The Flaming Lips- Strobo Trip
Rating: 9
"I... Found A Star On The Grouuunnddd"
Best Song: Butterfly (How Long It Takes To Die)
Worst Song: Evil Minds
Update 4/28/14: The 6 Hour Song kinda sucks. an hour of it is unlistenable noise. I listened to it again and lowered the rating down to 9 because they can do so much better than this. Just listen to the 24 hour song.
Update 4/28/14: The 6 Hour Song kinda sucks. an hour of it is unlistenable noise. I listened to it again and lowered the rating down to 9 because they can do so much better than this. Just listen to the 24 hour song.
Track List
1. Butterfly (How Long It Takes To Die)
2. 6 Hour Song (Found A Star on The Ground)
3. Evil Minds
So... much... Flaming Lips... Agh...
Good thing it's pretty good! (Well, some of it). Let's get this review started by saying that the EP is not actually just the 6 hour song. It also has 2 other songs, "Butterfly (How Long It Takes To Die)" and "Evil Minds". Both of them are great, but I can't make either of them the best song, just because that would mean the 6 Hours I spent listening to this would be a complete waste. So, obviously, the 6 hour song is the best song on the EP. Butterfly is the best song on the EP.
The EP begins with the best song on it, "Butterfly," which has one of the most hypnotic drum beats ever.Oh, and the keyboards and vocal lines are awesome too. It's an amazing song, and it even got a spot on "The Terror", and while I prefer that one to this one, this one is a bit less... mechanical, so I'll give it credit.
And since I have a lot to talk about for the 6 Hour Song, let's review the last song, and then get to the main attraction. The last song is called "Evil Minds," and while it starts on the odd note of a low voice going "ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttttttttt," It immediately follows that with - surprise surprise - a very cool drum beat. Then, the singing and the rest of the instruments come in and what you hear is a very optimistic song, that follows the 6 hour mania of the last song. It's actually a pretty good closer, and if it was an ending to the 6 hour song instead of being separate, I probably would have looked on it a bit fonder. After all, if you listen to a 6 hour song, I'm pretty sure the last thing you'd want to hear is even more of the band, less then 10 seconds after that one ended.
But let's get on to the metaphorical "main attraction". The 6 hour song goes by a name, and that name is "Found A Star On The Ground" The reason it got this name is because there is only one lyric in the song, and that lyric is Steven Drozd singing "I Found A Star On The Ground." It pops up from time to time, maybe every 30-40 minutes and stays for about... I don't know, 10 minutes? It always changes.
The song begins with a rush of loud noise, and parts that are indistinguishable from each other. But this only goes on for about 20 seconds, and we are thrown right in the middle of a guitar solo, an epic bassline, and the greatest freakin drums the Flaming Lips could have ever put to be the main part of the 6 Hour Song, (And yes, this drum line appears for a total of like 4 and a half hours of the song, making it the main thing connecting the song). The way to describe this section however, is like if you sped up "Slow Nerve Action", sped up the "Mario Brothers" theme, and smacked the solo from "Powerless" on top of it. And yes, it does sound as awesome as that description sounds like it would be.
This goes on for a little while (3 minutes), then the solo ends, and Steven Drozd comes in with the singing, and he sings the line over and over and over and over, slow getting more reverbed and spacey, until it goes back into the Slow Powerless Mario section, except this time, the Powerless-esque solo is slowed down so it sounds like a fire engine. This goes on for a while until about the 20 minute mark, where the most annoying noise possible comes on and swallows up everything. Drozd returns and his spacey vocals pick up where they left off. Then, at around 30 minutes, the annoying noise goes away, your ears breathe a sigh of relief, and a new Mario bassline comes in, and Slow Powerless Mario returns, just with the lack of a Powerless solo, so it's just Slow Nerve Mario. This part goes on until about the 1 Hour mark, where the bassline continues, but a new synth line pops up, and a robot voiced Drozd sings the line over and over.
After he stops, the drum beat and synthy stuff continue, and this goes on until the 1 hour and a half mark, when the drum beat suddenly ends, and one note on a synth plays over and over, very slowly. Then Sean Lennon's voice comes in and begins reading names. Once this is over, a majestic synth part comes in, and it drifts along until the 2 hour and 10 minute mark, when the drums suddenly return, and a new equally epic bassline begins. Drozd sings the lines over and over and over once again. Then this section goes on for about 30 minutes, and new section that is very reminiscent of the end of the first side of "Thick as a Brick" comes on. Sean reads more names, the "Thick as a Brick" section goes on, and then at the 3 hour mark, the drum beat comes crashing back again. There really isn't a bassline to compliment this one, it's more of a flanged synthline that just drifts along while the drum loop just bangs along. Drozd sings, but this time, he hums a new melody along with the line.
After he stops, this part builds up for a long time, and at about the 4 hour and 5 minute mark, a lower version of the Drozd voice comes in and sings the line. This building up part eventually stops at around the 5 hour mark, when we get a short reprise of the first minute of the song, until it becomes a part with a nice meandering synth part. Sean reads more names, and then the synth line meanders along, with annoying noises until the 5 hour and 30 minute mark, when a wah guitar plays an awesome melody, and a new drum line comes in. Then a nine minute jam commences, which is very much like Fusion era Miles Davis, and this small section is easily the best part of the song, and some of the best jamming in Lips history.
This section ends with about 15 minutes of the song left, and a nice repeating synth line from an ipod app goes on for a little while. Sean reads some names, and the says "We will always love you," and he repeats that until everything fades out. He says it one more time by himself, with no instruments behind him, and then... silence. Until "Evil Minds" that is.
And there you have it. The only way to get this is to download it online free, so if you have a lot of time, and a lot of space on your Ipod, go get this EP today. It's a very rewarding listen, but if you aren't a F'Lips fan, then this isn't for you.
P. S. - As I write this, I'm about 6 hours through the 24 hour song, and plan to post a review of every section by itself, so expect the first 5 sections to be reviewed in the next couple weeks.
The EP begins with the best song on it, "Butterfly," which has one of the most hypnotic drum beats ever.Oh, and the keyboards and vocal lines are awesome too. It's an amazing song, and it even got a spot on "The Terror", and while I prefer that one to this one, this one is a bit less... mechanical, so I'll give it credit.
And since I have a lot to talk about for the 6 Hour Song, let's review the last song, and then get to the main attraction. The last song is called "Evil Minds," and while it starts on the odd note of a low voice going "ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttttttttt," It immediately follows that with - surprise surprise - a very cool drum beat. Then, the singing and the rest of the instruments come in and what you hear is a very optimistic song, that follows the 6 hour mania of the last song. It's actually a pretty good closer, and if it was an ending to the 6 hour song instead of being separate, I probably would have looked on it a bit fonder. After all, if you listen to a 6 hour song, I'm pretty sure the last thing you'd want to hear is even more of the band, less then 10 seconds after that one ended.
But let's get on to the metaphorical "main attraction". The 6 hour song goes by a name, and that name is "Found A Star On The Ground" The reason it got this name is because there is only one lyric in the song, and that lyric is Steven Drozd singing "I Found A Star On The Ground." It pops up from time to time, maybe every 30-40 minutes and stays for about... I don't know, 10 minutes? It always changes.
The song begins with a rush of loud noise, and parts that are indistinguishable from each other. But this only goes on for about 20 seconds, and we are thrown right in the middle of a guitar solo, an epic bassline, and the greatest freakin drums the Flaming Lips could have ever put to be the main part of the 6 Hour Song, (And yes, this drum line appears for a total of like 4 and a half hours of the song, making it the main thing connecting the song). The way to describe this section however, is like if you sped up "Slow Nerve Action", sped up the "Mario Brothers" theme, and smacked the solo from "Powerless" on top of it. And yes, it does sound as awesome as that description sounds like it would be.
This goes on for a little while (3 minutes), then the solo ends, and Steven Drozd comes in with the singing, and he sings the line over and over and over and over, slow getting more reverbed and spacey, until it goes back into the Slow Powerless Mario section, except this time, the Powerless-esque solo is slowed down so it sounds like a fire engine. This goes on for a while until about the 20 minute mark, where the most annoying noise possible comes on and swallows up everything. Drozd returns and his spacey vocals pick up where they left off. Then, at around 30 minutes, the annoying noise goes away, your ears breathe a sigh of relief, and a new Mario bassline comes in, and Slow Powerless Mario returns, just with the lack of a Powerless solo, so it's just Slow Nerve Mario. This part goes on until about the 1 Hour mark, where the bassline continues, but a new synth line pops up, and a robot voiced Drozd sings the line over and over.
After he stops, the drum beat and synthy stuff continue, and this goes on until the 1 hour and a half mark, when the drum beat suddenly ends, and one note on a synth plays over and over, very slowly. Then Sean Lennon's voice comes in and begins reading names. Once this is over, a majestic synth part comes in, and it drifts along until the 2 hour and 10 minute mark, when the drums suddenly return, and a new equally epic bassline begins. Drozd sings the lines over and over and over once again. Then this section goes on for about 30 minutes, and new section that is very reminiscent of the end of the first side of "Thick as a Brick" comes on. Sean reads more names, the "Thick as a Brick" section goes on, and then at the 3 hour mark, the drum beat comes crashing back again. There really isn't a bassline to compliment this one, it's more of a flanged synthline that just drifts along while the drum loop just bangs along. Drozd sings, but this time, he hums a new melody along with the line.
After he stops, this part builds up for a long time, and at about the 4 hour and 5 minute mark, a lower version of the Drozd voice comes in and sings the line. This building up part eventually stops at around the 5 hour mark, when we get a short reprise of the first minute of the song, until it becomes a part with a nice meandering synth part. Sean reads more names, and then the synth line meanders along, with annoying noises until the 5 hour and 30 minute mark, when a wah guitar plays an awesome melody, and a new drum line comes in. Then a nine minute jam commences, which is very much like Fusion era Miles Davis, and this small section is easily the best part of the song, and some of the best jamming in Lips history.
This section ends with about 15 minutes of the song left, and a nice repeating synth line from an ipod app goes on for a little while. Sean reads some names, and the says "We will always love you," and he repeats that until everything fades out. He says it one more time by himself, with no instruments behind him, and then... silence. Until "Evil Minds" that is.
And there you have it. The only way to get this is to download it online free, so if you have a lot of time, and a lot of space on your Ipod, go get this EP today. It's a very rewarding listen, but if you aren't a F'Lips fan, then this isn't for you.
P. S. - As I write this, I'm about 6 hours through the 24 hour song, and plan to post a review of every section by itself, so expect the first 5 sections to be reviewed in the next couple weeks.
