Comments on: Forever youngish: Why nobody wants to be an adult anymore http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/269 The daily organ of the Northeast Corridor Social Club Sat, 11 Feb 2012 04:32:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: The Great Whatsit » For now, save my seat on the Flaming Lips’ bandwagon http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/269#comment-442 The Great Whatsit » For now, save my seat on the Flaming Lips’ bandwagon Mon, 10 Apr 2006 15:27:01 +0000 http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/269#comment-442 [...] In a way I suspect that’s how I’ll feel about new Flaming Lips albums from here on out, too, though after half a dozen listens to At War with the Mystics in the last couple weeks, I think it’s better than Yoshimi. Like that one, which my daughters liked more than I did (did someone say something about a disappearing generation gap?), I imagine this album will receive more play around our place over the summer, when late nights with friends turn into early mornings sprawled in recliners on the terrace. It doesn’t have the orchestral grandeur or self-awareness of its greatness that Soft Bulletin had, but it has just the right dose of lazy, melodic, spaced-out epics to help you drift off to sleep. The songs on Mystics feel more fully realized to me than many of the tracks on Yoshimi did, though I realize a lot of critics are complaining to the contrary. What I like most here are the ’70s sounds, new for this band: the combination of faux-flamenco guitar, mild disco beats, choral backing vocals, and electric flute on “The Sound of Failure/It’s Dark … Is It Always This Dark??,” my favorite track, which plays like a lethargic echo of Hall and Oates’ “Say It Isn’t So.” It’s followed seamlessly by “My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion,” which could have been a Carpenters tune. The anti-Bush single, “The W.A.N.D. (The Will Always Negates Defeat),” builds on fuzzed-out hard rock guitars and handclaps. Imagine Bacharach attempting an arrangement of Kilroy Was Here and you’ll approximate where this record’s aiming. Thinking of Mystics as a return to ’70s AOR is, I think, essential to getting it: it’s structured to have Sides A and B, the whisper and pop of a turntable’s needle, and I’m willing to bet the break between sides comes right before the space-prog-jam “The Wizard Turns On.” [...] [...] In a way I suspect that’s how I’ll feel about new Flaming Lips albums from here on out, too, though after half a dozen listens to At War with the Mystics in the last couple weeks, I think it’s better than Yoshimi. Like that one, which my daughters liked more than I did (did someone say something about a disappearing generation gap?), I imagine this album will receive more play around our place over the summer, when late nights with friends turn into early mornings sprawled in recliners on the terrace. It doesn’t have the orchestral grandeur or self-awareness of its greatness that Soft Bulletin had, but it has just the right dose of lazy, melodic, spaced-out epics to help you drift off to sleep. The songs on Mystics feel more fully realized to me than many of the tracks on Yoshimi did, though I realize a lot of critics are complaining to the contrary. What I like most here are the ’70s sounds, new for this band: the combination of faux-flamenco guitar, mild disco beats, choral backing vocals, and electric flute on “The Sound of Failure/It’s Dark … Is It Always This Dark??,” my favorite track, which plays like a lethargic echo of Hall and Oates’ “Say It Isn’t So.” It’s followed seamlessly by “My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion,” which could have been a Carpenters tune. The anti-Bush single, “The W.A.N.D. (The Will Always Negates Defeat),” builds on fuzzed-out hard rock guitars and handclaps. Imagine Bacharach attempting an arrangement of Kilroy Was Here and you’ll approximate where this record’s aiming. Thinking of Mystics as a return to ’70s AOR is, I think, essential to getting it: it’s structured to have Sides A and B, the whisper and pop of a turntable’s needle, and I’m willing to bet the break between sides comes right before the space-prog-jam “The Wizard Turns On.” [...]

]]> By: Bryan Waterman http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/269#comment-435 Bryan Waterman Sat, 08 Apr 2006 00:19:57 +0000 http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/269#comment-435 ahem ... i've borrowed your winter coat. and it zips on the wrong side. ahem … i’ve borrowed your winter coat. and it zips on the wrong side.

]]> By: bacon http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/269#comment-434 bacon Fri, 07 Apr 2006 23:46:21 +0000 http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/269#comment-434 Waterman, I admire your defiance. A friend told me once he wanted to buy a Miata. I said "you realize that's a chick car". "I don't care...I should be able to drive whatever I want". My response..."I agree, and I admire your defiance....as long as you still realize you'll be driving around in a chick car" Waterman, I admire your defiance.

A friend told me once he wanted to buy a Miata. I said “you realize that’s a chick car”. “I don’t care…I should be able to drive whatever I want”. My response…”I agree, and I admire your defiance….as long as you still realize you’ll be driving around in a chick car”

]]> By: Lisa Parrish http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/269#comment-433 Lisa Parrish Fri, 07 Apr 2006 23:41:44 +0000 http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/269#comment-433 Hoodie-phobe. Hoodie-phobe.

]]> By: bacon http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/269#comment-431 bacon Fri, 07 Apr 2006 23:15:43 +0000 http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/269#comment-431 Parrish. My soul may wear a hoodie, but my body does not. That is precisely the point. Parrish. My soul may wear a hoodie, but my body does not. That is precisely the point.

]]>