The Flaming Lips Announce At War With The Mystics 20th Anniversary Edition With Previously Unreleased Tracks

These days, the Flaming Lips are a band in some disarray, and it's nice to be reminded of a time what that wasn't the case. Anniversary reissues are good for that. When they released their 2006 album At War With The Mystics, the Lips were already a psych-rock institution who'd become an unlikely touring sensation. Their previous album, 2002's Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, was the biggest thing they'd ever made, and it might still be their defining record. Naturally, they responded to that success by getting weirder. At War With The Mystics didn't have any hits on the level of "Do You Realize??," but its playful experiments with new wave and mutant disco had their own kind of magnetism. Just as they did with Yoshimi a few years ago, the Lips have announced a massive 20th-anniversary box set deluxe edition of At War With The Mystics, with rarities and previously unreleased tracks spread across six discs. It's got demos, B-sides, remixes, multiple complete live shows, and non-album songs, including some that the band made for movies and documentaries. Finally, their contributions to cinematic works like Spider-Man 3 and Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium have been collected in the same place! Below, check out two previously unreleased demos for the album track "The Sound Of Failure."At War With The Mystics (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) is out 11/13 on Rhino. You can pre-order it here and investigate the details of what all is on the six CDs here.