Flaming Lips
Zaireeka
[Warner Bros.]
Rating: 0.0
Here's the concept: four CDs to be played simultaneously, creating some
sort of quadrophonic stereo sound by which you may smoke hash or perhaps
stare at your lava lamp.
Here's the reality: Do I wanna buy three more CD players with which to
enjoy Zaireeka or, say, eat?
Let me put it to you this way: I have one CD player, a boombox I bought
off my ex-roommate for about $15. I got it so cheap because (a) it was
old, and (b) the latch that holds the cover of the CD player shut
broke in a freak accident. I keep the player shut with a couple of
strips of duct tape so the disc will play. I change the tape once every
three weeks or so, which isn't often enough. If I could afford a new
player, I'd get one. In the meantime, I'm still three short.
And talk about not connecting with your fan base! Have you ever seen a
Flaming Lips fan? They spend all their cash on inhalants and detox.
They don't have the money for four CD players and, if they did, they'd
spend it all on-- you guessed it-- inhalants and detox. And then
retox. But not three more CD players.
I tried to make do by listening to each disc on its own, and while it
sounded interesting, I was still only getting one- fourth of the whole
picture at a time. When I mentally put it all together, I figured it
should sound like an acid casualty who sits on a throne, even though he
lives in a seedy motel and hands out quaaludes to the newspaper delivery
boys. But I could be wrong. I'll never know because I don't have the
proper amount of stereo equipment.
If Flaming Lips mastermind Wayne Coyne-- who, up until now, has been
amazingly creative without heading off into ridiculousness-- decides to
release a mix of all four CDs on one disc, I'm all for it. In the
meantime, he may as well have put the freakin' thing on an eight track
tape or 6,000 microcassettes that each have one note on them. All
Zaireeka is good for now is a mention on "The $25,000 Pyramid."
Contestant #1: "Tofu burgers, Ishtar, pet rocks, Tandy computers, the
Flaming Lips' Zaireeka--"
Contestant #2: "Completely useless things no one should have bothered with!"
-Jason Josephes