Album:King's Mouth Artist:The Flaming Lips Label:Warner Bros/Bella Union Genre:AlternativeThe Flaming Lips have done way too much in their glorious 3½ decades to make the kind of prog-rock that revels in the genre’s worst tendencies. At their best, the band create dreamy slices of spaced-out neo-psychedelica distinguished by indelible pop melodies and a sense of childlike wonderment. It’s sad, then, that King’s Mouth – a concept record to accompany an art exhibition by frontman Wayne Coyne – slides into the realm of parody. Flaming Lips: Giant Baby lyric videoAnd when the band aren’t doing obvious Pink Floyd pastiches (Dipped in Steel, for example), the arrangements can be sloppy – Feedaloodum Beedle Dot sees keyboards bumping into guitar lines like two drunken strangers on a dancefloor. Originally dropped as a Record Store Day exclusive, King’s Mouth probably should have been spared a wider release, leaving it as a curio in the band’s undeniably brilliant body of work.

Source: The Irish Times July 19, 2019 03:56 UTC