The great thing about Flaming Lips records is that each new one renders all its predecessors obsolete. Clouds Taste Metallic continues the fine Lips tradition of quantum improvement. It's an elaborately orchestrated masterwork of crashing cymbals, chiming bells, tinkling pianos, buzzing guitars, chirping birds, humming projectors, exploding cities, cheering crowds, and vocals stacked to the stratosphere. Each song goes gleefully over the top, but every ridiculous element somehow seems just right. While the carnival atmosphere and silly song titles distract you from band leader Wayne Coyne's serious ambition, the album's power bubbles up from hidden depths and eventually overwhelms you. The smoldering packages in "Lightning Strikes the Postman" and the sleeping millions dreaming about killing the boss in "Bad Days" are funny, but they're also unnerving, and the band builds a whole song out of the sad truth that "Evil Will Prevail." The sense that this isn't all just fun and games makes happier moments such as the cosmic orgasm of "When You Smile" sound like something much more than a hippie's wet dream. This album isn't music to take drugs to; it's the drug itself. --Tim Quirk