Lips On Letterman

A early birthday present came last week dressed up as the Flaming Lips on David Letterman. They performed the upbeat single "The Yeah, Yeah, Yeah Song" from their latest release At War With The Mystics. And if I do say so myself, it's one catchy radio friendly unit. Propelled by a hard driving beat(with a curious country swing during the bridge), it asks all the hard questions any person with a conscience is confronted with nearly every day. If you could make everybody poor just so you could be rich, would you do it? If you could take all the love without giving any back, would you do it? What would you do with all your power? And the answer to all these questions are right there amongst the lyrics. The truth is, you'd never know how you would react to any given situation until you are actually faced with it. Eh?
And to be truthful, I had very high expectations for their newest release and was a bit disappointed upon first listen. But since then(I got it last month when it was leaked through advance copies), I've had it on the iPod in rotation and it's grown on me tremendously. The album tells the story of a band who has reached, and conquered, a tremendous Everest of unexplored artistic boundaries and are(yet)again allowing themselves the freedom to reach further in to the great unknown to fearlessly explore where no band has gone before. Armed only with an arsenal of experience and noise, these guys are truly, as the title says, fearless freaks. Not content to rest on their laurels, they keep reaching for the brass ring with more sincerity in their facial hair than most pop stars have in their whole body.
Anyway, back to the Letterman performance. Steven in a flight suit, Michael in a skeleton costume(in March?), Kliph without his signature pink drum kit, and Wayne in a gray Armani suit, the band tears through an abridged version while managing to retain all its power and fun. Steven's opening "Aaaaaaaaahhhhh's" are spot on and hysterical. He plays and sings portions through a Talkbox(think Peter Frampton) on a double neck guitar. Kliph's drumming is heavy and pounding while Michael's bass is omnipresent without sounding like it's even there. And, of course, Wayne's occasional grin is enough to light the sun in some long dead universe a billion miles away.
After a short commercial break, all Letterman had to add was, "There's a lot going on there."

Indeed.




iPod Song Of The Day: (Drawing) Rings Around The World by the Super Furry Animals