The Flaming Lips
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (Warner Bros.)
by Tim Den
Did I really expect The Flaming Lips to top the now-classic The Soft Bulletin? Well, yes. Guess Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots taught me a lesson in high expectations. Not that this first-new-album-in-nearly-three-years is bad by any means. It’s just… so hard to accept anything less than perfect from these connoisseurs of “space pop.” And, unfortunately, Yoshimi Battles the Robots is far from perfect.
The inability to deliver the same caliber of melodic cleverness is what ultimately makes Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots only a decent album; far from the panoramic vision The Soft Bulletin will forever be revered as. With the band ever more knowledgeable in recording and experimentation, it’s a shame that the songs themselves couldn’t have been better.