Flaming Lips Preview ‘Sound of Failure’ Demo Ahead of ‘Mystics’ Box Set

The Flaming Lips released a sparse two-demo version of “The Sound of Failure” on Wednesday, ahead of a six-disc box set marking the 20th anniversary of their 11th album, At War With the Mystics, due out November 13.

The anthology collects previously unreleased demos and studio recordings, non-album tracks and concert recordings. A full track list is available on the band’s website.

The new “The Sound of Failure (2 Demos)” release pairs a stripped-down rendition — frontman Wayne Coyne singing over acoustic guitar and keys — with a more piano-driven version of the song.

At War With the Mystics followed the band’s celebrated Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots LP and contained the psychedelic singles “The W.A.N.D. (The Will Always Negates Defeat),” “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power),” and “It Overtakes Me.” Those college radio hits propelled the album to Number 11 on the Billboard 200.

The box set expands the original album with B-sides from singles and compilation tracks released at the time, alongside what the band describes as a 360-degree behind-the-scenes look at how the group wrote the music. One disc contains several different demos, some only a minute long, tracing the creative process. “The W.A.N.D.,” for instance, appears as two instrumental demos and an early demo — the latter just 89 seconds — before the disc closes with a 3:44 instrumental.

The collection also gathers previously unreleased songs and tracks the band contributed to soundtracks, including The Heartbreak Kid and Spider-Man 3, plus a Goldfrapp remix of “The W.A.N.D.” Their iTunes Originals session and the promo CD If You Could Blow Up the World With the Flick of a Switch — a title fans will recognize as the first line of “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song” — are included as well.

The CD edition ends with two live albums: U.F.O.s at the Zoo – The Legendary Concert in Oklahoma City and Live at the Hollywood Bowl. The LP box set arranges its tracks slightly differently.

The reissue arrives during a period of transition for the Oklahoma band, which has recently undergone lineup changes following the departure of Stephen Drozd. The group has only one concert scheduled for the remainder of the year: an appearance at Tecate Comuna 2026 in Cholula, Mexico, on November 28 — two weeks after the box set reaches stores.