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The Flaming Lips’ Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots was the band’s tenth album and perhaps their most successful, earning their only U.S. Gold record to date as well as a Platinum certification from the U.K.’s BPI.  A loose concept album incorporating electronica, rock, pop, and hip-hop textures, Yoshimi saw the band continuing its inventive path while embracing accessibility.  The album even inspired a stage musical in 2012, and now, its 20th anniversary is being celebrated with a deluxe box set.  On November 25, Warner Records will release Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots: 20th Anniversary Edition as a 6-CD box with 100 tracks (over 50 previously unreleased); on April 14, 2023, a 5-LP vinyl box will follow with 56 songs (40 tracks previously unavailable on vinyl).

The contemporary psychedelia and playful sci-fi splendor of Yoshimi, composed and played by bandmates Wayne Coyne, Steven Drodz, and Michael Ivins, captivated listeners and critics at the time of its release in July 2002.  Uncut called it “astonishing” and Rolling Stone complimented its “ambitious” production, with Billboard calling it “as strange as it is wonderful.”  The band picked up their first Grammy Award for the trippy closing instrumental “Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitia).”

The upcoming box fleshes out the story of the album’s creation with dozens of rare tracks.  The first disc contains the original album plus a bevy of demos.  Disc 2 brings together the Fight Test and Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell EPs, both originally issued in 2003.  (Another full-length studio album wouldn’t arrive from the Lips until 2006.)  The third CD offers a plethora of odds and ends including single B-sides, a Japanese language version of the title track, a soundtrack cut from The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Coyne’s demo of the Duck Dodgers theme, demos, a live “White Christmas,” and instrumentals.  The final three CDs are dedicated to radio broadcasts.  CD 4 offers a selection of various 2002-2003 performances (including covers of the Elvis Presley hit “Suspicious Minds,” Pink Floyd’s “Breathe,” and Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”).  CD 5 has the October 27, 2002 broadcast from Boston’s Paradise Lounge (featuring a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Lucifer Sam”) plus a demo of “Psychedelic Hypnotist Daydream,” and the final disc offers the BBC’s January 22, 2003 gig live at London’s Forum.  The Paradise Lounge concert showcases the band at their most intimate while the Forum show boasts the group at their most pyrotechnic.

The vinyl edition due next April makes a couple of trims to the track list, and drops the two EPs as well as the two full-length concerts, bringing the total of tracks down from 100 to 56.  Next year will also see the Lips perform Yoshimi in full at two concerts: one on April 28 in London and another on May 25 in Washington, DC.

Look for the 20th Anniversary Edition of The Flaming Lips’ Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots on November 25 from Warner Records.  You’ll find the track listing and pre-order links below!

The Flaming Lips, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (Warner, 2022)

6CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
5LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

CD 1: Original album + demos

1. Fight Test
2. One More Robot/Sympathy 3000-21
3. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1
4. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 2
5. In the Morning of the Magicians
6. Ego Tripping At the Gates of Hell
7. Are You a Hypnotist??
8. It’s Summertime
9. Do You Realize??
10. All We Have is Now
11. Approaching Pavonis Mons By Balloon (Utopia Planitia)
12. All My Life – Morning of the Magician (Demo) *
13. Ego Tripping Part 2 or 3 (Demo) *
14. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (Demo) *
15. Hypnotist: Early Version (Demo) *
16. Epic Systems Delirium (Demo) *
17. In the Morning of the Magicians (Demo) *
18. Do You Realize?? (1St Chords Wayne) (Demo) *
19. Do You Realize?? (Steven New Part) (Demo) *

Tracks 1-11 released as Warner Bros. 48141, 2002

CD 2: Fight Test / Ego Tripping At the Gates of Hell EPs

1. Fight Test
2. Can’t Get You Out of My Head (Live on KEXP)
3. The Golden Age (Live on CD101)
4. Knives Out (Live on KCRW)
5. Do You Realize?? (Scott Hardkiss Floating in Space Vocal Mix)
6. The Strange Design of Conscience
7. Thank You Jack White (for the Fiber-Optic Jesus That You Gave Me)
8. Assassination of the Sun
9. I’m a Fly in a Sunbeam (Following the Funeral Procession of a Stranger)
10. Sunship Balloons
11. Do You Realize?? (T.P.S. Remix)
12. Ego Tripping At the Gates of Hell (Ego in Acceleration) (Jason Bentley Remix)
13. Ego Tripping At the Gates of Hell (Self-Admiration with Blow-Up Mix)
14. A Change At Christmas (Say It Isn’t So)
15. Ego Tripping At the Gates of Hell (Utah Saints Remix)

Tracks 1-7 released as Fight Test EP – Warner Bros. 48433, 2003
Tracks 8-15 released as Ego Tripping At the Gates of Hell EP – Warner Bros. 48514, 2003

CD 3: Non-LP+

1. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (Japanese Version)
2. Spongebob & Patrick Confront the Psychic Wall of Energy
3. Seven Nation Army
4. Go (Alternate Version from The Flaming Lips Archives) – Sparklehorse with The Flaming Lips
5. Do You Realize?? (Live on CD101)
6. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (AOL Session)
7. Waitin’ for a Superman (Live on WXPN)
8. In the Morning of the Magicians (Live on KCRW)
9. White Christmas (Live on WXPN)
10. The Golden Path – The Chemical Brothers feat. The Flaming Lips
11. If I Go Mad/Funeral in My Head
12. Syrtis Major
13. Up Above the Daily Hum
14. Xanthe Terra
15. The Deterioration of the Fight or Flight Response
16. Fight Test (Live on WXRT 5/2/2003) *
17. Duck Dodgers Theme (Wayne Scratch Vocal) *
18. I Know I’ve Got to Make That Dream the Real Thing (Demo) *
19. Do You Realize?? (Instrumental) *
20. Fight Test (Primitive Demo with Helium Voice)

Track 1 from Japanese pressing of album – Warner Bros. WPCR-11253, 2002
Track 2 from The Spongebob Squarepants Movie (Music from the Movie and More…) – Sire 48888, 2004
Track 3 from LateNightTales – Azuli/Whoa (U.K.) ALNCD13, 2005
Tracks 5-9 from Yoshimi Wins: Live Radio Sessions – Warner Bros. PRO-CD-100996, 2002
Track 10 from Singles 93-03 – Freestyle Dust/Virgin (U.K.) XDUSTCDJ6, 2003
Tracks 11-14 from “Do You Realize??” U.K. CD singles – Warner Bros. W586CD1/2, 2002
Tracks 15 and 20 from “Fight Test” U.K. CD singles – Warner Bros. W611CD1/2, 2003

CD 4: Radio Sessions

1. Suspicious Minds (Live on Cover-Ed) *
2. Assassination of the Sun (Live on BBC Radio 1 – July 2002) *
3. Can’t Get You Out of My Head (Live on BBC Radio 1 – July 2002) *
4. Do You Realize?? (Live on BBC Radio 1 – July 2002) *
5. One More Robot (Live on BBC Radio 1 – July 2002) *
6. Do You Realize?? (Live on KEXP – 8/5/2002) *
7. One More Robot (Live on KEXP – 8/5/2002) *
8. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (Live on KEXP – 8/5/2002) *
9. Do You Realize?? (Live on XFM – 7/11/2002) *
10. One More Robot (Live on XFM – 7/11/2002)
11. Can’t Get You Out of My Head (Live on XFM – 7/11/2002) *
12. Fight Test (Live on XFM – 6/26/2003) *
13. Thank You Jack White (Live on XFM – 6/26/2003) *
14. Breathe (Live on XFM – 6/26/2003) *
15. Ego Tripping At the Gates of Hell (Live on XFM – 11/11/2003) *
16. Sunship Balloons (Live on XFM – 11/11/2003) *
17. Ego Tripping At the Gates of Hell (Live on BBC Radio 1 – 10/31/2003) *
18. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (Live on BBC Radio 1 – 10/31/2003) *
19. Sunship Balloons (Live on BBC Radio 1 – 10/31/2003) *

Track 10 from “Fight Test” U.K. DVD single – Warner Bros. W611DVD, 2003

CD 5: Live 2002+ *

1. Introduction
2. The Golden Age
3. Wayne Intro 1
4. Lucifer Sam
5. Wayne Intro 2
6. Do You Realize??
7. Wayne Intro 3
8. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
9. Wayne Intro 4
10. Fight Test (Intro)
11. Fight Test
12. Psychedelic Hypnotist Daydream (Demo)

All tracks except 12 recorded by WBOS-FM at the Paradise Lounge, Boston, MA 10/27/2002

CD 6: Live 2003 *

1. Introduction
2. Race for the Prize
3. Fight Test
4. Lucifer Sam
5. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
6. Lightning Strikes the Postman
7. In the Morning of the Magicians
8. Happy Birthday
9. She Don’t Use Jelly
10. All We Have is Now
11. Do You Realize??
12. Waitin’ for a Superman
13. A Spoonful Weighs a Ton
14. What Is the Light?
15. The Observer (Fade Out)

All tracks recorded by the BBC at The Forum, London, England, 1/22/2003