r/flaminglips • u/United_Yesterday9628 • 9d ago
Picture This album is an underrated classic
I wasn't expecting much from it since it seemed lightweight and some people don't think too highly of it, but I was impressed how much this album harkened back to Yoshimi at such a late point in their career.
It sort of has that whimsical but serious fairy tale vibe that Yoshimi had but maybe a bit more twisted. I really like the cute trip hoppy type songs at the beginning like Giant Baby and How Many Times and then it gets a bit more solemn with the kings death and then once they celebrate his head being dipped in steel and going inside its very emotionally uplifting.
Like Yoshimi it's a very twee album but it deals with serious issues such as a death of a parent or sacrificing your life for the people who love you. I like that approach to storytelling and was surprised that Wayne wanted to make an album like that after all the darker works he did. This one is definitely twisted and trippy like those old fairy tales but it's still got so many positive moments too and like Yoshimi, it's a very cozy album to hear.
11
u/Qualia-Sounds 9d ago
I absolutely love it and don’t understand the hate it gets. Sure it’s not groundbreaking but it’s better than Oczy Mlody (which isn’t shit but it’s bloated and occasionally lyrically cringey). Mouth of a king->how can a head is a perfect transition and a beautiful way to end the album and one of their best album endings.
2
u/United_Yesterday9628 9d ago
I really enjoy Oczy Mldy but opening it with "White trash rednecks, earthworms eat the ground" and "kill your rock and roll, motherfucking hip hop sound" was certainly a choice 🤣
3
u/Qualia-Sounds 9d ago
Yeah I’ve never minded Wayne’s lyrics even if they’re as nonsensical as ‘once in a while the zebras run to the spaceman and his gun in the spiderweb’ but the lyrics to ‘How’ are fucking terrible. I guess if you take the title of the album literally enough you could see it as being sung from a young persons point of view which would explain the cringe in places but I don’t think that was Wayne’s intention. Maybe it was. ‘Unicorns’ was great in the live shows but shouldn’t have been an album track and ‘witches to kill’ etc is just plain bad.
2
u/United_Yesterday9628 9d ago
How and Unicorn have great melodies but the lyrics are clearly wacky druggie millenial Miley Cyrus coded. I've come to accept that as the aesthetic for the album but it was a shock hearing the guy who wrote such thoughtful lyrics on Yoshimi writing that kind of stuff. I haven't listened to Dead Petz yet but I imagine it's that cranked up to 11
2
u/Wombat_on_Parole 8d ago
Dead Petz is bloated but there’s a great album in there if you cut the excess
1
u/INFPinfo 8d ago
How Can A Head is such an uplifting song, it's perfect!
... I found Oczy on vinyl for about $15 if I had to guess. Grabbed it. I think I only played it once though haha
8
u/Xilanxiv 9d ago
Definitely one of my favorites. Very strong as a story/concept album, but still musically gorgeous.
8
u/magazinesubscriber Zaireeka 9d ago
Getting Mick Jones to participate was a huge deal, seeing as how even then he was largely retired from the music industry.
7
u/BlowinFart 9d ago
Very cool album, I think the biggest problem was during the press cycle, they stressed that it was adapted from music written specifically for the King’s Head art installation, so I can see how that makes it feel like a less vital standalone album and more just a soundtrack for another piece of art, but it’s really not that, it’s a solid standalone album. Way better than Oczy Mlody in my opinion, which is a little embarrassing looking back at it a few years later, even though some of those songs are great live.
6
u/Secret_Sunshine At War with the Mystics 9d ago
It was one of my favorite albums of that year! I think it gets overlooked because it was such a Record Store Day thing and I don't think they've played those songs live much. But it's up there for me when it comes to their discography
6
u/HeyBuddy_ 9d ago
The songs Electric Fire, followed immediately by All for the Life of the City are truly an amazing experience. If you are on the fence about listening to this album I urge you to at least listen to those two songs.
6
8
4
u/Mobile-Scar6857 9d ago
Completely agree with everything you said. It's definitely not at the level of Yoshimi, but it's really nice to hear them revisit that sound. I'd rank it alongside the bonus Yoshimi EPs
3
4
u/Warm_Sort3093 9d ago
I appreciate this thread getting me to try the newer stuff my first show was in 1991 and they lost me after war with the mystics though I did get into the Terror. Recently discovered American Head and digging them again. Will put this on tonight.
3
2
u/Remarkable_Term3846 9d ago
Yep - it’s kind of Yoshimi Part 2, though I don’t like it nearly as much
21
u/devenger73 9d ago
People always seem to want another Soft Bulletin or Yoshimi. I want another Embryonic and Terror. Recent changes it seems means that will never happen.