Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Studio album by The Flaming Lips
Released	July 15, 2002 (U.K.) July 16, 2002 (U.S.)
Recorded	Tarbox Road Studios, Cassadaga, New York June 2000 - April 2002
Genre	Alternative rock, space rock, psychedelic pop
Length	47:25
Label	Warner Bros. Records
Producer	The Flaming Lips, Dave Fridmann, Scott Booker
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Entertainment Weekly (A-) 19 July 2002 (p. 74) The Guardian 2002 NME (9/10) 2002 Pitchfork (8.4/10) 2002 PopMatters (favorable) 2002 Rolling Stone 2002
The Flaming Lips chronology
The Soft Bulletin (1999) Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002) At War with the Mystics (2006)
Singles from Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
"Do You Realize??" Released: August 19, 2002 "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1" Released: March, 2003 "Fight Test EP" Released: April 22, 2003 "Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell EP" Released: November, 2003
Alternate cover
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots 5.1 cover.

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is the tenth album by The Flaming Lips, released on July 16, 2002. It is characterized by electronic influenced, psychedelic-tinged alternative rock compositions. It has been certified Gold by the RIAA.^[1]

Structure and release

The lyrics of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots concern a diverse array of subject matter, mostly deeply melancholy ponderings about love, mortality, artificial emotion, pacifism, and deception, while telling the story of Yoshimi's battle. The title character is believed to be an allusion to Boredoms/OOIOO member Yoshimi P-We, who also performs on the album. Some listeners consider Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots to be a concept album; however, the story is debated, as it is only directly apparent in the first four tracks. However, despite the story-type title and science fiction themes of the album, the Flaming Lips frontman, Wayne Coyne, has made it clear that the album is not intended to be a concept album[1].

The vocal melody of track one, "Fight Test", echoes Cat Stevens's "Father and Son". Stevens, now Yusuf Islam, is receiving royalties following a relatively uncontentious settlement. The band's frontman, Wayne Coyne, claims that he was unaware of the songs' similarities until producer Dave Fridmann pointed them out [2]. This claim however is contradicted by his statement to Rolling Stone magazine: 'I know "Father and Son" and I knew there would be a little bit of comparison. "Fight Test" is not a reference necessarily to the ideas of "Father and Son", but definitely a reference to the cadence, the melody, and chord progression. I think it's such a great arrangement of chords and melody'^[2]. The song was also the theme song for the short-lived MTV cartoon, 3 South. The song is also briefly played in the 2003 remake of Freaky Friday. It plays in the background of the cafeteria scene, at the very beginning of the scene.

The album's lead single, "Do You Realize??", has been used in numerous commercials, including some for VH1 during 2004 and 2005.

The final track, "Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitia)", won a 2002 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. The Lips also won the same award for "The Wizard Turns On...", taken from At War with the Mystics, in 2006.

In addition to the single compact disc format, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots was also released as a special two-disc release in 2003. This version contains the regular album and a DVD containing various alternate takes, b-sides, music videos, video footage from the album recordings, and the trailer for The Flaming Lips' film, Christmas on Mars. In addition to bonus content on the DVD, there is a 5.1 DVD-Audio version of the entire album included. There was also a limited edition translucent pink/orange LP version.

A secret message from the band is included on the original album on the inside of the right spine. It reads "You Have Found The Secret Message, Do You Have too Much Time on Your Hands? ...Let it Go". It also features Japanese script. This script reads "Happiness can make you cry" (a line taken from the song "Do You Realize??").

In recent years, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots has proved itself to have a bigger commercial impact than the band's 1999 breakthrough album, The Soft Bulletin, and became their first gold-certified release in April 2006. [3]

In 2003, British bastard pop DJ Eric Kleptone released a mashup album called Yoshimi Battles the Hip-Hop Robots which paired instrumentals from the album with rap samples and lyrics.

Critical response

Fortune magazine called the album a "a lush and haunting electronic symphony."^[3] Calling the album "as strange as it is wonderful," Billboard magazine explained, "Beneath the sunny, computer-generated atmospherics and the campy veneer of talk about gladiator-style clashes between man and machines with emotions, Yoshimi is actually a somber rumination on love and survival in an unfathomable world."^[4] Giving the album four-out-of-five stars, Rolling Stone called it "the most beauteous of Lips albums" and called the production "ambitious".^[5] Uncut declared "even by their standards, Yoshimi is astonishing" before declaring it the greatest album released in the magazine's lifetime.^{[dubious – discuss]}

Broadway musical

It was announced in March 2007 that the album will be made into a Broadway musical by The West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin and director Des McAnuff.^[6][7] Frontman Wayne Coyne said of the plot:

It was also announced in Rolling Stone issue 1025/1026 that Coyne plans to include existing songs from The Soft Bulletin and At War with the Mystics in addition to some newly written originals.

According to drummer Kliph Scurlock, the musical was halted by the 2007 WGA Writer's Strike, but is still being developed.^{[citation needed]}

Track listing

Regular edition

1. "Fight Test" – 4:14
2. "One More Robot/Sympathy 3000-21" – 4:59
3. "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1" – 4:45
4. "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 2" – 2:57
5. "In the Morning of the Magicians" – 6:18
6. "Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell" – 4:34
7. "Are You a Hypnotist??" – 4:44
8. "It's Summertime" – 4:20
9. "Do You Realize??" – 3:32
10. "All We Have Is Now" – 3:53
11. "Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitia)" – 3:09

Special edition DVD-Audio

1. "Fight Test" – 4:12
2. "One More Robot/Sympathy 3000-21" – 5:01
3. "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1" – 4:48
4. "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 2" – 2:52
5. "In the Morning of the Magicians" – 6:25
6. "Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell" – 4:25
7. "Are You a Hypnotist??" – 4:50
8. "It's Summertime" – 5:45
9. "Do You Realize??" – 3:32
10. "All We Have Is Now" – 3:53
11. "Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitia)" – 3:12

Bonus DVD audio tracks

1. "Up Above the Daily Hum"
2. "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1 (Japanese version)"
3. "If I Go Mad (Funeral in my Head)"
4. "Do You Realize?? Floating in Space Remix (Edit)"
5. "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1 (AOL sessions)"
6. "Do You Realize?? (CD101 version)"

Bonus DVD video tracks

1. "Do You Realize?? (Mark Pellington version)"
2. "Do You Realize?? (Wayne Coyne * Bradley Beesley * George Salisbury version)"
3. "Making of the Do You Realize?? Video"
4. "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1"
5. "Making of the Yoshimi Video"
6. "Fight Test"
7. "Phoebe Battles the Pink Robots"
8. "Christmas on Mars (Movie trailer)"
9. "Making of the Yoshimi DVD-A"
10. "Are You a Hypnotist?? (George's Photogenic Stimulation Theory #1134)"

DVD-ROM extras

1. "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1 (Animated episode)"
2. "Fight Test (Animated episode)"

References