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Rating: Why are there certain things in life that we don't do before it's too late, even when we have the opportunity and almost the necessity?
For instance, I had never reviewed this album until today, even though it was the first Flaming Lips album I experienced "in real time," meaning I bought it when it was released and even listened to it live, at the former Velvet in Rimini, back in 2003.
In short, when all is said and done, I loved it, but I never declared my love publicly, at least not here.
What do I remember from that time, now that, lying on the sofa at home, I have decided to (re)listen to it through headphones?
Well, I remember that often, in those distant days, I would lie in the same position, a "pink robot" (I understood this later) sprawled on the same sofa, relaxing after an intense workday, listening to music that was so evidently different from the previous album.
Gone were the orchestral songs and psychedelic honey that made me fall in love with The Soft Bulletin, the first Lips album I bought.
In their place, synthetic sounds and digital pulses, rather cold songs, singable (especially Yoshimi battles.. Pt.1), catchy but not emotionally engaging, in which, however, in the interludes and between the internal folds and between one song and another there were, in the manner of musical interludes or closing themes of small existential-flavored films, small instrumental pieces with particular charm.
There it is, I would say, the melancholy of pink robots, in a few years.
Songs like “One More Robot/Sympathy 3000...”, “In the Morning of the Magicians”, "Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell".
And the sound of the sunlight that pulses steadily at the end of “It's summertime” illuminated the room as I watched the ceiling, before that invitation to happily embrace that very sad destiny uniting all humanity, which is “Do You Realize”.
There it is, the melancholy of pink robots, all because we can't realize that only the present exists..
And meanwhile, I imagined, and I was there, and I wasn't there, and meanwhile, I went back and forth in time, inexorably.
And so, now that the notes of “All We Have Is Now” (perhaps my favorite song of the album) dissolve into the air, I wait, after talking to him, imitating the protagonist of the song, to shake off this pink robot that resembles me so much (he must be about twenty years older than me), so, when the rarefied notes of "Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon" are still dissolving in the air, I take off the headphones and go to bed.
Perhaps it was just my imagination, anyway tomorrow awaits another hard day's work, not before taking my daughter to school..
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Do You Realize?? (03:36)
Do you realize
That you have the most beautiful face?
Do you realize
We're floating in space?
Do you realize
That happiness makes you cry?
Do you realize
That everyone you know someday will die?
And instead of saying all of your good-byes
Let them know you realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round
Do you realize?
Do you realize
That everyone you know someday will die?
And instead of saying all of your good-byes
Let them know you realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round
Do you realize
That you have the most beautiful face?
Do you realize?
02 Are You a Hypnotist?? (04:47)
I had forgiven you for tricking me again.
But I have been tricked again into forgiving you.
What is this?
Are you some kind of hypnotist?
Waving your powers around.
The sun eclipse behind the cloud.
I thought I recognized your face amongst all of those strangers.
But I am stranger now amongst all of the recognized.
What is this?
Are you some kind of hypnotist?
Waving your powers around.
The sun eclipse behind the cloud.
10 Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell (04:39)
I was waiting on the moment,
But the moment never came
All the billion other moments
Were just slipping all away
(I must have been tripping) We're just slipping all away
Just ego tripping
I was wanting you to love me,
But your love, it never came
All the other love around me
Was just wasting all away
(I must have been tripping) Was just wasting all away
(Just ego tripping) Was just wasting all away
Must have been tripping
I was waiting on the moment
But the moment never came
(Must have been tripping) But the moment never came
(Just ego tripping) But the moment never came
(Must have been tripping) But the moment never came
(Just ego tripping) But the moment never came
(Must have been tripping) But the moment never came
But the moment never came...
11 In the Morning of the Magicians (06:20)
In the morning I'd awake
And I couldn't remember
What is love and what is hate
The calculations error
Oh, what is love and what is hate?
And why does it matter?
Is to love just a waste?
And how can it matter?
Oh.....
As the dawn began to break
I had to surrender
The universe will have its way
Too powerful to master
Oh.....
What is love and what is hate?
And why does it matter?
Oh.....
What is love and what is hate?
And how can it matter?
Oh.....
12 It's Summertime (04:22)
It's summertime
And I can understand if you still feel sad
It's summertime
And though it's hard to see its true possibilities
When you look inside, all you'll see
When you look inside, all you'll see
Is a self reflected inner sadness
Look outside
I know that you'll recognize
It's summertime
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By barrylindon
There are albums, like this one, that totally involve the reviewer. Certain albums that... brush against your soul, pass through you. Marking you.
Do You Realize - that happiness makes you cry
