Zaireeka

In 1997, the Flaming Lips released the album Zaireeka. Released on four cd's, the concept of the album was that you played all four cds simultaneously on different cd players. Apart from the count in, which enables you to line them up, you were free to play them however you wanted, in four different rooms, in four cars, whatever. The one thing they didn't want was for people to turn them into one track, they had to be played seperately. Well, sorry chaps, but I have done just that. It's a lovely theory, and while I don't want to mess with your artistic vision, I do want to experience it, something that is currently impossible to arrange without combining the tracks.

Zaireeka is the album that they released before the breakthrough Soft Bulletin, and while it retains some of the acid-fried nature of their previous albums, you can hear the beginnngs of a move towards the pop direction that would enable them to hit the big time. It reminds me of In The Morning Of The Magicians from Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, that kind of sound.

Flaming Lips - Zaireeka (download the whole album by opening a new window)