Watch the Flaming Lips’ Cymbal-Burning ‘The Captain’ Video
The Flaming Lips light cymbals on fire in their cathartic black-and-white video for “The Captain,” a rare Soft Bulletin-era track featured on the psych rock band’s upcoming deluxe edition of Greatest Hits Vol. 1.
Frontman Wayne Coyne, decked out in his now-signature eye patch, croons in a deliberate twang as the group builds a slow crescendo with organ, piano, acoustic guitar and in-the-red drums. In the clip, touring members Matt Duckworth and Nick Ley act out Steven Drozd’s percussive studio pummel, wildly bashing their kits.
While the Flaming Lips cut “The Captain” from 1999’s The Soft Bulletin, they later included the track on a remastered 5.1 edition of the album. The symphonic-styled slow-burner is now set to appear on the triple-disc version of Greatest Hits Vol. 1, out June 1st. The compilation includes singles and album cuts from the band’s Warner Bros. era, along with B-sides, studio outtakes and previously unheard material.
The Flaming Lips will also release a six-CD box set, Seeing the Unseeable: The Complete Studio Recordings of the Flaming Lips 1986-1990 – featuring their first four Restless Records studio albums and two discs of rarities – on June 29th. The upcoming set follows a previously issued single-disc version from April.