January 07, 2004
The Flaming Lips have been around for more than 20 years. This is their finest achievement yet, which is actually a little surprising. With most bands--most creative people in general actually--their best work was created when they were younger, early in their careers. Maybe because they were less jaded and a little naive, they weren't afraid to try crazy ambitious things. I think that's the Flaming Lips' secret. They have an optimism that overpowers any commercial or artistic failure that would probably devastate most people and turn them off from trying something as crazy again. That optimism also shines through the lyrics and music they produce. It's a good thing.
Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots 5.1 was released on November 18th, 2003. It's a DVD-Audio version of the Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots album. If you're not familiar with it, DVD-Audio is a format that allows much much much higher quality sound than a regular CD as well as surround sound mixes. I know sometimes people say something is a lot better quality, but then I can't really tell. My ears/eyes just aren't that sensitive I guess. But this, if you can't tell the difference from the regular CD, I think it's time to get a hearing aid. The difference is amazing. DVD-Audio also allows interactive menus similar to DVD-Video and video with potentially much higher quality sound than even a DVD movie.
The downside to DVD-Audio is that it does require a DVD-Audio compatible player to unlock the full potential of the sound. If your DVD player does not specifically support DVD-Audio(most do not), you're not completely out of luck. There is also a slightly more compressed Dolby Digital version of the album on the DVD which will play in any DVD player. A warning though, the Dolby Digital track has the last 20 seconds cut off from the song Approaching Pavonis Mons By Balloon (Utopia Planitia). I don't know if this was some kind of manufacturing error or what, but it's kind of disappointing if you can't listen to the DVD-Audio track. There is a lot of content on the disc, but I don't think it's a size issue. Everything on the disc amounts to 7.22GB and a dual layered DVD(which this is) can supposedly hold 7.92GB. I doubt 20 seconds would take up more than 700MB.
I've mentioned that there are two versions of the album, the "Advanced Resolution" DVD-Audio and the Dolby Digital. However, there is a 5.1 surround mix and a 2.0 stereo mix for each of those versions. This is very much worth nothing because the 5.1 mix is a whole different experience than the 2.0 mix. I don't have a 5.1 speaker set-up, but I do have a DVD player that will sort of map the 5.1 in a way that makes it sound good using headphones. The first time I listened to the 5.1 mix I thought it wasn't working right because it sounded so different from the album. But after reading the liner notes I discovered it was supposed to sound this way. And it is very cool. I'll just type out one of the explanations of what they changed in the song from the liner notes as an example.
FIGHT TEST
The drum kit moves clockwise around the listener. The lead vocal and the chorus vocal can both be heard at the same time...lead in the front speakers, chorus in the back presenting a two-dimensional story...the external story in the front speakers and the internal thoughts emanating from the back.
There are other songs that have more obvious changes when you're listening to them, but all of the songs sound at least somewhat different from the 2.0 mix. I wouldn't say one mix is better than the other, they're both great experiences and as I've said, much higher quality than the CD.
There's more to this DVD than the album. There are music videos and some bonus audio tracks. You can see the complete list at the bottom of this article. None of the music videos are especially good, you probably won't want to watch them more than once. It's usually just Wayne playing his guitar with Steven and Michael behind him somewhere with people in animal suits and occasional hot chicks. Can't complain, but at the same time, that gets old after about 30 seconds, and the songs are around 3 minutes long. The Making Of Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots 5.1 video is short, but interesting. Wayne explains some ideas behind doing the 5.1 mix while we watch him dancing and spinning in his chair in the middle of the sound field. The extra audio tracks are all pretty good, or at least interesting to hear. Another extra on the disc are the frequency waveform cartoons you can watch while listening to the album which are synchronized to the songs. It's sort of like the Visualizations in Winamp, but they're pre-rendered and tweaked to match more accurately. Kind of neat, but they're all done in the same style so it kind of gets boring fast.
If you've got the equipment to play this DVD, there's no excuse to not own it. If all you have is a normal DVD player which doesn't support DVD-Audio, I still think it's worth it. I didn't listen to the Dolby Digital versions extensively, but from what I did hear it sounded pretty close to the DVD-Audio version. Still a great improvement over the CD. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that the regular album on CD is also included. So even if you can't play the DVD at all, if you're going to buy the album buy this version for a few dollars more and I'm sure someday you'll be able to listen to the DVD.
Whether you like the Flaming Lips or not--or if you've never heard of them--if you love music I think you'll find something to appreciate about this disc. I really hope more of my favorite musicians use this format in the future.
REVIEW UPDATE: A few hours after writing this review I realized that the frequency waveform cartoons can only be seen while listening to the Dolby Digital version. Just goes to show you either that it really is close to the DVD-Audio version, or I really do suck at determining the difference between things like that unless it's huge :P
Although honestly, when I'm actually listening closely, the DVD-Audio does sound quite a bit better. The sound is just more vibrant overall. It's a pretty obvious difference when you're really listening.
(I used the latest version WinDVD Platinum with the Audio Booster Pack to play this DVD on my computer. If you have a DVD-ROM drive on your computer, you need to obtain that software, it's great. I also used my stand-alone DVD player which does not support DVD-Audio to test the Dolby Digital versions.)
Track Listing
01. Fight Test
02. One More Robot Sympathy 3021
03. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1
04. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 2
05. In The Morning Of The Magicians
06. Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell
07. Are You A Hypnotist??
08. It's Summertime
09. Do You Realize??
10. All We Have Is Now
11. Approaching Pavonis Mons By Balloon (Utopia Planitia)
Audio extras
01. Up Above The Daily Hum
02. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1 (Japanese Version)
03. If I Go Mad (Funeral In My Head)
04. Do You Realize?? Floating In Space Remix (Edit)
05. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1 (AOL Sessions)
06. Do You Realize?? (CD101 Version)
Video extras
01. Do You Realize?? (Mark Pellington Version)
02. Do You Realize?? (Wayne/Bradley/George Version)
03. Making Of The Do You Realize??
04. Yoshimi Battles The Robots Pt. 1
05. The Making Of Yoshimi Battles The Robots Pt. 1
06. Fight Test
07. Pheobe Battles The Pink Robots
08. Christmas On Mars (Trailer)
09. The Making Of Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots 5.1
10. Are You A Hypnotist??
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