At War with the Mystics

At War with the Mystics
Studio album by The Flaming Lips
Released April 3, 2006
Recorded Tarbox Road Studios, Cassadaga, New York, June 2004 – January 2006
Genre Dream pop, neo-psychedelia, psychedelic pop, space rock
Length 54:53
Label Warner Bros.
Producer The Flaming Lips, Dave Fridmann, Scott Booker
The Flaming Lips chronology
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
(2002)		 At War with the Mystics
(2006)		 Once Beyond Hopelessness
(2008)
Singles from At War with the Mystics
  1. "The W.A.N.D. (The Will Always Negates Defeat)"
    Released: January 10, 2006
  2. "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power)"
    Released: April 17, 2006
  3. "It Overtakes Me EP"
    Released: November 13, 2006
Alternative cover
At War with the Mystics 5.1 cover.
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Rolling Stone [1]
Robert Christgau [2]
Allmusic [3]
The Daily Telegraph (not rated) [4]
The Guardian [5]
The A.V. Club (B) [6]
The Independent [7]
NME (8/10) [8]
The Observer (favorable) [9]
Slant [10]
Spin (B+) [11]
The Times [12]

At War with the Mystics is the eleventh album by the Flaming Lips. It was released on April 3, 2006, in international markets, and April 4, 2006, in the United States. The album is more guitar-driven and features more politically themed lyrics than The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.[1]

"The Wizard Turns On..." won a 2006 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. The album was nominated for the Best Alternative Album Grammy. The 5.1 mix of the album was nominated for Best Surround Sound Album in 2008.

The track "It Overtakes Me" has gained considerable interest, being featured as the soundtrack to a UK television commercial for Beck's beer, and "The W.A.N.D." has been used in European advertisements for Bud Light and for Dell Computers in the UK and the U.S. It includes a different mix of the song, "Mr. Ambulance Driver", which was originally used as part of the soundtrack to the 2005 film Wedding Crashers.

Contents

Track listing

No. Title Length
1. "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power)"   4:51
2. "Free Radicals (A Hallucination of the Christmas Skeleton Pleading with a Suicide Bomber)"   3:39
3. "The Sound of Failure / It's Dark... Is It Always This Dark??"   7:18
4. "My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion (The Inner Life as Blazing Shield of Defiance and Optimism as Celestial Spear of Action)"   4:48
5. "Vein of Stars"   4:15
6. "The Wizard Turns On... The Giant Silver Flashlight and Puts on His Werewolf Moccasins"   3:41
7. "It Overtakes Me / The Stars Are So Big... I Am So Small... Do I Stand a Chance?"   6:50
8. "Mr. Ambulance Driver"   4:21
9. "Haven't Got a Clue"   3:23
10. "The W.A.N.D. (The Will Always Negates Defeat)"   3:44
11. "Pompeii am Götterdämmerung"   4:22
12. "Goin' On"   3:39

At War with the Mystics 5.1

Like The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi, At War with the Mystics was released as a special edition 5.1 CD+DVD-Audio mix on October 24, 2006. It is accompanied with studio outtakes, videos and exclusive radio sessions.

Package content

No. Title Length
1. "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power)"   5:22
2. "Free Radicals (A Hallucination of the Christmas Skeleton Pleading with a Suicide Bomber)"   3:40
3. "The Sound of Failure / It's Dark... Is It Always This Dark??"   7:18
4. "My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion (The Inner Life as Blazing Shield of Defiance and Optimism as Celestial Spear of Action)"   5:01
5. "Vein of Stars"   4:15
6. "The Wizard Turns On... The Giant Silver Flashlight and Puts on His Werewolf Moccasins"   3:45
7. "It Overtakes Me / The Stars Are So Big... I Am So Small... Do I Stand a Chance?"   6:55
8. "Mr. Ambulance Driver"   4:22
9. "Haven't Got a Clue"   3:23
10. "The W.A.N.D. (The Will Always Negates Defeat)"   3:43
11. "Pompeii am Götterdämmerung"   4:22
12. "Goin' On"   3:37

Outtakes

No. Title Length
1. "Why Does It End?"   4:38
2. "You Gotta Hold On"   4:52
3. "Your Face Can Tell the Future"   5:21
4. "The Gold in the Mountain of Our Madness"   4:48
5. "Time Travel?? Yes!!"   3:23
6. "Bohemian Rhapsody"   6:36

Radio sessions

No. Title Length
1. "My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion"   4:40
2. "Goin' On"   3:44
3. "Unmade Bed / No Quarter"   6:56
4. "The Sound of Failure"   4:03
5. "Vein of Stars"   4:50
6. "Vein of Stars" (Operatic Spook) 4:15
7. "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" (Chicken Fried Hoedown Protest Rally) 4:44
8. "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" (In Anatropous Reflex) 4:22

Videos

No. Title Length
1. "Mr. Ambulance Driver"    
2. "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song"    
3. "The W.A.N.D."    
4. "2006 OKC Classen High Commencement Speech"    

Personnel

The Flaming Lips
Additional personnel

References

  1. ^ Rolling Stone 12 Apr 2006
  2. ^ Robert Christgau review
  3. ^ Phares, Heather. At War with the Mystics at Allmusic
  4. ^ The Daily Telegraph 1 Apr 2006
  5. ^ The Guardian 31 Mar 2006
  6. ^ The A.V. Club 5 Apr 2006
  7. ^ The Independent 2006
  8. ^ NME review
  9. ^ The Observer 2 Apr 2006
  10. ^ Slant Magazine review
  11. ^ Spin Magazine 28 Mar 2006
  12. ^ The Times 1 Apr 2006

External links

The Flaming Lips
Wayne Coyne · Michael Ivins · Steven Drozd · Kliph Scurlock · Derek Brown
Dave Kostka · Mark Coyne · Richard English · Jonathan Donahue · Nathan Roberts · Jon Mooneyham · Ronald Jones
Studio albums
EPs
Compilations
Soundtracks
Singles
Films and videos
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