THE FLAMING LIPS

Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (2002)

The first time Flaming Lips vocalist Wayne Coyne met Paul McCartney, he displayed his fandom by telling everyone: “He touched my hand!” The second time, Coyne smoked pot with McCartney in the wings while watching Neil Young on stage. Take away the psychedelic trappings, and much of Yoshimi is based on finely wrought acoustic pop songs such as the anthemic Do You Realize??, all shot through with gentle human storytelling. If McCartney had started his post-Beatles career in Oklahoma City in the 80s, it might well have sounded like this. MB