THE FLAMING LIPS 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: The Flaming Lips are up there with the greatest enigmas in modern music. Anyone who has seen the excellent documentary, The Fearless Freaks, will understand that long before we had Yoshimi going up against pink robots with candy-coloured inflatables, the Oklahoma-born outfit were noise with a capital N, something their live shows nod to in cacophonous, strobe-lit meltdowns juxtaposing the niceties.

Fight Test is plucked from the sweeter end of the oeuvre, dropping as an EP around 12 months after the landmark Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots album landed, with the third single from that record leading the seven tracks here. A startlingly bold collection, including the epic overture 'Do You Realise' and the comedic, or at least slightly tongue-in-cheek faux country of 'Thank You Jack White (For The Fiber-optic Jesus You Gave Me)', its thoroughly smile inducing and only adds to the mystery surrounding the band.