| The Flaming Lips EP | 1985 |
| Hear It Is | 1986 |
| Oh My Gawd!!! | 1987 |
| Telepathic Surgery | 1988 |
| In A Priest Driven Ambulance | 1990 |
| Hit To Death In The Future Head | 1992 |
| Transmissions From The Satellite Heart | 1993 |
| Providing Needles For Your Balloons | 1994 |
| Clouds Taste Metallic | 1995 |
| Zaireeka | 1997 |
| A Collection Of Songs Representing An Enthusiasm Of Recording... (compilation) | 1998 |
| The Soft Bulletin | 1999 |
| Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots | 2002 |
| Finally, The Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid (compilation) | 2002 |
| The Day They Shot A Hole In The Jesus Egg (compilation) | 2002 |
Funny how time changes things - after hearing their what I thought was at the time very irritating novelty hit close to a full ten years after it came out (in the early years I was just starting to get into music, really), I never thought I'd be owning near the entire Flaming Lips catalog, much less reviewing them. Really, though, I can say that sort of thing about several bands that initially annoyed me but became among my favorites (Led Zeppelin! Talking Heads! Rush!) and while I don't quite love the Lips as much as indie music critics and 90's enthusiasts tell me I'm supposed to, I can definitely say they're certainly one of the most creative, melodic and likeable bands to come out in the last couple decades, and can be looked at quite a few different perspectives. The best one-hit wonders of all time. The experimental guys who made a stunning '4 CD's at once' aural masterpiece. The most over-underrated band ever. The band with a frontman whose lyrics sound like they came from a child. Obsessed with being noisy and writing artsy drug-influenced stuff in their early years, layered psychedelia in later ones.
Being such a creative band, the Lips weren't always stable in terms of lineup, though their current incarnation has emerged through hard times to stay together since 1996 or so. First and foremost is frontman and their creative genius Wayne Coyne, whose often whiny nasal voice can be an acquired taste (much like Jon Anderson, of course), as can the occasionally too naive and idiotic lyrics, but I think both those things are a huge part of the charm, especially on the later period albums. More importantly, though, he's also come up with some really great vocal melodies, incredibly clever and sophisticated embellishments (how else could such ambitious projects as Zaireeka be pulled off?), and even the occasionally awesome riff, back when the band actually rocked out. Also, even though all the Lips' songs are credited to the entire band as a unit, there's basically no doubt that he's their heart and soul.
That, however, doesn't mean the other current members aren't significant. The only other constant in the lineup is Michael Ivins, probably one of the most overlooked bassists out there - he's not really anything brilliant, but I often notice quite a lot of melodic basslines within Lips songs even when they could easily be overshadowed by the two-guitar attack (in the early-mid 90's) or the elaborate layering (the late 90's to the present), and I'd actually say he shines particularly well on their formative 80's work. Don't forget drummer Steven Drozd, who joined for Transmissions From The Satellite Heart, one of the most manic and loud kit bashers this side of John Bonham (and that aspect turns out to be a fascinating contrast to the sound of the later period), a player so energetic that apparently he gets placed at the front of the stage during live shows, which is really cool.
Oh, and although he was only with the band for two albums in the early 90's, I must mention guitarist Jonathan Donahue as a critical figure in their evolution. His presence on In A Priest Driven Ambulance gave the band a noisy and incredibly dynamic second guitarist their sound so desperately needed, and that definitely seemed to have given the band a huge kick in the ass. Maybe it was this change that seemed to inspire Wayne in embellishing the sound in such creative and compelling ways, a path he's followed ever since. Plus, although I haven't actually heard Donahue's band Mercury Rev he formed around the same time period, from what I've heard and read about them, their sound might actually have predated what The Soft Bulletin was going for. Something interesting to think about.
With all that being said, the Lips aren't exactly the ultimate band ever or anything. They took a few albums to hit their stride, in the early years performing competent, but rarely more than good underground rock with a lot of enthusiasm but not too many particularly developed ideas or great hooks. Plus, sometimes their songs do have the tendency to get bogged down in factors like subpar production (an otherwise awesome album like Hit To Death In The Future Head is particularly guilty of this), sometimes recycled melodies and/or ripoffs, and their style occasionally treading a bit too much toward the abrasive, overly lush or underdeveloped, depending on what album/period you're talking about. But there's still a number of interesting ideas and sheer genius moments contained within these releases, plus the consistency during their peak is impressive to the extent that I'd say you can't go wrong with buying anything they did in the 90's, and I can't say that about very many modern bands.
--Nick Karn
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: My Own Planet, Out For A Walk. LOW POINTS: Scratchin' The Door.
As hard as it might be to believe, there was once a time in Flaming Lips history when Wayne Coyne wasn't the frontman. Don't worry - he's still back there handling the guitar duties, background vocals, and even songwriting, but for some bizarre reason, on this debut EP another Coyne is singing, Wayne's brother Mark who has often been described as a drug addict. And he also happens to be one of the dullest vocalists I've ever heard - his voice definitely isn't unpleasant, but there's absolutely no range or personality to it, and you barely notice he's there for most of the album. But fortunately, he'd be gone by the time the band put their first full length out the next year as a somewhat forgotten figure in their history. Not that it matters too much, though, as I really don't think the quality of this material would be affected much, if at all, with Wayne singing, since a lot of it isn't terribly special or interesting.
It does have potential, though, if only just a little bit, as evidenced by the bookend songs here. "Bag Full Of Thoughts" actually has a somewhat good riff, though it gets run into the ground a little much over a repetitive 5-1/2 minute length, and the melody isn't anywhere near as memorable as it would be when Nirvana used a very similar guitar pattern for "About A Girl" four years later. The closing "My Own Planet" is somewhat better, though, actually my favorite on here - it's a terrific booming punkish tune with an infectious chorus about wanting to get away from Earth ('the human race, I can't stand it!'). There's also "Out For A Walk", whose vocal hook really isn't any good, to be honest, but Michael Ivins' warbly bass tone and the melody he plays along with it to drive the song is great, and its' upbeat tempo makes it even better. Cool psychedelic sound effects in the beginning, too.
Actually, if The Flaming Lips was a full-length LP with its' overall quality being as worthwhile as these three songs, I would easily call it their best early release (though that really isn't saying very much). Unfortunately, the other two aren't very good - I can't really remember how the multi-part suite "Garden Of Eyes / Forever Is A Long Time" goes, just that there was nothing notable about it, and "Scratchin' The Door" is a largely awful attempt at a 7 minute 'epic', probably one of the worst songs they ever did. That simplistic descending Sabbath-esque riff is boringly repetitive, and the last few minute stretch where they keep constantly fading the song in and out is almost unbearable. Yeah, real mature, guys - that little stunt, along with the surrounding song, cheated this EP out of a 7, damn it! Ah well, you're still learning, and that learning process would continue for awhile. Stay tuned to watch the Lips grow up!
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: With You. LOW POINTS: She Is Death.
With Mark Coyne out of the picture, Wayne took over the frontman position and the majority of the songwriting for good, and the Lips released their first full-length album. To be honest, though, while Hear It Is is probably more focused as far as song arrangements that make sense and aren't so damn repetitive, I really wouldn't say it's any better than the first EP, instead actually a bit worse, as I hear even less potential in the band than before. Pretty much all the songs seem to me either standard underground rock (think the Replacements or somewhere along those lines) or standard acoustic ballads, and neither category seems particularly inspired in terms of creativity and catchiness. It's not that the songs are bad, but when they're rarely any better than good, and usually just decent or mediocre, it's hard to get excited about this type of sound, even if the band themselves seem into it.
I will say there is one near-excellent song here, and that's the opening "With You", which starts out as a charmingly simple acoustic pop tune (with the first sign of Wayne's child-like attitude in the lyrics: 'when I walk with you, I feel weird') but then goes into an orgasmic crashing buildup of guitars and drums before shifting right back into the acoustic verse. That's pretty disarming right there. There are other good, though not great, tunes near the beginning as well - it's funny that "Unplugged", despite its' title, is actually the most punk-styled, energetic and concise song here (neat Easterny riff too) and "Trains, Brains And Rain" actually succeeds in spite of its' lyrical stupidity, as it's almost making bad rhymes on purpose, probably because it has a nice mix of acoustic and electric guitars and an uplifting harmony-filled singalong mood to it, making it possibly the second best song on here. Also, the last acoustic ballad "Godzilla Flick" is fairly melodic and has some nice lyrical sentiments ('People that you love, shouldn't take the life out of themselves, And it's only in the movies')
The rest of this effort is mostly just okay - it only really hits a low in the bothersomely dreary and primitive sounding "She Is Death" (despite the nice Velvet Underground style backing vocals), but just because it's consistent doesn't mean it has to be called great. For one, I can't for the life of me figure out why "Jesus Shootin' Heroin" is considered a Lips classic - the lyrics and title might be eye-opening ('well I never really understood religion, except it seems a good reason to kill...'), but the slow pace makes it drag way too much for me, since the melody isn't that good, and that two note pummeling riff that functions as a sort of 'chorus' isn't exactly genius. Plus, the comical lyrics are about the only thing that makes the rockers like "Charlie Manson Blues" and "Staring At Sound" at all interesting. Good energy though, as usual, but like the album, still not much to write home about in great melodies or neat ideas.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Everything's Explodin', The Ceiling Is Bendin'. LOW POINTS: Maximum Dream For Evil Knievel.
Well, they're getting a bit better here, contrary to my initial opinion that this was just as unremarkable, if not more so, than the previous releases. This time around, the Lips are slowly beginning to experiment more with effects and curious song arrangements, no doubt done while under the influence of certain chemicals. They're making a few of the same sort of mistakes that a lot of artsy bands make this early in their progression - a few inappropriately placed ideas, occasional sections that ramble a bit too much and songs that call for more instrumental and melodic creativity than they're actually providing at the time, but at least they're making themselves stand out from the countless indie bands that must have existed around that time period, and their experiments are worthwhile more often than not. I love that psychedelic album cover, too - skulls and fire!
Just like last time out, the opening track shines above the rest - "Everything's Explodin'" is a pretty close to great rocker, arguably the best song of this period, with one of their most memorable early riffs, a repetitive but irresistibly melodic chant of its' title with acoustic backing thrown in sometimes, and some really crazy drum work that sounds like it could easily come from Steven Drozd even though he wasn't actually in the band yet. Instead, in his place is Richard English, who not only puts on a capable kit performance, but also sings lead on two acoustic ballads in the pleasantly emotional, majestic "Thanks To You" (which actually does bear a resemblance to Led Zep's "Thank You") and the less striking though still nice "Can't Exist", both probably their most mature and honest songs to date.
There are a few other fairly interesting things on here too, with my other favorite highlight being "The Ceiling Is Bendin'", a strange but catchy rocker in which the volume level of the rhythm section keeps rising and falling in the verses, and then it goes into this odd druggy chorus. They even attempt to do their own twisted version of Pink Floyd's far-out style in the 9 minute epic "One Million Billionth Of A Millisecond On A Sunday Morning" (brilliant song title), with the haunting vocal approach, rises in tension and soloing in the second half, though "Careful With That Axe, Eugene" this is not, and it does get a bit repetitive and aimless. Elsewhere, there's the bizarre two part 'tribute' to Poison guitarist C.C. Deville in "Ode To C.C.", the first part of which seems to be "Talk Dirty To Me" looped backwards with evil masked voices over it, and the second is a short and really simple acoustic song containing the immortal line 'Hell's got all the good bands, anyway.' Neat stuff.
As for the rest, the very clunky and melodically idiotic "Maximum Dream For Evil Knievel" is the obligatory misfire here, while the straightforward rock tunes "Can't Stop The Spring" and "Prescription: Love" are somewhat interchangable, apart from the sorta proggy intro jam of the latter. I'm more divided about the closing power ballad "Love Yer Brain" - it's melodically very pretty and charming (aww, the child in Wayne's coming out again!), but the almost irritatingly simple way in which it repeats one piano note every few seconds in the verse and that lengthy 'experimental' ending where it sounds like the band is just needlessly banging around destroying things in the studio then chatting a bit keeps it from being a highlight. All in all, a nice album that's rarely anything great, but signs of the Lips' charm and ambitious songwriting talent are really starting to appear more, and that can only be a good thing.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Chrome Plated Suicide, Begs And Achin'. LOW POINTS: None.
Several fans consider this album to be something of a disappointing letdown, if not the Lips' worst effort ever, but I disagree - while it's definitely not any great masterpiece, I'm still not exactly sure why Telepathic Surgery gets bashed the way it does. Sure, there's probably more generic sounding rock songs in the mix than usual and a few too many pointless (but still enjoyable) short filler-ish interlude style tracks, but pretty much all of this material is good, sometimes very interesting and catchy, plus it's just the sort of album that sounds really great playing through my computer speakers. And yes, I'm aware of the existence of the 23 minute experimental jam "Hell's Angels Cracker Factory", but that's not even a real album track, merely a bonus found only on the CD version (plus I've only heard a 3 minute edit of it in listening to this album through the Finally, The Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid set, so I can't really judge the song's quality anyway).
If anything, I actually enjoy this effort slightly more than their other 80's albums, just because it's a lot of fun to listen to, without any misguided, lame songs getting in the way. How can I not enjoy stuff like the neat way the riff to "Right Now" keeps shifting from speaker to speaker? Or the novel appearance of a generic blues harmonica solo in the nicely punky "Redneck School Of Technology" (not to mention the often hilarious lyrics)? Even the shorter stuff has some value as well - for instance, "The Spontaneous Combustion Of John" sounds like a creepy Frogs song, only without the, you know, tongue-in-cheek homosexual lyrics and such, and "Miracle On 42nd Street" is just a pleasant bit of atmosphere, with a nice slow-building bassline and haunting buried vocals. The opening rocker "Drug Machine In Heaven" even uses the same amusing 'deep voiced' backing vocal trick utilized on a few later songs.
It also helps that there are a few really good songs in the mix, too, with the top highlight being "Chrome Plated Suicide", the most gloriously anthemic the Lips ever got in the 80's, with a great uplifting chord sequence and vocal melody, inventive use of feedback during the verse, subtly melodic basslines throughout and a tight 'jam' at the end. The closing "Begs And Achin'" is also really nifty, going from an entertaining Zeppelin-ish groove rocker to a gorgeously repeating instrumental coda. To a lesser extent, there's the not very cohesive but still interesting epic "UFO Story", whose first part is a spoken word thing where Wayne tells of he and his brother encountering UFO's when they were kids, its' second part a frantic noisemaking jam where the drums sound like they've had a crapload of echo put on them, and its' third part a completely out of nowhere sequence of gorgeous piano playing. Stuff like this points the way to the future, yup it does.
Of course, like Hear It Is to a weaker extent, just because the album's mostly enjoyable and consistent listening doesn't mean it's perfect. Only those two high points mentioned before rise much above just good, and the rest I haven't namechecked are a little less recommendable, whether it be the 'much more puzzling for its' title than anything else' rocker "Hari-Krishna Stomp Wagon (Fuck Led Zeppelin)", or "Shaved Gorilla" and "Last Drop Of Morning Dew", both practically the same slow Eastern flavored pop number. But with all its' virtues, Telepathic Surgery is still my favorite 80's Lips album by a slight margin, and maybe the most underrated in their catalog, even though the next, uh.. six album stretch the following decade would rise somewhat above the just 'good' standards they set for themselves here.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Rainin' Babies, Unconsciously Screamin', Five Stop Mother Superior Rain. LOW POINTS: None.
How appropriate that the turn of the decade would also signal the major transition effort in Lips history, as a couple of huge developments have taken place here. First off, Wayne and the rest of the band (now featuring new drummer Nathan Roberts, replacing the departed Richard English) apparently realized their sound needed an extra fullness to it, and so they decided to add another guitarist to the lineup in Jonathan Donahue, who turns out to be a perfect fit for the band. If you thought some of the Lips' material had been chaotic before, you haven't heard anything yet - this guy seems to be obsessed with creating as much abrasive noise as possible by standing close to the amps, but the textures he creates through them are so neat, just as often beautiful and majestic as they are ugly (and I mean 'ugly' in a good, creative way, you understand). Needless to say, the chemistry between him and Wayne alone on here is cool enough to own this.
Also of note is that Wayne's voice is starting to attain an even higher-pitched, more nasaly quality to it, and the focus of the lyrics have shifted to his twisted take on religion, in which God and Jesus are glorified almost like superheroes. But the most important thing, though, is that the quality of the material is higher - in fact, I'd go as far to say the the three best songs here are easily the three best they've written so far. Initially my favorite was the incredibly catchy rocker "Unconsciously Screamin'", boasting a high quality melody the 80's songs could only dream of and a noisy riff-based feedback extravaganza as a musical background, but then that top spot shifted to the brilliant "Rainin' Babies", which not only has an awesome bassline, but the guitar textures hit beautiful heights when mixed with that melody and the child-like appeal of the lyrics. In this context, Wayne yelling the line 'this is my present to the world!' is astoundingly majestic. And dig those bells and occasionally appearing loud drums!
Who knows, maybe next month my allegiance will turn to the side closing epic acoustic ballad "Five Stop Mother Superior Rain" - I'm not exactly sure what the nostalgic lyrics mean, but the twangy vocal delivery and swooping, expansive guitars (both of which have a country-ish feel to them) make all of them sound so darn convincing, as the song definitely makes the most out of its' 6 minutes. And hey, the other two songs on the side are really good, too - "Shine On Sweet Jesus" is an endearingly bouncy and infectious opener that gets the sort of 'concept' started lyrically (with that low backing vocal again!), and "Take Meta Mars" is an entertaining bass-led groove with more of them neat lyrics and the guitars sounding like they're slowly creeping up on the listener. Actually, the initial half of this album is probably the greatest side of music they've done - not just to this point, but in their entire career as a whole. Not bad!
Unfortunately, the second half of the album doesn't live up to that near-classic potential. Don't get me wrong - all of the songs here are good, but they're not much more than that, and they generally fall well short of those heights on side A. In particular, the acoustic songs "Stand In Line" and "There You Are" are slightly underwhelming and often unnoticeable, though they have their good points (the former's backwards guitars and orchestral samples, and the latter's intimate atmosphere created by actually recording it in the middle of the night at a truck stop as cars went by). Still, "God Walks Among Us Now" is kinda neat for its' extremely abrasive and chaotic sound, with not only heavily distorted and noisy guitars but also distorted vocals as well (if not really anything else) and "Mountain Side", while overlong, is a pretty good building epic with an occasionally compelling melody.
Don't forget about the album's end, though, as to close things out the Lips actually cover the standard "Wonderful World", a great choice for the charming spirit of Wayne to sing, I must say, even if there's nothing too special about their take on it when taken out of the context of their progression. Still nice, though. Everything on In A Priest Driven Ambulance is, especially since they've finally let a solid amount of their greatness out here. Not enough of it over a full album to be fantastic, of course, but still impressive for a transition record. Great guitar sounds, colorful vibes and lyrics, and several excellent melodies... what more is there to say? Oh yeah, this album's more widely available as part of the two disc reissue The Day They Shot A Hole In The Jesus Egg, with a whole bunch of unreleased songs and alternate takes thrown in, so picking that up might be a good idea.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Talkin' 'Bout The Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues (Everyone Wants To Live Forever), Halloween On The Barbary Coast, You Have To Be Joking (Autopsy Of The Devil's Brain). LOW POINTS: None.
Apparently, the results of the last album really attracted a lot of record company attention, as the Lips were subsequently signed to Warner Brothers for their first major label release. Appropriately, the band used this opportunity to layer the sound with not only abrasive guitars, but also a huge assortment of other instruments (including such things as violins, flutes, autoharps, cellos, tympani, organs, pianos, and even power tool machines among countless others). I don't think I have to tell you it's a step in a really creative direction here, but unfortunately the sound doesn't work as well as it could. For one thing, the production is just terrible, as a lot of the embellishments often blend together, while others are often drowned out, to make the tone here sound a lot more samey than it really is. But fortunately, the actual songs strike gold even more often than they do on Priest, with several knockouts and cool ideas to be found on here.
Especially great is the opening track with the ungodly long title of "Talkin' 'Bout The Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues (Everyone Wants To Live Forever)", a phenomenal loud rocker that's just about the perfect song to open a live show with. Fantastic energy, plus it has a couple great vocal hooks as well, most notably a brilliant use of that low backing vocal thing singing a simple but genius 'doo wop wop, doo wop wop, doo wop wop, doooooo....' melody that you will never get out of your head. It's classics of that caliber that definitely make me glad they've figured out how to set their rockers to actual great melodies consistently - "Gingerale Afternoon" (what the Gin Blossoms would sound like with a loud indie rock backing on a really, really good day) and "Frogs" (an absolute mess of violins, guitars and feedback... and infectious melody) would have passed for no more than decent if the hooks were as average as their early work.
Of course, the distracting production quality does take away from the impact of a few otherwise very good songs a bit, most notably the overwhelmingly bass-heavy anthem "The Sun" (despite some excellent Beatles-esque trumpet work in there and another strong melody) and "The Magician Vs. The Headache", which sounds like a catchier and more entertaining but also more badly produced and sometimes irritating take on "God Walks Among Us Now" (the last 20 seconds is really annoying), but the neat textures do shine in other areas. Like when the sound is actually quiet on the closing "Hold Your Head", where the organ, bell and tympani-led mood create a very haunting effect on a song that might otherwise be insubstantial. Or the really hazy 'stoned' atmosphere of "Felt Good To Burn", which might be the weakest song on here, but still has a nice melody and interesting vocal effects to go along with that curious sound.
As for the other more notable great songs besides that "Immortality Blues" ditty that actually push this very close to 8.5 territory, there's "Halloween On The Barbary Coast", probably the most epic song they ever did (though a couple on Zaireeka come kinda close). Combining a huge guitar opening that fits the 'epic' description perfectly and shows up throughout, an exciting rhythmic melody over acoustic guitars, a great feedback-laden middle, and more of Wayne's totally silly lyrics that no one could ever really take seriously, it's definitely fabulous. "You Have To Be Joking (Autopsy Of The Devil's Brain)", meanwhile, is probably their greatest acoustic song, with a creepy, melancholy atmosphere, another top-notch melody, more highly interesting lyrics that claim 'God and the Devil are both the same', and an eerie orchestral sample of Michael Kamen's "Brazil" that somehow fits in seamlessly.
Finally, there's the poppiest song on here in "Hit Me Like You Did The First Time", whose vocal hook isn't quite as fantastically constructed as some claim, but it's still very good, and works well with that heavy main riff and orchestrated chorus. All in all, Hit To Death is an even more inventive display of the Lips' growth than before, with only those production flaws and a couple less impressive tracks really getting in the way (don't worry, they'd get better production later!). But... wait a minute! The album's ended and the CD's still going! [a half hour later] What the hell was that piece of experimental bullshit?? I'm downgrading this album to a 5! Or at least that's what I would be doing if I was a total moron and actually counted 'hidden' extra nonsense some bands like to include on albums against the rating. Please concentrate only on the main body of the CD and not at all on the last 29 minutes.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Slow Nerve Action, Pilot Can At The Queer Of God, Turn It On. LOW POINTS: Plastic Jesus (a.k.a.: *******).
Yet more lineup changes come for the Lips here - unfortunately, Jonathan Donahue has departed, as has Nathan Roberts, but they're replaced with still noisy guitarist Ronald Jones and drummer Steven Drozd respectively. And the production is actually much better this time! More notable than that, though, is that the band actually had a huge hit from here, rendering the album somewhat of a commercial success. However, it was more of a short lived one hit wonder fluke success, and I think it sucks that most people only know the band from "She Don't Use Jelly". It isn't a bad song by any means, but it's a pure dumb novelty tune that uncomfortably sticks out from the rest, and though the melody is very memorable (as is the great guitar line), the absurd parodic lyrics are among Wayne's most stupidly attention drawing, kinda ruining things for me. There are much better examples of their talent than this.
Also, this album seems to getting increasingly more acclaim as one of the best albums of the 90's, which I also don't get. Sure, Transmissions is a very good record, but is it really better than the previous two albums (or next two, for that matter)? I think not. For a supposed 'pop masterpiece', there are several flaws I can see here - their cover of 'that song from Cool Hand Luke' known as "Plastic Jesus" (and indicated with seven stars in the tracklist) is their first truly crap song since Oh My Gawd!!!, an irritating countryish throwaway, and there are a few too many melodies that simply don't thrill me, like their dumb though fun take on glam rock in "Be My Head". Plus Wayne's starting to recycle himself - melodically, "When Yer 22" is pretty much a second-rate "Halloween On The Barbary Coast", only with more 'introspective' lyrics and 'ffffft' noises, and "Superhumans" (while very affecting) ends up sounding like a lesser "Chrome Plated Suicide".
Fortunately, several of the other songs on here rank among their most impressive. The opening "Turn It On" is high quality singalong pop that's actually their least aggressive and most snappy song in this department to this point, at least until it gets to that noisy guitar jam in the last minute. "Pilot Can At The Queer Of God", though, completely throws us into the feedback frenzy again, with completely apocalyptic riffing and jamming among occasional moments of beauty - I haven't the least idea what the song could possibly be about, but the way the 'and now... she's got helicopters! (yes she has)' repeated lines keep going as the music behind it fades out is such an awesome rush. Or what about the gorgeous ballad "Chewin' The Apple Of Your Eye", which doesn't seem like much at first, but that well-written beautiful melody just grips my emotions after awhile, and I can't imagine the song without those vinyl-imitating 'crackles' in the background.
The other songs on the middle of the album, along with the more flawed but still decent to good stuff I mentioned (except for that "Plastic Jesus" crap - never mention it again), are less striking, but they have interesting ideas to grab you. "Oh My Pregnant Head" (yay, more insane song titles) curiously veers from a thudding, quietly sung ballad to sudden loud guitar chords, all with a huge drum sound throughout, and "Moth In The Incubator" has a really neat carnival-style ending that keeps gaining speed, although it really takes awhile to get going from its' unassuming acoustic ballad start. I'm not entirely sure how some of this stuff can be considered really timeless and amazing classics, but they're nice. Just not mindblowing.
The closing "Slow Nerve Action", though, is a mindblowing classic, as repetitive and plodding as it may seem on first couple listens. It is indeed very slow, but this song has some of the loudest drums you'll ever hear on an album, and the sound of that main riff is every bit as massive - if anything, it's the slower tempo making it as incredibly intense as it is. Yet, there's something beautiful about it, from the majesty in the way the vocal melody is sung, and that gorgeous tinkling middle section of nicely flowing guitars as a contrast - it's also the longest song on here at close to 6 minutes, but it doesn't feel nearly that long because it's paced so well. In any case, the song's enough to bump Transmissions up to a low 8 as one of those albums that was misunderstood at the time (because of its' one hit, of course), but it's a bit overhyped now. Still, I definitely recommend buying it, especially if you enjoy any of the surrounding albums.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: The Abandoned Hospital Ship, They Punctured My Yolk, Christmas At The Zoo, Kim's Watermelon Gun, Guy Who Got A Headache And Accidentally Saves The World. LOW POINTS: None.
After the Lips' commercial fortunes went up considerably on the strength of their novelty hit, they just went right back down again when this album didn't do nearly as well as its' predecessor. But the songwriting's a big improvement - although Clouds gets a higher variation of the same rating as its' predecessor, I like it a lot more than Transmissions, as that album's much closer to a 7.5, while this one really borders on 9 territory enough that it might be knocked up that high one day. Sure, both albums have a similar basic sound, but here, I think the melodies are consistently stronger and more likeable than anything they've done before, and this is simply the peak of Wayne as a really happy pop songwriter often writing lyrics from the point of view of a young child - a quality that had been hinted at before, but never this much. This is where the Lips' sound veers much more toward pop, and while the happy mood and similar tone of some of the songs may be offputting at first, give it time, and its' charm can be come irresistible.
This album also contains what I consider to be probably my favorite Lips' track of all time in the opening "The Abandoned Hospital Ship". Like many of their other songs, I have no idea what the lyrics mean, but it has one of the most brilliantly uplifting melodies ever showing up in both the piano and vocal lines as well as the acoustic, which takes things to a whole other level, making every word seem absolutely profound even when it isn't. Plus, that last two minute instrumental section (beginning when the electric guitar comes in) is just glorious, epic bliss. Bells and feedback together have rarely ever sounded so gorgeous. But just because that song stands out for me so much doesn't mean it's the runaway highlight here - Clouds seems to be one of those albums where everyone who loves it seems to have a different favorite track, and that's probably a great sign.
For all the lighter pop songwriting here, for instance, there are still a few tracks that hint at the band's noisy, dynamic roots. I can see fans who really dug the older sound preferring "Psychiatric Explorations Of The Fetus With Needles", which goes from slow, swooping intro to more fast paced feedback-heavy rocker effortlessly, all with excellent aggression, melody and lyrical craziness. Or maybe "Kim's Watermelon Gun", which actually has two awesome guitar riffs being played at once, more intriguing lyrics, and a gorgeous 'it's the concsciousness of looooooove' chorus exploding out in wonderful harmony. Some even think the slow apocalyptic melody of "Lightning Strikes The Postman" stands out most, and though that one strikes me as more of a great quintessential album track that's much cooler to experience after hearing the songs before it first, that's where the value of differing opinions comes in.
A huge amount of the album's personality, though, come in the songs where Wayne the young observant child comes to the forefront. I can see where his by now really nasaly voice might get annoying combined with those lyrics, but to me at its' best this stuff is incredibly beautiful. I just can't resist "Christmas At The Zoo", a simultaneously funny and genuinely moving narrative about Wayne wanting to free the animals at the zoo from their cages - together with that familiar but brilliantly flowing melody, it's probably the most heartwarming Lips song ever. Or the pretty good bass and acoustic guitar-led pure pop of "This Here Giraffe" (another top-shelf melody and fun backing vocals). Or in "Placebo Headwound" where he asks 'where does ouuuuter spaaaaace end' and then later follows that up with 'and if God hears all my questions, how come there's never an answer?'.
Oh, and there's also the entertaining highlight "Guy Who Got A Headache And Accidentally Saves The World", a catchy tale of someone who 'saved the world and destroyed his ever enlarging brain in the process' with another fantastic melody and that hilarious 'yeah!' part where the low backing vocal comes in again. You do realize how much I love that effect, right? Also interesting is "Brainville", where it goes from introspective acoustic song to a bizarre chorus of odd guitar noises and another guitar riff that sounds like a saxophone. "Evil Will Prevail", meanwhile, is about as relaxing an acoustic number as a song with that title could possibly be, and "They Punctured My Yolk" is amazingly majestic, really bringing to mind the feel of space travel without any real gimmicks in the sound, only marching drums, inventive guitar lines/noises, and a gorgeously rising and affecting melody almost as fantastic as "Hospital Ship".
Simply put, this is the finest Lips collection you can get on a single disc. It isn't quite perfect - "When You Smile" pretty much always escapes me every time, and other than the lyrics and ending I can say the same for the aformentioned "Placebo Headwound" as well. Plus, the closing "Bad Days" seems a bit more routine and tacked on compared to the rest, and sometimes you have to be in the right mood to get the most enjoyment out of this record, or else the childish happiness might be a little irritating. But those are about all the possible complaints I have against this, and I really recommend it as a possible first purchase from the band (it was mine). And remember what I said about possibly knocking it up to a 9 one day...
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Riding To Work In The Year 2025 (Your Invisible Now), Thirty Five Thousand Feet Of Despair, March Of The Rotten Vegetables, The Big Ol' Bug Is The New Baby Now. LOW POINTS: None.
The period in between Clouds and this album was a pretty chaotic time for the Lips, to say the least. Ronald Jones left, reducing the band to a trio once again, Steven Drozd nearly had his arm amputated from a spider bite, and Michael Ivins nearly died in a car crash. Meanwhile, Wayne was attempting a grandiose project dubbed 'The Parking Lot Experiment', in which he played several tapes (each containing different sounds) in 50 different cars simultaneously, but they would get slightly out of sync each time. He goes into more detail in the liner notes here, but as a basic rundown this experiment provided him with a really interesting idea - an album which is made up of 4 compact discs, each meant to be played simultaneously on 2, 3, or 4 CD players (with different instruments, sounds and melodies on each one, though the main melodies are often on the first CD, so be sure to always use that one) and essentially allowing the listener to have their own surround-sound experience with whatever combination they choose, pushing forward the limits of the format in the process.
This entire idea might sound like a mere gimmick to those of you who haven't actually heard this (especially if you don't have 4 CD players), and in a sense, it is. It definitely can be a terrible inconvenience to set up everything and get the players relatively even with each other, and as a result of these things, it's probably hard to listen to very often. But how can I help it if the actual result sounds absolutely mindblowing once you do? There are so many awesome embellishments in the mix coming right at you from all sides that I wouldn't even know where to start, and even better, due to the players often getting out of sync, and the endless amount of CD combinations you can come up with (not only all four, but you can also play, as an example, CD1 and CD3 at once), it's like you can listen to a different Zaireeka each time you play it. Now how friggin' great is that?
I also feel kinda weird naming this as my choice for best Lips album ever, since it is a gimmick that not just everyone can listen to, but I think the actual songs here very much live up to the sound themselves as well, enough that I might have even given this a 10 were it not for that inconvenience thing and that certain albums blow me away just as much if not more with only one disc. The songs are a lot longer than usual for the band (8 of them in 45 minutes), often treading toward a very atmospheric and layered direction very rarely heard in their music before (and quite often since) but it suits the format perfectly - there are a few points where they might seem overly chaotic (either the CDs being out of sync, or sections that are just made that way), but quite often a vocal or instrumental melody appears to bring all the discs together seamlessly, and those moments are made all the more satisfying.
Seeing as I've gone three paragraphs without discussing any of the actual songs, I'll probably do so now. I won't go into that much detail over everything that happens in the mix, but there are a few aspects of these songs that really stand out to me. "Okay I'll Admit That I Really Don't Understand", for instance, is built on a simple repeated piano chord and perhaps Michael Ivins' best bassline ever, with all these great harmony and sound effect embellishments over it to perfectly get the concept started. "A Machine In India" has a simple but brilliant acoustic chord progression, with curious lyrics like 'the Syrian missile guides itself into the vagina', and layers upon layers of orchestrated sound that 'hover' over each other for most of its' 10 minutes, and "The Train Runs Over The Camel But Is Derailed By The Gnat".... that's the one with all the gorgeous pipe organs going at once, and that beautiful guitar-driven intro! And these aren't even highlights!
Nope, my favorite would be the futuristic tale "Riding To Work In The Year 2025 (Your Invisible Now)", with dark jazzy orchestration and piano, guitar lines, horns, all sorts of sound effects interweaving with each other and a paranoia theme in the lyrics, but more importantly, in the middle of the song, there are four different voices screaming at you from all sides. God, that's probably one of the most chilling musical moments in my listening experience, and I love those glorious 'your invisible now' harmonies as well. But really almost as great is the unbelievably majestic "Thirty Five Thousand Feet Of Despair", a creepy story of a pilot who hangs himself during a flight, told from the point of view of a news reporter witnessing the landing. This piece hits upon the perfect epic melody and the layers of sound are at their most dense (with twisted vocal effects, plane noises, orhcestration and such), making the sheer majesty even more stunning.
This thing even has a mini-symphony of sorts in "March Of The Rotten Vegetables", where a dramatically building theme turns into a huge barrage of drum 'solos' or something to that effect (just imagine 4 CDs playing drum patterns at once and you'll get what I'm talking about), and even a happy child-like piece in the closing "The Big Ol' Bug Is The New Baby Now", which merges uplifting backing music and sound effects from Wayne's backyard with a hilariously corny, but truly heartwarming, spoken word story about a dog's chew toy and a massive chorus of voices on each disc. And there's that really nice "How Will We Know" pop ballad that's supposed to give you a headache and can make you feel disoriented with its' extreme high and low frequencies! Hooray for creativity!
Anyway, this is an album you should definitely try to experience one way or another, whether it be from going to a 'Zaireeka party' with friends bringing their own CD players, listening to it in your own home the traditional surround sound way, or even on headphones in MP3 format with 3 or 4 players going on at once (a really, really cool approach to doing it). There are actually a few sites out there that offer tips on the best ways to experiment with listening to the whole package, so looking up one of those might be a good idea. However, even though I give it the highest rating of any Lips album (hey, I really think it deserves it - the quality is that high), I would not recommend it as a first purchase, as it's mostly just a side experiment that shows their arranging talents a lot more than their typical songwriting talents. Even if you should get it eventually - this is probably the best damn 'gimmick' album ever.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Race For The Prize, Feeling Yourself Disintegrate, A Spoonful Weighs A Ton, The Spiderbite Song. LOW POINTS: The Gash, Suddenly Everything Has Changed.
Back to the single disc format we go, but that's not the most noticeable difference here. Zaireeka might not have seemed too drastic of a shift in style because of its' side experiment nature, but with this album it becomes apparent to an almost offputting extent how much the Lips' sound really has changed since Clouds Taste Metallic. The same band who did aggressive feedback workouts like "Unconsciously Screamin'" and "Pilot Can At The Queer Of God" is now doing orchestral pop with sentimental lyrics, big production and hardly any instances of 'rocking out' to be found? The material seems to have slipped a bit as well - the melodies are still very nice, though I get the feeling snatches of them seem recycled, and the overall lush mood wears on me as the album goes on, plus the sound seems too flat and bass-heavy to me, not allowing the 'fake' orchestral sounds the amount of power they deserve.
Yeah, this effort in my opinion might be a bit of a step down from the previous five, but it still has quite a bit going for it. The lyrics are arguably Wayne's most personal and heartfelt ever, and together with the exquisite instrumental arrangements, it's probably the most emotionally resonant experience you can get with this band. Not to mention the first half is a pretty darn excellent stretch of music, with the opening story of two scientists "Race For The Prize" being the sound at its' most brilliant - its' symphonic opening merges perfectly with the booming drums (which are actually one of the highest mixed instruments), relaxing acoustic guitars, and affecting broken up melody ('they're... just... hu-mans... with wiiiives aaaand chiiilllldren...'). "A Spoonful Weighs A Ton" is another immaculately written personal masterpiece - the point in which the vocal melody and orchestration seems to rise into space is astonishing, and I love those powerful instrumental breaks with interplay between the synths, guitar and crashing drums.
Elsewhere on this half, there's the slow and aching epic "The Spark That Bled", with the great opening lines 'I accidentally touched my hand, and noticed that I had been bleeding', a majestic atmosphere, and a brief but satisfying shift to an uptempo part. Ooh, and I also adore "The Spiderbite Song", essentially Wayne's heartfelt tribute to his bandmates (see the beginning of the Zaireeka review to figure out the lyrical references), with not only gorgeous lyrics and ending, but after each line in the verse there's a really friggin' cool drum pattern that I wish I could transcribe. "Buggin'" is also a nice pop tune whose blend of instrumentation and harmonies in the beginning instantly brings to mind bugs gathering together at a light, and "What Is The Light?" has beautiful melodies, neat echoing piano, and a great lyrical perspective - the chemical in our brains that causes us to feel the sensation of love is the same one that created the universe!
Actually, the first half of the album is nearly as great as the initial half of Priest (the best side of Lips music ever), but sadly, the second half is... umm... somewhat underwhelming. Case in point - what the heck were they trying to accomplish with "The Gash"? Other than a really ugly wall of harmony sound that's attached to a subpar vocal hook and an unbearably dull tempo? I also find "Suddenly Everything Has Changed" kinda ehh - it attempts to merge three disparate parts together (bass-heavy rockin' with stupid lyrics, slow and dull orchestration, and some sort of waltzy part) that simply don't work. In addition, the instrumental "The Observer" actually has a nice ambient feel, but that constantly pounding bass drum sound is very distracting, and the ballad "Waitin' For A Superman", while at least pretty and memorable, has a dull tone to it in the instrumentation and singing that I don't find very emotionally striking.
So is there actually anything really worthwhile on the second half? Well, thankfully, "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate" returns us to the emotional highs of before, with an incredibly depressing feel not just in the lyrics ('life without death is just impossible...'), but also the affectingly somber music and odd 'brap brap brap' sort of backing vocal hook. It also attains quite a bit of power once it gets to its' repeated coda, and coupled with the equally as hopeless sounding melancholy of the closing instrumental "Sleeping On The Roof", it basically leaves the whole album with no light at the end of the tunnel (unless you want to count those two remixes / alternate versions tacked on at the end). Anyway, The Soft Bulletin is definitely the Lips' most inconsistent effort, as the sound and songs don't always work, but even so, there's a lot of beauty and creativity here as well, not to mention a few more of those great songs to add to their catalog.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Fight Test, Do You Realize??. LOW POINTS: Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 2, Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell, It's Summertime.
Ugh, what a disappointment this is! Well, I guess a stretch of very good to excellent efforts can't continue forever, and it's important to note that a lot of people seem to really love this album (to the point of it being held as one of the best albums of the year in several critical circles). More power to them, but as for me, I want to stress that I really don't like the musical direction into mellow electronic pop they're heading here, and I'm hoping it's just a misstep. You know, I have nothing against electronic music when it's done well, but I feel very uncomfortable with the Lips' approach to the genre. These songs have so many inappropriately placed, trendy sounding bleeps and bloops, hip hop style rhythms and embellishments that often bug the crap out of me, especially when they're 'complemented' with often dull melodies and dreary lyrics about death sung by Wayne like he's so bored and defeated, and that just makes me sad.
I don't even know how to start discussing these songs, since they mostly frustrate me. I mean, this isn't a horrible album, not by any means, as there's not that much bad, but when those weaknesses I mentioned seem to cloud a lot of songs on here, it can't help but be mediocre. Oh, and this is actually a loose concept album about, well, some Japanese girl named Yoshimi battling pink robots, though that really only covers the first four songs. Not only is it a cartoonish concept, but we also get obnoxious crowd cheering and pretentious sound effects to make it even worse. At least the opening "Fight Test" is bouncy and somewhat entertaining, with a really fun starry eyed chorus ('I don't know where the sunbeams end and the starlights begin, it's all a myster-eeeeeeeee....'), though while very good, it's hardly a brilliant classic. Then again, it is the best song on here. And it rips off Cat Stevens' "Father And Son". Crap!
As for the other songs in the 'concept', the bass and keyboard-led "One More Robot" is reasonably nice, with a moving orchestrated ending and Wayne exhibiting a good vocal range, though the actual sound of it isn't much more appealing than the others. Then there's the two part title track, where things start to get very mixed. Part one? Nicely catchy, peaceful acoustic based song that shoots itself in the foot by repeating its' chorus way too many times. Part two? A horrid instrumental that's by far the worst thing the Lips have ever put to tape, with awful, awful keyboard sounds,.electronic vomiting noises and screaming throughout. And unfortunately, it's that 'song' which sends the album into mediocrity it only occasionally escapes from, beginning with the okay, but unmemorable multi-part nothing of "In The Morning Of The Magicians", bleak electronic soundscapes, ho-hum acoustic verses, and average melody in all.
Most of the rest is barely worth mentioning. I feel almost bad for bashing the album as much as I do and calling it my least favorite Lips release, because a lot of work clearly went into the subtleties of these songs, but I just don't find stuff like "Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell" or "It's Summertime" appealing at all. Never have the band's pop melodies sounded so generic and bland, and when the tone of the music or vocals doesn't resonate with me in the least, I can't buy into the dreary 'death themed' stuff here. There are other moments here that I find promise in - "Are You A Hypnotist??" has some of Steven Drozd's best drumming, but that's about all this otherwise dull song has going for it, and the second instrumental "Approaching Pavonis Mons By Balloon" at least ends the album on an uplifting note, unlike The Soft Bulletin, but it's just, you know, there. So naturally, it won a Grammy! Figures.
In any case, in this half of the album only the grandiose single "Do You Realize??" manages to really captivate me, mostly because the opening harmonies and vocal hooks are actually somewhat memorable and moving (not to mention the lyrics like 'you realize the sun don't go down / it's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round'), but like "Fight Test", I wouldn't really put it on the same level as the band's other classics. Again, my criticism of Yoshimi might be more due to the sound not appealing to me at all personally, as a lot of people do love it, but that doesn't help my disappointment any, coming off the last several albums. I'm reeeeeally hoping this continuing journey into mellowness doesn't totally destroy the band for good.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: After The Gold Rush, Jesus Shootin' Heroin (live). LOW POINTS: Communication Breakdown.
To put it simply, the existence of a package like this is really convenient for listeners interested in exploring the Lips' work in their early years - a 3 CD reissue containing the first EP, the first three full length albums, and 16 bonus tracks, close to four hours worth of material that usually sells for around $25 or so. Hey, isn't that more or less like buying four or five albums and getting two of them for free? That's not half bad! Oh, not that you'll find much essential here, as you can probably gather from my reviews of the early albums, but still, it's an incredibly easy way for reviewers like me to get this stuff without spending too much cash, and I've personally never seen any of these albums around separately before. Plus, it's got some nicely detailed liner notes, featuring Wayne talking about the circumstances surrounding these times, and Steven recounting his experiences with listening to the Lips' albums in the late 80's well before he joined up.
Since I already discussed the actual albums presented here already, there's no point in going over them again, so I'll jump right to the bonuses. To tell you the truth, though, most of them aren't really revelatory - disc one is particularly empty in this respect, featuring primitively performed garage band versions of the "Batman Theme" and The Who's "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere", the punk-meets-harmonica of "Killer On The Radio" and some other cover called "Handsome Johnny". And on disc two we have the unmemorable "Groove Room", Mark Coyne singing demos of stuff Wayne would end up singing (witness as he renders "Jesus Shootin' Heroin" even duller, for instance), a more intense, but poorly recorded, live version of "One Million Billionth Of A Millisecond On A Sunday Morning", and a rendition of Led Zeppelin's "Communication Breakdown" that's so awful in its' amateurishness it's almost truly funny.
Disc three's bonuses are better, though. Sure, there's still pointless inclusions (a remix of "Can't Stop The Spring", a dragging slow version of "My Own Planet" mixed with "Staring At Sound", and "Death Tripping At Sunrise", whose only purpose is as background noise for the listener as they're supposed to read Wayne's twisted little story in the liner notes), but there's also a couple gems. The live version of "Jesus Shootin' Heroin" here has a lot more intensity than before, especially when the 'ahhh' is screamed (plus the first part of "UFO Story" inserted in there is a neat addition), and there's a gorgeous cover of Neil Young's "After The Gold Rush" that almost sounds like a Lips classic in itself. And the other covers, Sonic Youth's "Death Valley '69" and an abridged take on Zep's "Thank You" (yeah, on the same package with a song that has a subtitle of "Fuck Led Zeppelin" - strange, isn't it?) ain't half bad either. Hey, even without these extra tracks, this is still the best way to get acquainted with the Lips' early history if you don't have these albums. Get the 90's ones first, though, of course.
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