*The Flaming Lips - 7 Skies H3 (24 Hour Song) (2011)*
Rating: 15
"I can't shut off my head."
Best Section: Metamorphosis
Worst Section: Meepy Morp (Reprise)
Section Listing:
1. 7 Skies H3 (Cant Shut off My Head) (25 Mins)
2. Meepy Morp (55 Mins)
3. Radiation Wind (35 Mins)
4. Battling Voices From Beyond (2 Hours, 30 Mins)
5. Electric Toy Factory (10 mins)
6. In A Dream (An hour and 5 mins)
7. Metamorphosis (7 Hours!!!)
8. Requiem (25 mins)
9. The Other Side (1 hour 5 mins)
10. Immaculate Light From Heaven Consumes Your Body (3 Hours, 35 mins)
11. Meepy Morp (Reprise) (2 Hours 15 Mins)
12. Riot in My Brain!! (1 Hour 30 Mins)
13. 7 Skies H3 (Main Theme) (2 Hours, 15 Mins)
14. Can't Let It Go (9 Mins)
It all started about a week ago. On 4/20, (no drugs involved) I got the idea to finally get around to listening to the whole 7 Skies H3. I had listened to a 90 minute version (which I loved), and the official 50 minute version (Which I loved almost as much and I'm gonna get around to reviewing soon), but I decided that this was finally the time to listen to the actual entire thing in one sitting. And well, I did it. And I can safely say that the Flaming Lips have created their absolute masterpiece. The fact that they can make 24 hours of music that I can see myself listening to in its entirety again is mind blowing. That is why i love this band so much. Because of the things they do like this.
The reason that they decided to do a 24 hour song came by on a very sad and somber note
Instead of a conventional review I'm going to give you a 24 hour summary of my April 26, the day I listened to the entire thing. Ill explain the parts of the song, and how much I liked them as well, because that is what you are all here for. I'll also rate all of the parts out of 15. Also note this; if I compiled all of the parts of the 24 hour song together by those ratings, the rating would not end up being 15 like I gave it above. 7 Skies H3 is greater than the sum of its parts in concept, themes, and the fact that there is a 24 hour song that I could listen to again and love it again.
12:00 AM: Cant Shut off My Head: I woke up, and 7 Skies H3 began right on time. The first section (Can't Shut off My Head) is one of the greatest parts of the entire song, so it really wasn't that hard to wake up and start it. This part is 26 minutes, which is really long in retrospect if it was put on an album like The Terror or some other one, but on here its among the shortest sections. Sad clean guitars in each speaker play as Wayne sings his pain. Then a beautiful keyboard melody comprising of only three notes plays and repeats for a while. Then it goes back and the beautiful cycle repeats for about 26 minutes. During this part of the song, I just kinda woke up and listened for a while. This is one of the most listenable parts of the song, and its not hard to actually pay attention to all 26 minutes of it. 14/15
12:25 AM: Meepy Morp: Wayne sings for the last time, and then a small drum fill signals the beginning of Meepy Morp. Meepy Morp has a strange name, yes, and Its not exactly the absolute best portion of the song, but it is considerably good, and very hypnotic; a sign of things to come in this song. The first section was amazing, but a bit off putting as to what 90% of the album is going to sound like. This is where Meepy Morp shines. It starts off with a hypnotic repetitive keyboard glitch line that is really hard to describe. Then throughout the 54 minutes that it plays, it slowly builds layers upon layers of keyboards and other instruments. Drums, wind blowing, all while never losing that base loop. It's actually quite gorgeous. During this part, I read a book, but about half the time couldn't help but pay attention to the beautiful sound that was being created. 12/15
1:20 AM: Radiation Wind: This section of the song wasn't hard to listen to and read at the same time. There really isn't too much going on, though it, like the last part has a depressing beauty to it. It just kind of swells depressing chords and Wayne's voice hyper slowed down echoes from the beyond. It gives a real feeling of loss and desolation. During this part I finished my book, and I actually tried to listen to the last 10 minutes of it. It really was pretty nice, but a bit boring for listening to actively 10/15
2:00 AM: Battling Voices From Beyond: Let me just start out by saying this section could be a kick butt 40 minute break with two loops total. But no, to fit the 24 hours, The Flaming Lips decided to make this section a ridiculous 2 and a half hours. This section is BRUTAL. There's distorted drums, a hypnotic loop of only two notes (that appears later and is used much better), screaming, yelling, and choral voices from beyond. Its like a 20 minute loop played 9 times, then they finally decide to move onto the better loop with more variation in the voices and the drums. This part I actually almost fell asleep to I think. It was intense, but after 1 and a half hours of the same damn thing, I got really bored of it. I read a new book, did some review for my exams, and laid in bed for a while during this. To sum it all up, no it isn't bad, but its rating does get decreased by the fact that it is long as heck. 8/15
4:30 AM: Electronic Toy Factory: This section is really short actually. Its a repetitive Can like song with more electronics. It's okay I guess. I really don't have much to say about it. I listened to it actively and enjoyed it. 9/15
4:40 AM: In A Dream: Around here is where the song got really good again. That loop that I said showed up in Battling Voices came into this section, and formed the backbone. Let me tell you, it works a lot better in this section than it did in that one. Its a lot less intense, and this one is more bongo and rhythm focused than the loud and distorted smashing of the last one. And Wayne sings again! This time he sings more depressing lyrics about death and all that, and this repeats for about an hour and five minutes. It may be a slight bit overlong, but its really good, so I'm willing to overlook it. During this section i sat and listened, absorbed by the hypnotic rhythm and singing. 13/15
5:45 AM: Metamorphosis: Oh god. 7 Hours? Why would anyone make a section of a song with an ungodly amount of time like that? And this has to be boring as heck man. Let me tell you that those were my thoughts as Metamorphosis started. Let me also tell you how surprised and happy I was to find out that it was absolute perfection. 7 Hours of Psychedelic noodling, jamming, improvisation, and beauty. How do I even explain it? Let me tell you a normal cycle of the progression. A sad minor chord is strummed, and a bassline plays in the background, slowly complementing it. Keyboard sounds play, maybe drums come in, and it builds up until that sad chord is strummed again, and every single time it is different. At one point a pretty cool Krautrock jam comes in involving a b flat chord and some drums (not this part's last appearance). Overall, Metamorphosis is the best part of the song by far and I loved it so much. During this time, my house stirred, I did all of my homework, I ate breakfast, then I took my ipod with me and went to the store. Halfway through my trip, the song ended however. Overall. I am just in love with this section. It is one of the best things the lips have ever done. 15/15
12:45 PM: Requiem: Some pretty chords waved goodbye to the beauty that was the metamorphosis section, and a piano, some synths, and Steven's voice rose out of the dim sadness that this song provides. But he wasn't alone. A very high pitched version of his voice sang with him an octave higher. And the melody that they sung was amazing. Just as this song seems like its going to wrap up however, drums and bass come in, and for the next 19 minutes there's an amazing jam! Its pretty much built up on the chords of the rest of the section, and it just rocks for 19 minutes. Its amazing. During this part, I continued my shopping at Wegmans, and right as I finished and left the store, the section ended. 14/15
1:10 PM: The Other Side: As I drove home, this section slowly faded in and Requiem ended. This part is very pretty, and very reminiscent of the end of Moonchild by King Crimson, except done electronically. Its built up on a loop made in an ipod app called SynthPond, and some pretty chords chime in every few seconds and add some color too it. This part is pretty overlong, but that's okay. This is definitely a part to do other things to. I drove home, ate lunch, and then vacuumed my whole house. Just as I finished that, the next section came on. 10/15
2:15 PM: Immaculate Light From Heaven Consumes Your Body: This section is really long. The second longest section, (3 Hours 35 Mins About). It takes that Krautrock B flat jam that I talked about in the Metamorphosis section, and loops 26 minutes of it a bunch of time, all while adding different effects and sounds around it. During the 2nd or 3rd loop, it reverses it, and some gorgeous sounds come out of that. This is probably the second best part of the song, just because of how amazing the whole loop is, and for some reason, it really doesn't seem that overlong. Its so strange how the two longest sections didn't seem overlong. They were just really well done. Like... wow. I just kind of fooled around on my computer and listened to this section while it was on 15/15
5:50 PM: Meepy Morp (Reprise): The last section faded out sadly, and left us with this. This is not a reprise of Meepy Morp. There is nothing in this section that sounds like Meepy Morp. The chords don't sound similar, or anything. It is literally: A synthesizer farts, and an electric piano noodles for a bit. Then the synth farts, and the piano noodles. Fart, noodle, fart, noodle. Occasionally the piano will take over and play some pretty melodies for a bit, then the synth comes back and farts. And it does this for 2 hours and 15 Minutes! It is ridiculously over long. 10 Minutes is too long for this section. Ugh. Only the electric piano interludes frequently showing up give it a rating over 3. I ate dinner and played video games during this section. It felt like it never ended. 5/15
8:05 PM: Riot In My Brain!!: Thank god for this section. This section kicks all of the butt. It's like someone took Aquarius Sabotage, re arranged it a bit, then took the Battling Voices from Beyond section of this song and combined them into a thrashing, epic, distorted beauty. Theres loud epic drums, an awesome bass line thing that is really hard to describe. Sometimes a distorted harp plays an epic chord. Loud noises flow from speaker to speaker, and Steven Drozd screams and chants in both speakers randomly in the middle and the end. This totally redeems the last section, and if this went on for another hour I really don't think I would care. It's an absolute masterpiece. During this section I listened, and I played a bit of video games. This section is just amazing. Not really any other words for it. 15/15
9:35 PM: 7 Skies H3 (Main Theme): An amazing drum fill signals this part to begin, and immediately as it begins, beautiful string organs fill the sound space. They play the gorgeous chord progression from the first section of the song, and about an hour in, a very Gilmourish guitar comes in and plays a very long and drifting solo that I fell absolutely in love with. Every so often, a radiation wind-esque swell comes in, until the solo fades out, and a Radiation Wind reprise (kind of) happens. This time though, it uses a different chord progression, and its just very pretty, and one of the best sections in the song. Its 2 hours and 15 minutes, but its length is very justified. Its the perfect counterpoint to the last section. During this part I started to drift off a bit. After all I had been up since 12:00 AM that day, and i was nearing 24 hours up total. But i just played games and then i decided to focus on the last 30 minutes of the song. This section was too gorgeous to ignore anyway. 15/15
11:50 PM: Can't Let It Go: As Wayne started to sing again for the first time since 5:45 AM, I knew that this was the big finale. He was singing some very beautiful and sad lyrics around a very similar progression to the first part of the song. Then, he stopped as the beautiful 3 notes from the beginning returned. All of the instruments built up and up and up, until finally, the song ended with a strangely beautiful noise. amazing. Amazing. Amazing. Then I heard Steven and Wayne talk for a bit, and I heard the notes of the song beginning again. It was 4/27, and I had listened 7 Skies H3 in its entirety. 15/15
A year in the making of this review. I never got around to listening to the entire thing until recently, though I did plan to make this review for over a year. I absolutely am in love with this song, and while I cant get around to listening to 24 hours of it frequently, the official 50 minute version serves me just fine. They are both amazing, and I have decided that this album, 7 Skies H3, may be the crowning moment in long-form music and The Flaming Lips. Who else would go and make a song that is 24 hours long and make it an actually amazing song!? That there is why I give it a 15, not because it is the best song I have ever heard.
If i judged it on song quality, I would probably give it a 12/15. However, the concept, the beauty, the whole sum of its parts are way better than the individual songs (Though Metamorphosis, Immaculate, Riot, Main theme, and Can't Let It Go show them at their absolute best). This may just be me gushing, but the reason I give this a 15 is because it is the most impressive song that I have ever heard in my entire life. My mind is blown.
Anyway, there is only one more EP in my 2011 Flaming Lips reviews, and that is the one with Yoko Ono. I don't see how it could ever live up to this, and it more than likely wont get even close, but I'll probably enjoy it. After that, expect a review of 7 Skies H3 in its reduced 50 minute form.
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