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The Terror (album)

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The Terror
Studio album by
the Flaming Lips
ReleasedApril 1, 2013 (2013-04-01)
RecordedFebruary–April 2012
StudioTarbox Road Studios in Cassadaga, New York and Pink Floor Studios in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Genre
Length54:53
Label
Producer
The Flaming Lips chronology
The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends
(2012) 		The Terror
(2013) 		The Time Has Come to Shoot You Down... What a Sound
(2013)
Singles from The Terror
  1. "Sun Blows Up Today"
    Released: January 25, 2013
  2. "Look... The Sun is Rising"
    Released: March 3, 2013

The Terror is the thirteenth studio album by experimental rock band the Flaming Lips, released on April 1, 2013 worldwide and April 16 in the U.S., on Warner Bros in the United States and Bella Union in the United Kingdom.[1][2] It is the first album for band member Derek Brown and last with drummer Kliph Scurlock.

Experimental composer Dan Deacon remixed the album in its entirety.

Production

[edit]

Lead vocalist Wayne Coyne described the album's general idea in a press release, "We want, or wanted, to believe that without love we would disappear, that love, somehow, would save us that, yeah, if we have love, give love and know love, we are truly alive and if there is no love, there would be no life. The Terror is, we know now, that even without love, life goes on... we just go on… there is no mercy killing."

Much of the album was shaped by multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd's relapse, with Coyne saying of his relapse: "During the Heady Fwends collaborations, we knew he was struggling. I just knew it. But this time, he went and just said, 'I’m going to make this music and hope I get through it.' It was not to make a record. I’m doing so much stuff in Studio A [at Dave Fridmann’s Tarbox Studios]. And Steven would hole up in Studio B: 'Well, I’m going to do music over here because I’m going insane.'" Later in that same interview, he says "The lesson that we learned — and we learned this and then forgot it at least 20 fucking times since 1983 when we started making records — anytime that you veer away from the thing that you love, the thing that’s like masturbating, the thing that’s like sitting in the corner drooling on yourself, anytime you drift away from that, it really becomes a different kind of art. It becomes about fixing things, arranging things, trying to manipulate things for effect. We like to do that and I think oftentimes we’re good at that, but it’s not nearly as satisfying as the other type of art."[3]

When asked about the optimism of the album and the band's work in general, Coyne says "I don’t really believe anyone who walks home and says, “Everything’s okay.” The reason we’re optimistic is that a lot of things aren’t great and we have to find a way to get through it… I don’t want someone to listen and only hear that I’m just some scared old man. Well… I am, but I don’t always sing about that. It is focusing on a particular dimension in our minds that this music on The Terror goes towards, which is darker. But at the end, it makes that optimism even more believable. We were in Australia in January and I swam in the ocean for only the second time in my life. You know you’re going to get in there and it’s going to be kind of cold and these waves are big. There’s a time where you’ve got to go from being very dry and very warm to being very wet and very cold. But if you get through that, it’s a fucking blast and you really feel this braveness. You’re in the waves and fighting against the waves. So I think now we’re kind of like that: “Fuck you, bring it on, motherfuckers.” It’s huge and immense, but we’re not so vulnerable. It’s better to be scared and do it than to be scared and not do it.[4]

Reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.8/10[5]
Metacritic77/100[6]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
The A.V. ClubA−[8]
Chicago Tribune[9]
Entertainment WeeklyC[10]
The Guardian[11]
The Independent[12]
NME8/10[13]
Pitchfork7.8/10[14]
Rolling Stone[15]
Spin9/10[16]

The Terror received mostly positive reviews from critics, with a score of 77 on metacritic, citing "Generally favorable feviews"

The review from The A.V. Club, states "The Terror is the sound of The Flaming Lips going from a group experience to an internal monologue, the perfect record for any fan who has ever felt like the band could use two “Feeling Yourself Disintegrate”s for every “Race For The Prize.”[6]

Stuart Berman of Pitchfork Magazine states "with The Terror, the Lips take the bold step of bursting their own bubble. The band’s unrelentlingly bleak new album relates to its predecessor much as Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots did to The Soft Bulletin, retaining its antecedent’s weighty mood but deconstructing the instrumental bombast into more skeletal, mechanical forms", but states later in the review "it still feels underdeveloped in spots. At 13 minutes, centerpiece track “You Lust” is the longest song to appear on a proper Lips record since the 1980s, and a companion piece to Embryonic’s “Powerless”, using a coolly repetitive organ refrain as the foundation for an agitated, free-form synth freakout. But its imposing grandeur is diffused by an intrusive, creepily whispered chorus incantation and a drifting, protracted denouement that lingers for far too long. And in the wake of the absorbing, slow-roiling intensity of the penultimate “Turning Violent”, the closing “Always There... In Our Heart” (a bookend echo of “Look… The Sun Is Rising”) doesn’t quite deliver the blown-out grand finale its repeated 1-2-3-4 build-ups suggest, instead simmering down before reaching full blast."[17]


[edit]

The bonus song from the album "Sun Blows Up Today", was featured in a 2013 Hyundai Superbowl commercial

Track listing

[edit]

All tracks are written by The Flaming Lips

No.TitleLength
1."Look... The Sun is Rising"5:11
2."Be Free, a Way"5:13
3."Try to Explain"5:00
4."You Lust" (featuring Phantogram)13:02
5."The Terror"6:21
6."You Are Alone"3:46
7."Butterfly, How Long It Takes to Die"7:30
8."Turning Violent"4:16
9."Always There...In Our Hearts"4:34
Total length:54:53

iTunes exclusive tracks

[edit]
No.TitleLength
10."Sun Blows Up Today"3:08
11."We Don't Control the Controls" (Mashed-the-F-Up Remix)14:36

UK exclusive bonus disc

[edit]
No.TitleLength
10."Sun Blows Up Today"3:10
11."All You Need Is Love" (written by Lennon–McCartney, featuring Alex and Jade of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros)5:06

Personnel

[edit]

The Flaming Lips

Guest performers

Production

  • The Flaming Lips – production, mix, recording
  • Dave Fridmann – production, mix, recording, mastering
  • Scott Booker – production
  • Michael Ivins – additional engineering
  • Mack Hawkins – additional engineering, recording & mixing

Packaging

  • George Salisbury – layout and design

Charts

[edit]
Chart performance for The Terror
Chart (2013) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[18] 100
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[19] 39
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[20] 199
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[21] 50
UK Albums (OCC)[22] 42
US Billboard 200[23] 21
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[24] 6
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[25] 6

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "The Flaming Lips unleash "The Terror" on Monday 1st April 2013". Bella Union. Archived from the original on 30 January 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  2. ^ "Pre-order The Flaming Lips' New Album The Terror Now!". Warner Bros. Records. Archived from the original on 12 January 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  3. ^ Berman, Stuart (April 16, 2013). "The SPIN Interview: The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne". Spin. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
  4. ^ Berman, Stuart (April 16, 2013). "The SPIN Interview: The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne". Spin. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
  5. ^ "The Terror by The Flaming Lips reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
  6. ^ a b "Reviews for The Terror by The Flaming Lips". Metacritic. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  7. ^ Phares, Heather. "The Terror – The Flaming Lips". AllMusic. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  8. ^ Adams, Erik (April 16, 2013). "The Flaming Lips: The Terror". The A.V. Club. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  9. ^ Kot, Greg (April 15, 2013). "Album review: The Flaming Lips, 'The Terror'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  10. ^ Smith, Grady; Anderson, Kyle; Rahman, Ray (April 12, 2013). "Singles and Albums: April 19, 2013". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  11. ^ Simpson, Dave (March 28, 2013). "The Flaming Lips: The Terror – review". The Guardian. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
  12. ^ Price, Simon (March 31, 2013). "Album: Flaming Lips, The Terror (Bella Union)". The Independent. Archived from the original on April 3, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  13. ^ Horton, Matthew (April 2, 2013). "The Flaming Lips – 'The Terror'". NME. Archived from the original on April 5, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  14. ^ Berman, Stuart (April 4, 2013). "The Flaming Lips: The Terror". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
  15. ^ Fricke, David (April 16, 2013). "The Terror". Rolling Stone. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  16. ^ Tedder, Michael (April 15, 2013). "The Flaming Lips, 'The Terror' (Warner Bros.)". Spin. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  17. ^ Berman, Stuart (April 4, 2013). "The Flaming Lips: The Terror". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
  18. ^ "The ARIA Report: Week Commencing 22 April 2013 (Issue #1208)" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-06. Retrieved November 28, 2021 – via Pandora Archive.
  19. ^ "Ultratop.be – The Flaming Lips – The Terror" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  20. ^ "Ultratop.be – The Flaming Lips – The Terror" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  21. ^ フレーミング・リップスのアルバム売上ランキング [The Flaming Lips Album Sales Ranking] (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  22. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  23. ^ "The Flaming Lips Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  24. ^ "The Flaming Lips Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  25. ^ "The Flaming Lips Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
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