[Everyneurotic]

ok, here goes:

i don't like this "better band" kinda discussion because they are pointless, there's no better or worse, just opinions and likes, so it boils down to your "favorite" bands, in reality.

that said, i do agree with you that i feel at war with the mystics is a stronger album than rather ripped, and yes, it seems the case since they spent more time on it than sy with rr; having seen sy play the rr songs a couple of months ago, i feel they should have waited a little to develope them more, as the live counterparts are much experimental, instrumentally better and even noisier with more improv, which i felt made the album feel incomplete.

however, i think that a band that can't sustain a firm line up are bound to produce weaker music than a band with a solid, constant line up, i don't think sy are hit or miss, as you said, i think they are pretty great at what they do and it's because their line up. sure, rather ripped is not stellar but it's still great for simple, direct pop rock album, and they are also experimental, whether the flaming lips go thru phases, (depending on who's on the line up perhaps?) and move marginally within them; also, my guess is that, since there are big gaps in between albums, they seem to be moving in giant steps in their evolution since we can't grasp what happens in those in between years.

both bands are really different, though. sy come from the jazz, minimalism and blues tradition where instrumentalism is the key to their existance, they are here to play, experiment and come up with something new, out of thin air in some cases. the flaming lips, on the other hand, have always been songwriters first and foremost, they are really good at creating these great narrating epic songs built from unlike elements (feedback and guitar skronk early on, samplers and strings lately), they are also incredibly good at incorporating lots of influences into their music and make it their own (like brian wilson and burt bacharach on the soft bulletin or yes and pink floyd on at war with the mystics); yes, sy are also songwriters, but that's not their nature as a group, in fact, songwriting was/is another way for them to experiment.

and about the live front, i haven't seen the lips live so i can't tell. they seem like fun but i find even the best theatrical concerts to be off putting, there's something dumb about props, pyro and costumes at rock concerts, i don't know, i don't like the blue man group or cirque du soleil, i guess i don't like seeing a band pull that while playing songs. whether sonic youth are a raw, sweaty, feedback-drenched punk fest of songs and improvisation, they are a band playing songs live, not a light and sound stage show that could be staged on broadway or las vegas. it's rock n' roll.