The Flaming Lips, "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots"

Mitch is a green belt in karate

, and

Jan 19, 2022

Mitch’s Pitch:

One of the best things about writing is the naked honesty. No matter how hard you try, you can’t hide your voice or your emotions from your words. It’s all there, even if the readers don’t notice. The truth is always there, in the words, in between the words, around the words.

***

One of the best things about EONS is that we don’t really pick the records we pitch - the records pick us. Most of the time I don’t even know why I pick specific albums, but when I look back I can always find the real reason, the emotional truth behind different picks.

At first I thought I picked The Flaming Lips’ Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots because I wanted to write about hipster concept albums that only sort-of make sense, but after writing that pitch I realized that I picked Yoshimi because I really needed to write about death and trauma and loss.

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It’s weird to say, but I’ve always liked death songs and albums. There’s some comfort in the honesty of someone saying directly what we all know deep inside: that sooner or later we’re going to die and lose everything. In Yoshimi, Wayne Coyne says just that in “Do You Realize?”:

Do you realize

That everyone you know someday will die?

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes

Let them know you realize that life goes fast

It's hard to make the good things last

When I first heard those words many years ago, I found them both profound and a little juvenile. I appreciated them philosophically, but I didn’t really connect with them.

Until I did. Until I lost so many people from my life, so quickly, with no goodbyes.

***

Of course, my experience isn’t unique by any means. We’re all living through an ongoing collective trauma, all of us pretending that we’re not beaten and broken. Grappling with the literal fear of disease and death while also watching as our societal illusions fall away under the weight of hatred and lies. Forced to embrace the reality that all of this is indeed real, and left to find moments of light and happiness in the ever-present and oppressive shadow of death.

***

One of the best things about Yoshimi is that it provides us with some hopeful answers to help us deal with all that existential dread. The literal burst of light and life in “It’s Summertime”. The reminder to live in the present moment in “All We Have is Now”. The call for ego-less perspective in "Up Above the Hum”. And, of course, the final, optimistic stanza in “Do You Realize?”

You realize the sun doesn't go down

It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round

In many ways, it’s the highest purpose of art: to tell stories that explain the unexplainable. To let people know that they’re not alone, that others have thought and felt the same things. To provide us with a roadmap and a glimmer of hope for a possible happy ending.

***

I’ll leave it to my compatriots to talk about the beautiful melodies that fill this deeply profound and meaningful album. I’ll let them extol the virtues of the inventive and expressive instrumentals. I’ll enjoy them celebrating the awesome conceptual theme that turns these songs into something much more than a collection of singles. And I’ll join them in voting this amazing record into the Newbury St. Collection.

Please don’t let the robots win.

Ken’s Response:

I look forward to Wednesday mornings every single week. It’s “EONS Day” as we like to call it. But while you guys have to wait until Mitch hits the “publish” button on Substack, we wait for the text message from the next week’s pitcher to announce his album. The reaction is immediate and almost instinctual. If I know the album, it’s a rapid-fire association game and I immediately run to my inherent biases for or against. If the album is unknown (by me), my mind runs to anything I can associate with the artist. This week I ran all the way to Beverly Hills when Mitch announced that this week would feature The Flaming Lips. Of course I’m referring to the first time I saw the band play, headlining the The Peach Pit After Dark on Beverly Hills, 90210.

Unlike previous EONS contestant The Donnas, who I only knew from appearing on Charmed, The Flaming Lips were a legitimate hit band with some songs that I knew and a reputation of being some pretty good musicians.

Last Wednesday, I had just wrapped up a work call when Mitch texted his album for the week. I needed a couple minutes of me-time, so I immediately fired up Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Within 45 seconds I texted the guys that the first song “Fight Test” sounded an awful lot like Cat Stevens’ “Father and Son”. Mitch shot back a sarcastic “not everything revolves around ‘70’s folk-rock”. So I went to that great thing we call the internet and did a quick Google search. It turns out that Cat Stevens had actually sued and won! Stevens now gets 75% of the writing credit for “Fight Test”. I was right, Mitch was wrong…sounds about right.

Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips says it was completely unintentional, but here’s the thing. I looked up the sheet music for both songs, I analyzed them thoroughly, and I just don’t believe Coyne. Dude, you stole the song, own it!

I was going to keep Yoshimi out of the collection because of that, but I wanted and needed to give the entire album a chance. After all, both “My Sweet Lord” and “Stairway to Heaven” have been (rightfully?) accused of being rip-offs.

In the end, Yoshimi is a pretty incredible album that checks a lot of my personal boxes. It’s complex and layered, it does something different and unique, the lyrics are meaningful but not in your face, and the musicianship and production are excellent.

Welcome to Newbury St., Flaming Lips.

Pitch Successful (what is it about Shannen Doherty that attracts EONS bands?)

CJ’s Response:

I pitched weirdness with Cake’s Fashion Nugget, but it didn’t fly. I guess I should’ve pitched weirder, huh?

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is an anthology of weirdness from a band that traffics almost exclusively in the weird. (I’m done saying weird now.) I first heard The Flaming Lips on the same funky college station in Providence, WBRU, that gleefully played King Missile’s “Detachable Penis” every hour on the hour. “She Don’t Use Jelly” was my first encounter with Wayne Coyne and his band of A/V Club dropouts. And I liked it!

After the “Jelly” success, I kind of lost track of the Lips and their brand of art rock. When Mitch tossed Yoshimi into the Thunder Dome this week, I vaguely remembered something about robots and magicians and hypnotists, but there was nothing specific that came to mind. Sure enough, though, as soon as I heard Parts 1 and 2 of the “battle” it all came back to me.

If nothing else, this album is very pretty. The atmospherics and instrumental arrangements create a very soothing soundscape. I found it impossible not to be relaxed when I was listening to it. Even better, some of it reminded me of Black Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan”.

(For those of you scoring at home, I’ve now managed to work The Flaming Lips into my Black Sabbath pitch and Sabbath into my Flaming Lips response. Checkmate, boys!)

The other comparison I need to make (and this will make Mitch’s skin crawl) is with Rush’s 2112. Yoshimi has the same musical fingerprints and storyline that can best be described as “Don’t let the evil overlords triumph”. For some reason, I think this comparison would please Wayne.

I don’t know if I love Yoshimi enough to play it on a regular or even semi-regular basis. But, Mitch’s pitch—his plea, really—is impossible to ignore.

Life is, indeed, too short.

Come on in, Yoshimi, but check those darn pink robots at the door. We only like humans on Newbury St.

Pitch Successful (Today, weird wins. Dammit, I said weird again!)

Mitch’s pitch was successful and The Flaming Lips’ Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots has been victoriously added to the Newbury St. Collection.

While we’re waitin’ for a superman to saves us all, head on down to the comments section and try to explain if Yoshimi is the sound of failure or is always there…in our hearts.

Exile on Newbury St.

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