The Flaming Lips At War with the Mystics (Warner Bros) £12.99
For Oklahoma's Flaming Lips, every record is a salvo in the cosmic battle between the forces of darkness and light. In the evil corner are pink robots, mystics, fanatics, false idols, heroin addiction, plastic surgery and death. In the good corner are animal suits, glove puppets, hope, humour, hallucinogenics, progressive rock, nice suits, flutes and the indefatigability of the human spirit. Somehow, since 1999's The Soft Bulletin, the Wayne Coyne-led trio have turned this epic philosophical war into commercial pop music, releasing a handful of life-changing records whose victorious run continues with At War With The Mystics.
Like The Soft Bulletin and 2002's Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, At War ... features the rousing, twinkly, gonzoid songcraft that has made the Lips the sentient rock fan's totem band. As ever, the inevitability of death and our own puniness in the face of the infinite are near the top of Coyne's lyrical agenda. Witness 'Mr Ambulance Driver' - the album's pithy soft pop tear-jerker - which is set during the eternity between dialling 999 and hearing the sirens. But At War ... is more direct, grouchier and, in places, even more fun than its predecessors. 'The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song' deploys daft effects and multiple vocals Brian Wilson would envy in the service of a jaunty march through the ethics of power. 'Free Radicals' is even more astonishing, a minimal post-funk strut against fanaticism. For a band who could trade for ever on shiny-eyed whimsy, it's great to hear a mean-spirited little rant like 'Haven't Got a Clue' ('Every time you state your case/ The more I want to punch your face'). As much as we'd like to replace Saint Bono with Coyne as the figurehead for all that is life-affirming in rock, you know he'd demur.
A gnarlier record than its antecedents, then, At War ... gathers up the Flaming Lips' boundless compassion, sense of mischief, sonic intrepidness and buoyant disgust into a potent weapon in their quarrel against mediocrity. Despite the fact that fanaticism gets it in the neck from the Lips time and again on this album, it's hard not to be a fan.
