No: 9362481412

Track listing:

1. Fight Test
2. One More Robot/Sympathy 3000-21
3. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt.1
4. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt.2
5. In The Morning Of The Magicians
6. Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell
7. Are You A Hypnotist?
8. It’s Summertime
9. Do You Realize?
10. All We Have Is Now
11. Approaching Pavonis Mons By Balloon (Utopia Planitia)

There comes a time when some critically-lauded acts, after years of stealthily accumulating a reputation for acclaimed albums that fail to breach the commercial mainstream, finally cross over. A point where everything comes together in spectacular fashion, the definitive result seducing a much wider audience than before. The Flaming Lips have reached such a moment with Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots.

A kaleidoscopic melting pot of musical styles draw from the last five decades, back as far as Brian Wilson’s visionary work on Pet Sounds, while passing Neil Young, Pink Floyd, R.E.M. along the way, as well as newer touchstones including Mercury Rev, Zero 7 and Portishead.

Yoshimi.. is a concept album of sorts, serving up a contemporary futureworld where the threat of technology is repelled by female empowerment (in the form of the titular central heroine) and an almost hippy-esque reassertion of humanitarianism’s enduring power.

The Japanese-themed artwork, and the chosen name Yoshimi itself, recall familiar reference points in much futuristic art, yet the album’s overall vibe is closer to the recent past – perhaps due to the mellow falsetto of singer Wayne Coyne sounding so reminiscent of Neil Young (and, therefore, also Mercury Rev’s Jonathan Donahue) – In The Morning Of The Magicians, a typically late 60s/early 70s title if ever there was one, and Do You Realize? in particular.

Multi-layered arrangements and all manner of bubbling, gurgling noises amidst the occasionally trip-hoppy beats and dub-heavy basslines create a quite intoxicating experience. Occasionally, as on Part Two of the title track, it sounds a little too experimental and bereft of the gorgeous melodic qualities that characterise most of the album, but it’s a minor quibble.

Certainly, it pales into insignificance when there are gems such as Are You A Hypnotist?, Yoshimi… Pt.1, All We Have Is Now and the instrumental closer Approaching Pavonis Mons By Balloon (Utopia Planitia). Despite several song titles that would be pretentious by any other yardstick, somehow thanks to the actual content here these flights of fancy provoke awe more than mirth.

An album of the year, without question.