Customer Reviews

Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Trust the Flaming Lips to make a remix EP worth your while. Taking a track from their latest album, "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots," the Lips remix two songs and add three brand-new ones. The result? "Ego Tripping At The Gates of Hell" is even better than the "Fight Test" EP.

The remixes are quite good -- "Do You Realize? (T.P.S. Remix)" is a trippy little remix with video-game-ish blips. "Ego Tripping (Ego In Acceleration) Jason Bentley Remix" is a lush, multilayered remix full of shifting electronic tones and a mild techno sound. But "Ego Tripping (Self-Admiration With Blow-Up Mix)" didn't quite tickle my fancy -- I got tired of Coyne repeating "up... up... up..." in the background. It made me think that the CD was skipping. But aside from that, it's a decent, densely-mixed song.

But the new songs are even better. "Assassination of the Sun" is a lush, piano-led number filled with electronic dashes, while "I'm A Fly In A Sunbeam (Following The Funeral Procession Of A Stranger)" is a solemn, horn-laden instrumental. "Sunship Balloons" is a pleasant but not exceptional song, sounding like a track that never made it onto "Yoshimi." But the Lips outdo themselves with "A Change At Christmas (Say It Isn't So)," a silvery Christmas song laced with bells, peace, love and Christmas. It's the best Christmas song I've heard in eons.

The Flaming Lips are an ever-evolving band -- they've come from a sort of punky sound to the lush, epic psychedelica of "Soft Bulletin" and "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots." But the heart of their music more or less remains the same -- a sort of childlike optimism in the human spirit.

As in "Yoshimi," they mingle acoustics and polished electronics, into a vaguely Yes-like sound. It's sunny, bright and sweet, without ever feeling fake or gimmicky. It sounds like frontman Wayne Coyne believes every word he sings. "And now this horrible machine churns out pain/instead of love/and looks just like the sun..." he sings in his slightly off-kilter voice. And he really sounds depressed.

Sweet, wistful and wonderfully remixed, "Ego Tripping At the Gates of Hell" is a worthy EP to complement the "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" album. A wonderful experience.

I have become quite the fan of the Lips over the last few years and was able to see them perform their spectacular live show twice this past summer. A joy.

I was drawn to buy this cd, not thinking it would be much more than some, no doubt interesting, out-takes, much like the Fight Test ep.

I was wrong.

This work stands on its own. It is a wonderfully connected aural experience with a song cycle that updates, advances and continues where Yoshimi left off - minus Yoshimi and the robots.

The emotional oomph underlying the Yoshimi work is furthered; consider this a Flaming Lips "take" on things, updated and up to the minute as of the 2003 holiday season.

This is a very satisfying musical and lyrical experience, culminating on the profound rumination of "A Change At Christmas". May we all be more successful in making that annual "change" in thinking last the whole year.

While this may be considered a bridge to what's next for the Flaming Lips, this ep, as I said earlier, stands a worthy release on its own. If you are someone who digs the Lips, I highly recommend that you don't overlook this compelling work.

Happy holidays to Wayne, Michael, Steve and you.

If you view ownership of b-sides tracks in the manner similar to essential or passable; then hopefully this review will help you out.

The first three tracks are pretty good quality while listening to them, they follow in the same electronic/thoughtful/atmospheric songs similar to Morning Magicians, Pavonis Mons by Balloon, and It's Summertime... but sadly just aren't as strong as I hoped. That doesn't mean they are failed attempts, but it helps to view them as expanded sounds from the original album (which is I guess the essence of a b-side).

The remixes. Do You Realize has finally scored a good remix from the Postal Service. Someone else in the reviews described it well as "Laptop electro beeps and blips", and that pretty much sums it up. The first remix of Ego tripping is quality and has more soundscape than the original. It should be noticed that I think Ego Tripping is one of the weaker songs on the album, and I was amazed that they were making an EP out of it. The second one, on the other hand is forgettable.

Finally we get to the best song on the album, A Change At Christmas (Say it isn't So). This is my new favorite song from the Lips. The way it's performed, and with Wayne's trademark positive outlook on the universe, is in line with Flaming Lips' stronger and more impressive songs. The great thing I love about the Lips is their message in songs. They always have a bi-polar arrangement about simple things presented in complex manners. And this one is about hope in Christmas time, about how great it is to mankind, but it's so fleeting to hold onto... yet we repeat the cycle year after year. With all mankind has accomplished in our time, you think we could easily accomplish a well deserved peace among all. This song is kind of similar to Do You Realize off of Yoshimi (which I also loved), with hope and despair occupying the same song. I really like this tune a lot, it's essential Lips, and I think it's worth the price of the EP all on its own.

Peace and Merry Christmas,
Michael

The opening three tracks, Assassination of the Sun, I'm a Fly in a Sunbeam & Sunship Balloons could have fit in so perfectly on the "Yoshimi" lp I'm just wondering if these tracks were out takes or new recordings. As the saying goes, "if you liked the Yoshimi...". Next up is a "click clacking popping lap top computer" remix of "Do You Realize", with it's melody and vocals, this track will alway float no matter what is done to it. Now when I heard that "Ego Tripping" was to be remixed I was on the edge of my seat in "anticipation" of the out come. First up is the "Ego in Acceleration" Jason Bentley remix that starts out with a bass/whoosh, a retro "Soul 2 Soul" drum loop shuffle and a trancy organ. The three main parts come in & out , start & stop, fade & build, that's it. It's laid back and trippy (sic). Next is my favorite mix on the EP (I know why they saved it for last), the "Self-Admiration with Blow-Up Mix" by Cilione & Camaione. Not at all like a remix but more like a brand new production (maybe that's why they left "re" out of the word "remix" for this version). The churning rhythms that open the track really pull you in along with Wayne's voice chopped and laid on the bass drum plotting the word "up" (I think). Their are "Velvet Underground/Sonic Youth" styled guitar drones, stabs, pluckings & backwards parts along with SiFi melody lines, pads of strings & tremolo vocal FX. This version sounds right on track with todays rock/electro underground that's surfacing in so much modern indie music. I'm sure that their is "L.S.D." chanting at the end (I can be wrong). The next reason to get this cd is "A Change At Christmas". With it's bells and strings and very sad (but hopeful) lyrics, this song is just what the Lips were always missing. Like the Beach Boys Xmas LP, I'm sure they could have busted out a full LP of Xmas styled jems. Their is no other group like The Flaming Lips and although I wish their were, I'm happy to be around in a time that such an individual type of band can stay on top and keep changing with the times.

Unlike the Yoshimi singles, this Lips EP worth owning. The first 3 songs are well done and moving...forming a sort of trilogy. ALMOST of Yoshimi quality, but not quite there. Still better than 95% of the drek released these days. The remix of Do You Realize is good, but I skip past it after a couple of listens. The 2 remixes of Ego Tripping are pretty good, I like the techno treatment. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but they work for me and it is one of my favorite Lips tunes so I enjoy hearing it different ways. The last track is a rumination of how people change at Christmas and a worthy listen.

All in all, not a bad way to spend $5. I recommend it to any Lips fan. It is a HDCD so the sound is great.

I have become quite the fan of the Lips over the last few years and was able to see them perform their spectacular live show twice this past summer. A joy.

I was drawn to buy this cd, not thinking it would be much more than some, no doubt interesting, out-takes.

I was wrong.

This work stands on its own. It is a wonderfully connected aural experience with a song cycle that updates, advances and continues where Yoshimi left off - minus Yoshimi and the robots.

The emotional oomph underlying the Yoshimi work is furthered; consider this a Flaming Lips "take" on things, updated and up to the minute as of the 2003 holiday season.

This is a very satisfying musical and lyrical experience, culminating on the profound rumination of "A Change At Christmas". May we all be more successful in making that annual "change" in thinking last the whole year.

While this may be considered a bridge to what's next for the Flaming Lips, this ep, as I said earlier, stands a worthy release on its own. If you are someone who digs the Lips, I highly recommend that you don't overlook this compelling work.

Happy holidays to Wayne, Michael, Steven and you.

This is a sure bet if you liked the Lips' classic (that's right, I think it already is) 'Yoshimi' album. The new songs pretty much have the same tone- reflective surrealistic progressive pop. No, not the kind that the Shins do so well, for the Lips have this Yes-like quality to their visionary, lush psychedelia. "Sunship Ballooons" even has Coyne going for a Jon Anderson-ish earnestness. This is a real fine, sunny wash of gently exploding colors. Coyne's little introductory speech, with Drozd's beautiful Brian Wilson-meets-Yes vocal harmonies, is delightfully reassuring, without sounding corny. "I don't know the dimensions of outer space, but if our ability to feel love turns out to be just a cosmic accident, I'd like to think this means the universe is on our side." This could well be mock-seriousness, but one gets the impression that its at the heart of Coyne's persona. Michael Ivins' bass work is deep and fluid, adding much to this piece's warm charm. "Assassination Of The Sun" is definitely a mini-masterpiece. It too sounds like an understated 'Yoshimi' production-wise, with a modest, epic quality suffusing every note. This is a beautifully sad lament that seems to reflect on the metaphorical "pink robots" (seemingly self-serving, insensitive people, perhaps made increasingly unfeeling like the technology of the machines that influence them) and their creations that Yoshimi (the uncorrupted human spirit) was up against. "They have begun to celebrate the tidal wave they think is great / the ever-beating heart that it wasn't...and now this horrible machine churns out pain instead of love and looks just like the sun..." My interpretation of all this is that the churning "machine" is indeed the world that's come about due to the corrupted "pink robots". It may look like the real thing, appear to be good (the technology-polished artifices of the power-minded narcissistic), but this sun's light is of course, cold. They are the negators of human kindness, man's good will, love and mercy. "They have begun to assassinate the sun". Steven Drozd's drumming is nothing less than virtuosic here, recalling with dead accuracy the jazzy, rhythmic dialect of original King Crimson drummer, Michael Giles. Drozd's lyrical guitar and vocal harmonies are clearly those of a musician who deeply feels his craft. The lulling, drifting atmosphere of "I'm A Fly On A Sunbeam" is another fine Lips instrumental contribution, coming off like a daydreaming version of Soft Bulletin's "Sleeping On The Roof". The cd ends poignantly enough with "A Change At Christmas", a gem of a song unpretentiously musing over why people don't generally accord each other the deference year-round that they do during the time of Christmas. Isn't there more of that good will to go around? What's sometimes missed by some when hearing this is that the reason why Wayne sings (really talk-singing) lower and less polished is, the way I see it, at least, that he's adressing the listener straight from the heart, no pretenses, no metaphors, no fooling around. Its like he's saying, "This seriously means something to me folks, so I'm gonna level with ya." Coyne's voice wavers off key, the result of a singer sacrificing technique for unvarnished, emotive effect. The tone of the lyrics, set against a delicate Christmas-y backdrop, are underscored by Drozd's solemn piano. "...oh, if I could stop time", Coyne wearily sounding as if these thoughts are almost too burdensome to bear, "it would be frozen moment just around Christmas / when all of mankind reveals its truest potential / and there is sympathy for the suffering, yes there is sympathy for those who are suffering." The inevitable disillusion is dealt with as these solemnly voiced words are uttered, "and its glimpsed for one shining moment / and this change feels like a change that's real / but then it passes along with the season / and then we just go back to the way we were..." As if that truth isn't sad enough, perhaps the real crusher comes with this statement, "...its easier / that's just the way we are...that's human nature and that's just the way we are." That's some tough stuff to face, and it all ends with Coyne's pleading howls of, "Say it isn't so!", over and over. Whew. Never does the emotion ever sound self-servingly insincere. There is no grandstanding of any sort by the Lips in the conveyance of the song. This is some achievement, and the minimalistic melody is just right. Admitedly, the remixes of "Ego Tripping" take away from the directness of the original version, but they are in no way bad. The second remix does a nice job of displaying Drozd's affecting backing vocals. "Do You Realize" is here in a remix by The Postal Service, so its interesting for that reason alone, but its still just a remix, if you know what I mean. Again, the directness of the original version is compromised for the sake of novel recontextualization. This is a stronger EP than the still interesting, though more slight 'Fight Test'. The three, non 'Yoshimi' vocal originals on the 'Ego Tripping' EP are what gives this the edge over 'Fight Test', although there's most certainly some stuff worth savoring there too. The 'Ego Tripping' EP has some truly inspired, moving work that goes perfectly with the 'Yoshimi' album, and yet also shows the Lips doing admirable new things with there music.

There is a lot of music that leaves you feeling neutral and emotionally unaffected. This EP is not one of those. I can't listen to this and not feel a sweet mixture of joy and wonder. If I'm feeling spaced out or dead to the world all I do is pop this in, give it a listen through, and feel the magic of existence come back to me. There are some new songs and some remixes on this and both are fantastic. The remixes really hold up well and do a lot for the originals. The new stuff is impressive and creates a wonderful sensation in my brain. I like so maybe you will too.

To me the Ego Tripping EP is an extension to the YBTPR album. The first three tracks are entirely new material, and especially the first, Assassination of the Sun, are excellent tracks. The remix of Do You Realize?? is good, I like the original better, but it is still an interesting take on the song.

I like the remixes of Ego Tripping, I liked the original, but these 'techno' flavored mixes add a driving quality to the song that does it justice. I like these mixes over the original.

All in all a good buy for ~$10, and as always the cover art is interesting also.

If you can't have fun with this one, you can't have fun. The Flaming Lips are truly original, not to say they have no influences, but they do continue to inspire. Have fun with it - it's meant for that!