At War with the Mystics

At War with the Mystics is the eleventh studio album by American rock band the Flaming Lips, released on April 3, 2006, by Warner Bros. Records. The album is more guitar-driven and features more politically themed lyrics than the band's previous two albums The Soft Bulletin (1999) and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002). It is the groups first album featuring contribution's from drummer Kliph Scurlock.

At War with the Mystics
Studio album by the Flaming Lips
Released	April 3, 2006 (2006-04-03)
Recorded	June 2004 – January 2006
Studio	Tarbox Road Studios, Cassadaga, New York
Genre	Psychedelic rock dream pop neo-psychedelia space rock
Length	54:53
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	The Flaming Lips Dave Fridmann Scott Booker
The Flaming Lips chronology
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002) At War with the Mystics (2006) Atlas Eets Christmas (2007)
Singles from At War with the Mystics
"The W.A.N.D. (The Will Always Negates Defeat)" Released: January 10, 2006 "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power)" Released: April 17, 2006 "It Overtakes Me" Released: November 13, 2006

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	76/100^[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[2]
Entertainment Weekly	B^[3]
The Guardian	^[4]
The Independent	^[5]
Los Angeles Times	^[6]
NME	8/10^[7]
Pitchfork	6.7/10^[8]
Q	^[9]
Rolling Stone	^[10]
Spin	B+^[11]

At War with the Mystics won a 2006 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, and was also nominated for Best Alternative Album. By 2009, the album had sold over 220,000 copies in United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.^[12]

Track listing

All tracks are written by The Flaming Lips

No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power)"	4:51
2.	"Free Radicals (A Hallucination of the Christmas Skeleton Pleading with a Suicide Bomber)"	3:39
3.	"The Sound of Failure / It's Dark... Is It Always This Dark??"	7:18
4.	"My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion (The Inner Life as Blazing Shield of Defiance and Optimism as Celestial Spear of Action)"	4:48
5.	"Vein of Stars"	4:15
6.	"The Wizard Turns On... The Giant Silver Flashlight and Puts on His Werewolf Moccasins"	3:41
7.	"It Overtakes Me / The Stars Are So Big... I Am So Small... Do I Stand a Chance?"	6:50
8.	"Mr. Ambulance Driver"	4:21
9.	"Haven't Got a Clue"	3:23
10.	"The W.A.N.D. (The Will Always Negates Defeat)"	3:44
11.	"Pompeii am Götterdämmerung"	4:22
12.	"Goin' On"	3:39
Total length:		54:53

iTunes exclusive bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
13.	"Bohemian Rhapsody" (This track originally appeared on Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen)	6:36
14.	"The Gold in the Mountain of Our Madness" (Also appears as the final track on the Japanese import version)	4:47
15.	"The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" (Long version)	5:22
16.	"Time Travel...YES!!" (Non-album track, featuring Steven Michael Burns)	3:21

5.1 audio mix

Like The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi, At War with the Mystics was released as a special edition 5.1 CD+DVD-Audio mix on October 24, 2006, accompanied by studio outtakes, videos, and exclusive radio sessions.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power)"	5:22
2.	"Free Radicals (A Hallucination of the Christmas Skeleton Pleading with a Suicide Bomber)"	3:40
3.	"The Sound of Failure / It's Dark... Is It Always This Dark??"	7:18
4.	"My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion (The Inner Life as Blazing Shield of Defiance and Optimism as Celestial Spear of Action)"	5:01
5.	"Vein of Stars"	4:15
6.	"The Wizard Turns On... The Giant Silver Flashlight And Puts On His Werewolf Moccasins"	3:45
7.	"It Overtakes Me / The Stars Are So Big... I Am So Small... Do I Stand a Chance?"	6:55
8.	"Mr. Ambulance Driver"	4:22
9.	"Haven't Got a Clue"	3:23
10.	"The W.A.N.D. (The Will Always Negates Defeat)"	3:43
11.	"Pompeii am Götterdämmerung"	4:22
12.	"Goin' On"	3:37

Outtakes

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Why Does It End?"	4:38
2.	"You Gotta Hold On"	4:52
3.	"Your Face Can Tell the Future"	5:21
4.	"The Gold in the Mountain of Our Madness"	4:48
5.	"Time Travel?? Yes!!"	3:23
6.	"Bohemian Rhapsody"	6:36

Radio sessions

No.	Title	Length
1.	"My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion"	4:40
2.	"Goin' On"	3:44
3.	"Unmade Bed / No Quarter"	6:56
4.	"The Sound of Failure"	4:03
5.	"Vein of Stars"	4:50
6.	"Vein of Stars" (Operatic Spook)	4:15
7.	"The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" (Chicken Fried Hoedown Protest Rally)	4:44
8.	"The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" (In Anatropous Reflex)	4:22

Videos

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Mr. Ambulance Driver"	5:00
2.	"The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song"	4:06
3.	"The W.A.N.D."	3:48
4.	"2006 OKC Classen High Commencement Speech"	12:18

Personnel

The Flaming Lips

• Wayne Coyne – vocals, guitars, keyboards, mixing, production
• Steven Drozd – guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, vocals, mixing, production
• Michael Ivins – bass, keyboards, backing vocals, mixing, production, additional engineering
• Kliph Scurlock – drums, percussion

Additional personnel

• Scott Booker – production
• Dave Fridmann – additional songwriting, production, mixing, programming, engineering, mastering
• Greg Kurstin – additional songwriting, production, backing vocals and instruments on "Haven't Got a Clue"

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2006) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)^[13] 20 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)^[14] 47 Danish Albums (Hitlisten)^[15] 20 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)^[16] 82 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)^[17] 25 French Albums (SNEP)^[18] 151 Irish Albums (IRMA)^[19] 6 Italian Albums (FIMI)^[20] 78 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)^[21] 36 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)^[22] 14 Scottish Albums (OCC)^[23] 7 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)^[24] 32 UK Albums (OCC)^[25] 6 US Billboard 200^[26] 11 US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)^[27] 2

Year-end charts Chart (2006) Position UK Albums (OCC)^[28] 196

References

1. "Reviews for At War With The Mystics by The Flaming Lips". Metacritic. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
2. Phares, Heather. "At War with the Mystics – The Flaming Lips". AllMusic. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
3. Collis, Clark (April 7, 2006). "The Flaming Lips: At War with the Mystics". Entertainment Weekly. p. 59.
4. Lynskey, Dorian (March 31, 2006). "The Flaming Lips, At War With the Mystics". The Guardian. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
5. Gill, Andy (March 31, 2006). . The Independent. Archived from the original on April 6, 2006. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
6. Appleford, Steve (March 26, 2006). "Lips flame with pure euphoria". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
7. Long, Pat (March 31, 2006). . NME. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
8. Richardson, Mark (April 2, 2006). "The Flaming Lips: At War With the Mystics". Pitchfork. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
9. "The Flaming Lips: At War with the Mystics". Q (238): 118. May 2006.
10. Hoard, Christian (April 6, 2006). "At War With The Mystics". Rolling Stone. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
11. Hermes, Will (April 2006). "The Flaming Lips: At War With the Mystics". Spin. 22 (4): 89. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
12. "Flaming Lips dial down the whimsy on "Embryonic"". Reuters. 26 September 2009.
13. "Australiancharts.com – The Flaming Lips – At War with the Mystics". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
14. "Ultratop.be – The Flaming Lips – At War with the Mystics" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
15. "Danishcharts.dk – The Flaming Lips – At War with the Mystics". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
16. "Dutchcharts.nl – The Flaming Lips – At War with the Mystics" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
17. "The Flaming Lips: At War with the Mystics" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
18. "Lescharts.com – The Flaming Lips – At War with the Mystics". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
19. "Irish-charts.com – Discography The Flaming Lips". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
20. "Italiancharts.com – The Flaming Lips – At War with the Mystics". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
21. "Charts.nz – The Flaming Lips – At War with the Mystics". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
22. "Norwegiancharts.com – The Flaming Lips – At War with the Mystics". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
23. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
24. "Swedishcharts.com – The Flaming Lips – At War with the Mystics". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
25. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
26. "The Flaming Lips Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
27. "The Flaming Lips Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
28. "2006 UK Albums Chart" (PDF). ChartsPlus. Retrieved November 16, 2021.

External links

• At War with the Mystics at MusicBrainz (list of releases)