5-paragraph review, written as automatically as possible (At War With The Mystics, The Flaming Lips)

The first time I heard bits of this album, I kicked, screamed, ran naked outside of my apartment, entered the BQE running at an approximate speed of 65 mph, and made a circuit run of Brooklyn-to-Queens-to-Brooklyn, in which I clocked a time that wouldn't be so bad in Rad Racer or a game like that. (Yes, not literally. But I wish I could run 65 mph.)

It's not quite as bad as I first thought, but I'm not purchasing it, and I'm not much listening to the mp3s I got from a friend who did. The Flaming Lips, who I love, if perhaps I haven't taken on enough of their early work yet, have gone from sweet, stunning, and honestly thought-provoking (The Soft Bulletin) to a little too sweet (think Now or Laters...and maybe even the not-so-great banana flavor), if on an album that begins with a nice robot-themed suite and includes "Do You Realize???", which very well may put the joy of existence into you if you're considering life worthless (Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots), to this.

Politics, in a direct manner, are not this band's strong suit/wheelhouse/Cheesehouse. Cameron and Jonah, do you at all remember us making up this Cheesehouse thing. It needs to be reworked to enter my stand-up act, but I'm happy I write things down. Anyway, anyone who heard Wayne Coyne's essentially incoherent and underthought speech at either Webster Hall show a couple weekends back, something involving making pot illegal and hating G.W. Bush, might understand if they just think a little bit, not that they should have in the midst of the carnival with animal costumes. I agree with the opinions stated, but hate that anyone who really believes the opposite thing will basically think, "Stupid hippie. You dropped acid to start a band. I'm going to keep my children away from you, and God Bless America."

Most of the critics, in my somewhat humble opinion, are just basically wrong about this record not that criticism need/should be scathing, or that I don't envy the hell out of people who like this record...it'd be a better world for me if I could. As far as specific reviews,

this is among the most miseducated (not that E! should be expected to do much),

I sort of love the Village Voice this week, and,

oddly, although I enjoyed this show a lot more than he did (thanks for the correction, Sam), I agree with Kelefa Sanneh, with whom I don't very often. I sung along with "Bohemian Rhapsody" at the show, thought to but avoided the idea of making really scathing comments about this record to Jim Derogatis, and bounced a ball around a lot. It is possibly to intentionally have fun, especially at a Lips concert.

I pray they get back to what they are good at, and never, ever record a song like "Free Radicals" ever again, on an EP, on an LP, on the bottom of a garbage can.(Like the way Dizzy Gillespie composed "A Night In Tunisia," actually. Seriously.) But right now, I can't listen to any of their albums, because for some reason, I'm hearing something I hate in songs I know are incredible. This is always the problem with a bad record from a band you loved...or once loved? (No. I won't go that far. I will now listen to "Race For The Prize" 95 straight times.)