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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
NME review: “Frontman Wayne Coyne and his band of merry pranksters take a trip down memory lane, exploring tales of adolescence through their psych-smeared prism. Coming in
hot off the back of the colossal mind-bending fever dream that was 2019’s ‘King’s Mouth’, The Flaming Lips have crash-landed back to frontman Wayne Coyne’s childhood town of Oklahoma city. Their 16th album, a quasi-concept record, loosely documents his teenage years. ‘American Head’ takes listeners on a walk down memory lane, Coyne’s own personal Americana viewed through a dreamy, nostalgic haze of friends, family and biker gangs (Wayne Coyne’s childhood was not like yours and mine)… Rather than using their fantastical bubble of sound to transport listeners into distant galaxies, as they have done so many times before, the band here float softly above Oklahoma city, where Coyne sits up front, quietly contemplating beauty and childhood.
‘American Head’ is a soft, reflective moment of taking in and appreciating the vista once the trip has worn off – when king’s heads and evil pink robots have melted away – and the dust has settled.” Full review here. Score: 4/5.
Quote: “I want people to be ecstatic but to cry at the same time.” Wayne Coyne
Key line: ‘Contender for album of the year.” Turn Up The Volume!
Singles: Mother Please Dont Be Sad / Flowers Of Neptune 5 / My Religion Is You / Dinosaurs On The Mountain / You ‘N’ Me Sellin’ Weed / Will You Return – When You Come Down
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