Album of the Day

The Flaming Lips built upon the success of THE SOFT BULLETIN with their first album of the new millennium, YOSHIMI BATTLES THE PINK ROBOTS. Even if it did later inspire a stage musical, the band deny that the 2002 Warner Bros. collection is concept album, preferring to describe it as “storytelling acid rock.” But that phrase only hints at the emotional resonance and inventive arrangements here; tracks like lead single “Do You Realize??,” “Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell” and Grammy-winning instrumental “Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitia)” rank with the Oklahoma alternative rockers' finest. The Gold-certified YOSHIMI BATTLES THE PINK ROBOTS was a hit with critics as well as the public, appearing on best-of-the-decade lists from such outlets as Rolling Stone and Uncut.