22 August 2021
‘Fight Test’ by THE FLAMING LIPS
From their grand 2002 LP Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
I don’t know where the sunbeams end
And that the starlights begin
It’s all a mystery…
THE FLAMING LIPS: Facebook
2 May 2021
(photo by Turn Up The Volume!)
British music monthly UNCUT will celebrate the imperishable and legendary
troubadour BOB DYLAN‘s 80th birthday (born Robert Zimmerman, in Duluth,
Minnesota on 24th May 1941) with a CD of covers.
Uncut‘s June issue comes with DYLAN REVISITED: “A covermount CD made up
of 14 cover versions of choice cuts from Dylan’s songbook recorded exclusively for
Uncut, as well as a previously unreleased track from the man himself.”
You can order the special issue here.
One of the artists paying tribute are The Flaming Lips. They picked that gentle pearl
Lay, Lady, Lay from Dylan’s 1969 Nashville Skyline LP and give it their characteristic,
head-in-the-clouds twist.
Listen here…
The original…
BOB DYLAN: Website
27 April 2021
Fairy tale pop/rock surrealists THE FLAMING LIPS
impressed lately with some spectacular space bubble
shows.
And last night they played the Blue Note club, in their hometown of
Oklahoma City, where the band performed live for the first time, back
in 1983. The performance aired on the American TV show Jimmy Kimmel
Live.
They played gripping ballad Will You Return / When You Come Down
from their formidable 2020 album American Head.
Micah Nelson (who played with his own band on tour with The Lips before),
the youngest son of his world-famous father Willie joined on vocals and guitar.
Here we go…
THE FLAMING LIPS: Facebook
Top singles from the past…
18 April 2021
Band: THE FLAMING LIPS
Who: Eccentric fairy-tale pop-rockers from Oklahoma City
Active since 1983 / 16 albums (so far)
(photo by Turn Up The Volume!)
Single: THE YEAH YEAH YEAH SONG
Released: 17 April 2006 – 15 years ago
Score: #16 in the UK / #48 in the US
Album: At War With The Mystics
Yes, yes, yes…
THE FLAMING LIPS: Facebook
Back in time…
3 April 2021
Band: THE FLAMING LIPS (Oklahoma, US)
Active since 1983 / 16 albums (so far)
Album: AT WAR WITH THE MYSTICS
Released: 3 April 2006 -15 years ago today
The Guardian wrote: “At War With the Mystics falls short of
being a masterpiece, but the more you listen to it, the more it
adds up. Goin’ On closes the album by weaving its spaghetti-like
threads into a gently cathartic ballad about plugging on despite
the odds. And if anybody has earned the right to hymn the virtues
of perseverance, it’s the Flaming Lips.”
Full review here. Score: 4/5.
Turn U The Volume: Yeah Yeah Yeah.
Singles: The W.A.N.D / The Yeah Yeah Song
– THE W.A.N.D. –
– THE YEAH YEAH YEAH SONG –
Full album…
.
THE FLAMING LIPS: Facebook
THE FLAMING LIPS chief WAYNE COYNE already in quarantine since
their spectacular spectacle in Antwerp, Belgium on 3 February 2017…
Photos by Turn Up The Volume!
25 January 2021
Eccentric mavericks THE FLAMING LIPS finally did what was planned for months.
They played their first space bubble concert. A COVID-safe live show with everyone,
band and spectators, in their own bubble. It happened at the Criterion in the group’s Oklahoma City hometown yesterday and is followed by a second show today.
Can’t wait for the video clips that will arrive soon.
Band: FLAMING LIPS
Album: WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS
Released: 2014
It’s the Lips‘ version of The Beatles’ 1967 masterwork Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. If you are familiar (I am for a long time) with these Oklahoma space cowboys you know that anything they do – music, artwork, concerts – sounds, looks and strikes in an eccentric way suggesting they truly come from another planet. From a Phantasia-doped asteriod.
CD artwork
LP vinyl artwork
THE FLAMING LIPS: Facebook
It’s not the first time that Oklahoma mavericks THE FLAMING LIPS stunt. Their live shows always have been a colorful, carnaval-esque, and terrifically eye-catching spectacle with wizard/frontman Wayne Coyne frequently squeezing himself in a plastic bubble and rolling over the crowd while performing a song, which I experienced myself a few times.
(photo by Turn Up The Volume! Amsterdam, 2018)
No wonder they have the expertise to organize a real bubble concert with the audience in a diaphanous cocoon. They already did a try-out recently, playing Assassins Of Youth and Brother Eye, two of the highlights from their recent American Head album.
Watch here…
– ASSASSINS OF YOUTH –
– BROTHER EYE –
THE FLAMING LIPS: Facebook
First real bubble concert on 11th December (already sold out, a 2nd show just announced)
Clips that will have an impact on your eyes and your ears…
28 October 2020
(photo by Turn Up The Volume!)
Weird coincidence? In recent years, as part of the fairytale-like concerts of THE FLAMING LIPS their wizard-frontman WAYNE COYNE squeezed himself in a sort of plastic bubble and rolled over the crowd while performing a song. Spectacular indeed, as I witnessed myself a few times. Little did the band know they would perform this stunt in 2020, live
for the making of a video, with 100 spectators each in their own bubble.
The short show was filmed at The Criterion in their hometown of Oklahoma City. One of
the songs they played was ASSASSINS OF YOUTH, a magical ballad from their recent, excellent album American Head.
Watch the bubble pioneers and their bubble audience right here…
THE FLAMING LIPS: Facebook
(Live photos by Turn Up The Volume! Antwerp, Belgium, 2017)
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