The name ringed some bells but I'm not sure I ever listened to them. Not long after the beginning of the album I could date when it was released; this mixture of pop, electronic music and psychedelic rock seems to have peaked at this time. The album starts slowly but then there are more than a couple of songs that really caught my attention, and beneath their sound, I was hooked. I liked it more than what I expected, some parts are almost epic, for a really nice combination with the overall atmosphere of the record.
I could have sworn that I hadn’t heard anything by the Flaming Lips before, until the track ‘Do You Realise?’ came on and I remembered it being a hit back in the early 2000s, probably because it sounded a bit like the Coldplay style that was practically compulsory back then. Fun fact! Justin Timberlake appeared with them dressed in a shark costume when they played this on Top of the Pops!
Anyhoo, that track isn’t a good example of the rest of the album which starts with a four song sequence with a sort of sci-fi concept with nice bloopy synths and a narrative about the eponymous Yoshimi. I really enjoyed this bit, but the album lost a bit of focus after that. It’s still enjoyable in a vaguely shoe gazey style though.