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I had fallen off of listening to the Lips as they decided to just become a children's novelty band (with occasional same-sounding spacey ballads), but this new one sounds like the non-poppy songs off of In a Priest Driven Ambulance. Not sure if that's a good thing or not. Midway through and this one sounds like a grower at best.
Full Album Stream from NPR:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113403123
Showing posts with label Flaming Lips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flaming Lips. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Friday, February 06, 2009
Freak Out vol. 7: The Mainstream
First things first, as promised:
“Hey is that the Flaming Lips?”
“Well it’s not Michael Bolton.”
For a band that has released Zaireeka, made a movie in their backyard featuring an army of marching vaginas, and done more acid than most of us could ever dream of, this remains one of the weirdest moments in their career. You really, really should watch it.
TRANSMISSIONS FROM THE SATELLITE HEART (1993)
This is the point that a lot of people, myself included, check into the Lips chronology. I remember hearing “She Don’t Use Jelly,” being intrigued by its odd qualities, and stumbling across the disc in a used record bin for $7 in Ohio. I bought and, and, well, it hooked me. I’m listening to that very copy right now.
To get the bio stuff out of the way – at this point we’ve lost Donahue and Roberts. They were replaced (respectively) by guitarist Ronald Jones and, of course, drummer Steven Drozd. This is the line-up that in many ways I still think of when I consider the Lips as a unit. Drozd in particular is a massively important addition to the band, as his drumming is just head and shoulders above anything they’ve had previously. When he really cuts lose (like at the end of “Slow Nerve Action”) you can see that he adds that one final missing element to the band – the kind of thing you didn’t even notice was missing, but once it’s there it’s so obvious. I mean, come on, listen to this thing:
Awesome.
Overall, it’s taken my awhile to hear this album as something other than “the album with ‘She Don’t Use Jelly’ on it.” But, that song removed, it’s another really strong album that continues the direction they’ve been going in. They really push that crazy, frenetic joy sound here that they started on Hit to Death – take a listen to something like “Turn It On” for that endless joy that made these guys a nice change of pace from your Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden world. Of course, at the same time, they are able to maintain their freaky weirdness. Again, “Turn It On” has a great simple pop structure, but then really runs off the rails (in the best possible way) at the end, and lets their early drug years seep in.
Sometimes those freaky elements do get in the way though. “Oh My Pregnant Head (Labia in the Sunlight…)” is a pretty drab spacey number and, on retrospect, shows the kind of slow, spacey pace that characterizes much of their current sound. But that’s an exception. More often, they find a great balance. Fridmann in particular really shines here, as he has mastered that full on wall of sound. There’s just so much going on in each song, but he still keeps it all under control – the way the main guitar lick in “Pilot Can at The Queer of God” becomes more and more prominent each time is just a great example.
Of course, then there’s “She Don’s Use Jelly.” I’m not really sure what to say about this one. It’s the kind of song that I can’t even listen to it as just a regular song on the album – when it comes on it’s like everything just stops for a moment, we hear this single, then we’re back to the album. That’s not a condemnation of it or how it fits in, it just has such a life of its own that it’s hard to evaluate. I will say this – it’s a mighty fun song still to this day, and it is the first time they really nail that quiet verse/loud chorus structure they’ve always toyed with. It’s not completely different from everything else, but remains a bit of an anomaly in their catalog – more of a novelty song than normal. The fact that they never really tried to recapture that novelty hit says a lot about them. I don’t know though – what’s your take on this song?
I leave you with one bit of miscellany – the totally fantastic “Turn It On (Bluegrass Version)” from the “She Don’t Use Jelly” single. Listen to it – love it.
"Turn It On (Bluegrass Version)"
“Hey is that the Flaming Lips?”
“Well it’s not Michael Bolton.”
For a band that has released Zaireeka, made a movie in their backyard featuring an army of marching vaginas, and done more acid than most of us could ever dream of, this remains one of the weirdest moments in their career. You really, really should watch it.
TRANSMISSIONS FROM THE SATELLITE HEART (1993)
This is the point that a lot of people, myself included, check into the Lips chronology. I remember hearing “She Don’t Use Jelly,” being intrigued by its odd qualities, and stumbling across the disc in a used record bin for $7 in Ohio. I bought and, and, well, it hooked me. I’m listening to that very copy right now.
To get the bio stuff out of the way – at this point we’ve lost Donahue and Roberts. They were replaced (respectively) by guitarist Ronald Jones and, of course, drummer Steven Drozd. This is the line-up that in many ways I still think of when I consider the Lips as a unit. Drozd in particular is a massively important addition to the band, as his drumming is just head and shoulders above anything they’ve had previously. When he really cuts lose (like at the end of “Slow Nerve Action”) you can see that he adds that one final missing element to the band – the kind of thing you didn’t even notice was missing, but once it’s there it’s so obvious. I mean, come on, listen to this thing:
Awesome.
Overall, it’s taken my awhile to hear this album as something other than “the album with ‘She Don’t Use Jelly’ on it.” But, that song removed, it’s another really strong album that continues the direction they’ve been going in. They really push that crazy, frenetic joy sound here that they started on Hit to Death – take a listen to something like “Turn It On” for that endless joy that made these guys a nice change of pace from your Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden world. Of course, at the same time, they are able to maintain their freaky weirdness. Again, “Turn It On” has a great simple pop structure, but then really runs off the rails (in the best possible way) at the end, and lets their early drug years seep in.
Sometimes those freaky elements do get in the way though. “Oh My Pregnant Head (Labia in the Sunlight…)” is a pretty drab spacey number and, on retrospect, shows the kind of slow, spacey pace that characterizes much of their current sound. But that’s an exception. More often, they find a great balance. Fridmann in particular really shines here, as he has mastered that full on wall of sound. There’s just so much going on in each song, but he still keeps it all under control – the way the main guitar lick in “Pilot Can at The Queer of God” becomes more and more prominent each time is just a great example.
Of course, then there’s “She Don’s Use Jelly.” I’m not really sure what to say about this one. It’s the kind of song that I can’t even listen to it as just a regular song on the album – when it comes on it’s like everything just stops for a moment, we hear this single, then we’re back to the album. That’s not a condemnation of it or how it fits in, it just has such a life of its own that it’s hard to evaluate. I will say this – it’s a mighty fun song still to this day, and it is the first time they really nail that quiet verse/loud chorus structure they’ve always toyed with. It’s not completely different from everything else, but remains a bit of an anomaly in their catalog – more of a novelty song than normal. The fact that they never really tried to recapture that novelty hit says a lot about them. I don’t know though – what’s your take on this song?
I leave you with one bit of miscellany – the totally fantastic “Turn It On (Bluegrass Version)” from the “She Don’t Use Jelly” single. Listen to it – love it.
"Turn It On (Bluegrass Version)"
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Freak Out vol. 6: The Warner Years Begin
So, after the glories of In a Priest Driven Ambulance, our lovable heroes were improbably signed to Warner Bros. and set to make their major label debut. But first, they popped out a quick EP with the awesome title Yeah, I Know It’s a Drag… But Wastin’ Pigs Is Still Radical. Alas, this is now out of print and one of the few Lips items I do not own. Boo. If by some freak chance any of you own this, let me know. On we go…
HIT TO DEATH IN THE FUTURE HEAD (1992)
I mentioned earlier that there were a few Lips albums I knew less than others, and this is one of them. It fills a weird spot for them as it continues the sound of Ambulance, but is unquestionably a part of their happyacidhippie middle period.
First things first – this is a really REALLY good album. I have given it the shaft over the years, and I regret that. I can’t get behind Eric’s claim that it is better than Ambulance – in reality it doesn’t even compare. Despite being the same line-up, the sound is completely different. Something like “Hit Me Like You Did the First Time” sounds exactly like the upcoming Transmission sound. Donahue’s sound is far less obvious here, which makes sense considering he (and drummer Nathan Roberts) left after this was released.
What this album ends up being is a surprisingly unique sound in their catalogue. A song like “Gingerale Afternoon (The Astrology of a Saturday)” sounds just so unlike them in nearly every way. It’s the kind of thing that would fit in perfectly on a dozen Pitchfork-pimped albums to come out in the last year or two. But it is a great song in its unique un-Lips-y way. It captures this great sense of just limitless joy that the band has always had, but takes on a whole new meaning on their major label debut. This song more than any other on here seems to mark that the 9 minute heady, murky sound is (for now at least) over, replaced by a happy, smiling worldview that just makes you thrilled to be on the journey. Truly you feel that the sky’s the limit here, and that’s a great thought to have.
Of course, no discussion of this album would be complete without mentioning the *ahem* bonus track. 29 minutes of a 40 second discordant loop repeated again and again and again. I listened to it in its entirety when I first bought the album, and actually tried to do so again for this review, but gave up after 5 minutes. I hope you do not question my dedication. Lack of musical quality aside, this is a pretty amusing little way to toy with the CD format that was developing at the time, and I don’t think it would be inaccurate to say that same mentality would eventually lead them to Zaireeka.
Next time: Beverly Hills 90210? Really?!
HIT TO DEATH IN THE FUTURE HEAD (1992)
I mentioned earlier that there were a few Lips albums I knew less than others, and this is one of them. It fills a weird spot for them as it continues the sound of Ambulance, but is unquestionably a part of their happyacidhippie middle period.
First things first – this is a really REALLY good album. I have given it the shaft over the years, and I regret that. I can’t get behind Eric’s claim that it is better than Ambulance – in reality it doesn’t even compare. Despite being the same line-up, the sound is completely different. Something like “Hit Me Like You Did the First Time” sounds exactly like the upcoming Transmission sound. Donahue’s sound is far less obvious here, which makes sense considering he (and drummer Nathan Roberts) left after this was released.
What this album ends up being is a surprisingly unique sound in their catalogue. A song like “Gingerale Afternoon (The Astrology of a Saturday)” sounds just so unlike them in nearly every way. It’s the kind of thing that would fit in perfectly on a dozen Pitchfork-pimped albums to come out in the last year or two. But it is a great song in its unique un-Lips-y way. It captures this great sense of just limitless joy that the band has always had, but takes on a whole new meaning on their major label debut. This song more than any other on here seems to mark that the 9 minute heady, murky sound is (for now at least) over, replaced by a happy, smiling worldview that just makes you thrilled to be on the journey. Truly you feel that the sky’s the limit here, and that’s a great thought to have.
Of course, no discussion of this album would be complete without mentioning the *ahem* bonus track. 29 minutes of a 40 second discordant loop repeated again and again and again. I listened to it in its entirety when I first bought the album, and actually tried to do so again for this review, but gave up after 5 minutes. I hope you do not question my dedication. Lack of musical quality aside, this is a pretty amusing little way to toy with the CD format that was developing at the time, and I don’t think it would be inaccurate to say that same mentality would eventually lead them to Zaireeka.
Next time: Beverly Hills 90210? Really?!
Flaming Lips sidebar
A quick aside on the Lips project to report that they are doing the soundtrack for an upcoming documentary on Mushrooms. Odd. Now, they're last soundtrack (for someone else, not Christmas on Mars) was Okei Noodling, which wasn't so hot. But they have a song from this now on their MySpace and, well, it's mighty good. It is absolutely worth a listen, as it definitely opens the door to a possible and much needed change of pace in their music. Check it out here - it's the first song "Anything You Say Now I Believe You."
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Freak Out vol. 5: The Big One
I have to admit, I’ve been putting off writing this a bit. Why? Because this album is awesome. Silly awesome. I fear not doing it justice. But the project must trek on!
So after Telepathic Surgery there were some important personnel changes in the band. Drummer Richard English split from the band, leaving only Wayne and Michael behind (which makes you realize those last albums were just 3 people and Wayne as the only guitarist – amazing). They replaced him with Nathan Roberts, but far more importantly added 2 new members. First, guitarist Jonathan Donohue, now of Mercury Rev. I shared this with Q and Tex this weekend - I always knew Donahue went on to be in Mercury Rev but am not a big fan of theirs so just assumed he was the Rev guitarist. Nope – he’s the singer. That bizarre, freaked out dude who fronts Mercury Rev who is strong in his dreams? That’s the guy. Along with Donahue they added another future Mercury Rev member in producer Dave Fridmann. They new line up played some shows, felt good, and headed into the studio. And…
IN A PRIEST DRIVEN AMBULANCE (1990)
It seems obvious to say, but what immediately jumps out at you here is the production. Fridmann is one of those George Martin-esque producers where the band without him is just not the same band. Best example of this is on “Mountain Side” a great song that easily could have fit on earlier album, but the difference in production here is insane. He pulls the vocals to the front and makes them sound crisp and clear. He allows that background chaos that has always been a staple of the Lips, but manages to control that chaos in a new way, choosing the moments that burst through – namely the vocals, and that tight, short, but great Donohue guitar solo.
This sense of controlling the chaos can also be seen on “Stand in Line” – which fills the position of spacey freak out, but this time it’s down to 4 minutes instead of 9 and is much the better for it.
So, with some time freed up, they get to take a more standard song and push it up to soaring heights. The result is “Five Stop Mother Superior Rain” which blows everything they’d done before (and a lot of what they’ve done since) out of the water. Just an amazing epic song that captures all the beauty and dissonance this band offers, plus their weird take on religion, the power of the universe, and all the great stuff that makes this band who they are. In a lot of ways, this one song is the turning point for the band – the point where they discover just how beautiful their music can be, without sacrificing any of their oddness. This idea is reinforced on the closing cover of “What a Wonderful World”, which again captures that sense of beauty, particularly through a great high guitar line during the first chorus.
If for some reason you don’t own this, here’s “Five Stop”
There are a ton of highlights on this album: “Unconsciously Screamin’”, which is their great “single” from the album and really pulls them into the state of great modern alternative music rather than 70s influence; “God Walks Among Us Now”, a high energy quick thrill ride, “Shine on Sweet Jesus” – the perfect album opener. Really it’s all amazing, but I’m rambling.
The point is, you must own this album – there’s just no reason not to. I would be interested to hear some of your takes, so perhaps will hold off for now…
One last small note – my version is the 2 disc set that came out a few years back and includes The Mushroom Tapes, an album of demos for Ambulance recorded without Fridmann or English. It’s nothing great, but a fascinating look at how much the production adds here. One highlight though is Donohue singing prominent backing vocals on “Five Stop Mother Superior Rain”, and suddenly you hear that yes, this is Mercury Rev’s singer. Very odd.
So after Telepathic Surgery there were some important personnel changes in the band. Drummer Richard English split from the band, leaving only Wayne and Michael behind (which makes you realize those last albums were just 3 people and Wayne as the only guitarist – amazing). They replaced him with Nathan Roberts, but far more importantly added 2 new members. First, guitarist Jonathan Donohue, now of Mercury Rev. I shared this with Q and Tex this weekend - I always knew Donahue went on to be in Mercury Rev but am not a big fan of theirs so just assumed he was the Rev guitarist. Nope – he’s the singer. That bizarre, freaked out dude who fronts Mercury Rev who is strong in his dreams? That’s the guy. Along with Donahue they added another future Mercury Rev member in producer Dave Fridmann. They new line up played some shows, felt good, and headed into the studio. And…
IN A PRIEST DRIVEN AMBULANCE (1990)
It seems obvious to say, but what immediately jumps out at you here is the production. Fridmann is one of those George Martin-esque producers where the band without him is just not the same band. Best example of this is on “Mountain Side” a great song that easily could have fit on earlier album, but the difference in production here is insane. He pulls the vocals to the front and makes them sound crisp and clear. He allows that background chaos that has always been a staple of the Lips, but manages to control that chaos in a new way, choosing the moments that burst through – namely the vocals, and that tight, short, but great Donohue guitar solo.
This sense of controlling the chaos can also be seen on “Stand in Line” – which fills the position of spacey freak out, but this time it’s down to 4 minutes instead of 9 and is much the better for it.
So, with some time freed up, they get to take a more standard song and push it up to soaring heights. The result is “Five Stop Mother Superior Rain” which blows everything they’d done before (and a lot of what they’ve done since) out of the water. Just an amazing epic song that captures all the beauty and dissonance this band offers, plus their weird take on religion, the power of the universe, and all the great stuff that makes this band who they are. In a lot of ways, this one song is the turning point for the band – the point where they discover just how beautiful their music can be, without sacrificing any of their oddness. This idea is reinforced on the closing cover of “What a Wonderful World”, which again captures that sense of beauty, particularly through a great high guitar line during the first chorus.
If for some reason you don’t own this, here’s “Five Stop”
There are a ton of highlights on this album: “Unconsciously Screamin’”, which is their great “single” from the album and really pulls them into the state of great modern alternative music rather than 70s influence; “God Walks Among Us Now”, a high energy quick thrill ride, “Shine on Sweet Jesus” – the perfect album opener. Really it’s all amazing, but I’m rambling.
The point is, you must own this album – there’s just no reason not to. I would be interested to hear some of your takes, so perhaps will hold off for now…
One last small note – my version is the 2 disc set that came out a few years back and includes The Mushroom Tapes, an album of demos for Ambulance recorded without Fridmann or English. It’s nothing great, but a fascinating look at how much the production adds here. One highlight though is Donohue singing prominent backing vocals on “Five Stop Mother Superior Rain”, and suddenly you hear that yes, this is Mercury Rev’s singer. Very odd.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Freak Out vol. 4: End of the Early Years...
TELEPATHIC SURGERY (1988)
This is one of two Lips albums that, for whatever reason, I just don’t listen to as much and am not as familiar with. Some years back I made a mix of the highlights from their pre-Ambulance material, titled, nerdily and pretentiously, All That I Know is My Mind is Blown OR As Diarrhea Smears the Space Bible, and when craving early Lips I’ve tended to reach for that instead of an actual album. So this one in particular has always gotten the shaft.
Listening to it now, about halfway through I was ready to write it off as largely disposable. That first half does have “Chrome Plated Suicide”, which is great and a very effortless sounding pop song – but that’s about it.
Then at the half way mark you get “Hell’s Angels Cracker Factory.” Well, part of it. See this was originally conceived as a 30 minute concept album sound collage. For whatever reason, the band decided to pull back from that and release an actual album. But this track contains 3 minutes from that original collage concept (there’s also a 23 minute version out there on vinyl which I must track down). And man – it’s awesome. I mean, it’s a completely ridiculous jumble of sounds, but it’s glorious. Heartbreaking to know that this was the plan for the entire album, and I do wonder why those plans changed – these guys certainly aren’t the type to edit themselves in that way normally.
After that, you get the equally bizarre “U.F.O. Story”, about half of which is just Wayne druggily telling a story about seeing a U.F.O. with no music backing him. But then it launches into this shockingly cool piano solo that is unlike anything they’ve done before (or, in some ways, since). It’s just this haunting, lovely piano only melody that goes on for about 2 minutes. And all of a sudden, after 3 albums of craziness, you see that these are real honest to God musicians buried behind these levels of fuzz. I’m including all of “U.F.O. Story” here. I wouldn’t begrudge you skipping the story intro, but I strongly urge you to listen from about 4:20 on for the piano part.
U.F.O. Story
Things never reach that high point again, though there is some other good stuff in the 2nd half including a swank harmonica bit in “Redneck School of Technology” (which is in the video below) and beautiful, lush, emotional build at the end of “Begs and Achin’” to close out the album.
In the end, much of this is pretty forgettable, but the highlights are obvious experiments that pay off spectacularly. The bummer of this album is that they didn’t take that experimentation as far as they considered, and ended up with something a bit watered down compared to the other early material.
But no matter, because just after this they got a new drummer, new guitarist, new producer, and everything changed...
This is one of two Lips albums that, for whatever reason, I just don’t listen to as much and am not as familiar with. Some years back I made a mix of the highlights from their pre-Ambulance material, titled, nerdily and pretentiously, All That I Know is My Mind is Blown OR As Diarrhea Smears the Space Bible, and when craving early Lips I’ve tended to reach for that instead of an actual album. So this one in particular has always gotten the shaft.
Listening to it now, about halfway through I was ready to write it off as largely disposable. That first half does have “Chrome Plated Suicide”, which is great and a very effortless sounding pop song – but that’s about it.
Then at the half way mark you get “Hell’s Angels Cracker Factory.” Well, part of it. See this was originally conceived as a 30 minute concept album sound collage. For whatever reason, the band decided to pull back from that and release an actual album. But this track contains 3 minutes from that original collage concept (there’s also a 23 minute version out there on vinyl which I must track down). And man – it’s awesome. I mean, it’s a completely ridiculous jumble of sounds, but it’s glorious. Heartbreaking to know that this was the plan for the entire album, and I do wonder why those plans changed – these guys certainly aren’t the type to edit themselves in that way normally.
After that, you get the equally bizarre “U.F.O. Story”, about half of which is just Wayne druggily telling a story about seeing a U.F.O. with no music backing him. But then it launches into this shockingly cool piano solo that is unlike anything they’ve done before (or, in some ways, since). It’s just this haunting, lovely piano only melody that goes on for about 2 minutes. And all of a sudden, after 3 albums of craziness, you see that these are real honest to God musicians buried behind these levels of fuzz. I’m including all of “U.F.O. Story” here. I wouldn’t begrudge you skipping the story intro, but I strongly urge you to listen from about 4:20 on for the piano part.
U.F.O. Story
Things never reach that high point again, though there is some other good stuff in the 2nd half including a swank harmonica bit in “Redneck School of Technology” (which is in the video below) and beautiful, lush, emotional build at the end of “Begs and Achin’” to close out the album.
In the end, much of this is pretty forgettable, but the highlights are obvious experiments that pay off spectacularly. The bummer of this album is that they didn’t take that experimentation as far as they considered, and ended up with something a bit watered down compared to the other early material.
But no matter, because just after this they got a new drummer, new guitarist, new producer, and everything changed...
Monday, January 19, 2009
Freak Out vol. 3: Oh My Gawd!!!
OH MY GAWD!!!... THE FLAMING LIPS (1987)
To be clear, that is the exact album title, complete with excessive punctuation, and the name of the band crammed in in a way that actually doesn’t make any grammatical sense. Such is life in the weird world of the Lips.
So the big selling point here is that this album opens with the best 2 tracks of their pre-Priest Driven Ambulance career in my humble opinion. First up – “Everything’s Explodin’” a crazily amped up, super fun song that makes you want to drive around, pounding the drums on your steering wheel and singing alone at full volume. These are the times I miss having a car. They follow that up with “One Million Billionth of a Millisecond on a Sunday Morning”, Oh My Gawd’s allotted 9 minute space jam. As I mentioned last time, I think this is the best they ever do this sort of thing. It’s got some great spacey-ness to start with occasional weird bursts of noise until an absolutely epic build up for the end that leads into full on awesome rocking before dropping back out into the ether. There’s also a live version as a bonus track on this set, which shows how insane their early live shows were. For those who may not know the story, they used to have a part in their shows where they would cover a cymbal with lighter fluid, light it on fire, and then bash it constantly throughout the song, causing flames to shoot off. They eventually nearly burned down a club and decided to stop doing that, but apparently it was this act that got them signed to Warner Bros.
Anyway, here’s a fan made video for Everything’s Explodin’. I strongly urge you to watch this video as it is just… bizarre. It’s sort of the ultimate YouTube video, and leaves me completely baffled.
And here’s a live version of One Million… from 94. Not the best quality ever, but cool to hear it live from the classic line up, and a great visual reminder that these guys were kind of scary in their intensity sometimes. Man, how great would it be for them to just drop this in the midst of one of their crowd pleasing “Yeah for puppets and confetti!” Bonaroo sets.
After those two tracks, the album takes a little drop in quality. Most of the middle chunk is solid but unremarkable songs that sound similar to Here It Is. But the end picks it back up with “Love Yer Brain”, which provides a rare second acid jam on one album. This is a fine album closer, though not as grandiose as Here It Is, but it does have a great opening line of “Sometimes I don’t know what to think…” pause, pause, pause “…about the world”. I remember once discussing with Q that in many ways this is the quintessential Lips moment. Wayne tells you he has a concern. He pauses, leading you to wonder what comes next – what is it that concerns him? The answer: the entire world, of course. And somehow, that makes perfect sense.
To be clear, that is the exact album title, complete with excessive punctuation, and the name of the band crammed in in a way that actually doesn’t make any grammatical sense. Such is life in the weird world of the Lips.
So the big selling point here is that this album opens with the best 2 tracks of their pre-Priest Driven Ambulance career in my humble opinion. First up – “Everything’s Explodin’” a crazily amped up, super fun song that makes you want to drive around, pounding the drums on your steering wheel and singing alone at full volume. These are the times I miss having a car. They follow that up with “One Million Billionth of a Millisecond on a Sunday Morning”, Oh My Gawd’s allotted 9 minute space jam. As I mentioned last time, I think this is the best they ever do this sort of thing. It’s got some great spacey-ness to start with occasional weird bursts of noise until an absolutely epic build up for the end that leads into full on awesome rocking before dropping back out into the ether. There’s also a live version as a bonus track on this set, which shows how insane their early live shows were. For those who may not know the story, they used to have a part in their shows where they would cover a cymbal with lighter fluid, light it on fire, and then bash it constantly throughout the song, causing flames to shoot off. They eventually nearly burned down a club and decided to stop doing that, but apparently it was this act that got them signed to Warner Bros.
Anyway, here’s a fan made video for Everything’s Explodin’. I strongly urge you to watch this video as it is just… bizarre. It’s sort of the ultimate YouTube video, and leaves me completely baffled.
And here’s a live version of One Million… from 94. Not the best quality ever, but cool to hear it live from the classic line up, and a great visual reminder that these guys were kind of scary in their intensity sometimes. Man, how great would it be for them to just drop this in the midst of one of their crowd pleasing “Yeah for puppets and confetti!” Bonaroo sets.
After those two tracks, the album takes a little drop in quality. Most of the middle chunk is solid but unremarkable songs that sound similar to Here It Is. But the end picks it back up with “Love Yer Brain”, which provides a rare second acid jam on one album. This is a fine album closer, though not as grandiose as Here It Is, but it does have a great opening line of “Sometimes I don’t know what to think…” pause, pause, pause “…about the world”. I remember once discussing with Q that in many ways this is the quintessential Lips moment. Wayne tells you he has a concern. He pauses, leading you to wonder what comes next – what is it that concerns him? The answer: the entire world, of course. And somehow, that makes perfect sense.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Freak Out vol. 2: Here It Is
HERE IT IS (1986)
And now things really kick off with the first proper Lips album, and it’s pretty amazing. They come out strong with opener “With You”, which is just a great pop song with a nice build and one of my all time favorite Lips lyrics “All that I know is my mind is blown / when I’m with you”. Love it. They actually bring the track back as a coda to the entire album, which I really love as it gives the whole thing the sense of unity and being an actual album. It’s pretty simple, and they’re far from the first to do it, but again, it shows them thinking about things in a grander sense then just “here’s a bunch of songs”.
The other main note-worthy song here is “Jesus Shootin’ Heroin”. For quite a while they were committed to one near 10 minute spacey, screeching freak out per album, and this fills that slot here. It’s not the best example (that will come next album) but is fine.
Rest of the album is surprisingly straight forward songs with the occasional weird moment peppered in. There are very simple songs on here, but they often are tempered with some odd lyrical choices, like an homage to Godzilla (“Godzilla Flick”) or “Charlie Manson’s Blues”. What are they about? Not really sure to be honest.
Overall, much more tunefull than the EP, with actual melodies, singing (all from Wayne now that Mark is gone, though he’s using a much deeper singing voice here than he later would), song structure, and all that stuff.
And now things really kick off with the first proper Lips album, and it’s pretty amazing. They come out strong with opener “With You”, which is just a great pop song with a nice build and one of my all time favorite Lips lyrics “All that I know is my mind is blown / when I’m with you”. Love it. They actually bring the track back as a coda to the entire album, which I really love as it gives the whole thing the sense of unity and being an actual album. It’s pretty simple, and they’re far from the first to do it, but again, it shows them thinking about things in a grander sense then just “here’s a bunch of songs”.
The other main note-worthy song here is “Jesus Shootin’ Heroin”. For quite a while they were committed to one near 10 minute spacey, screeching freak out per album, and this fills that slot here. It’s not the best example (that will come next album) but is fine.
Rest of the album is surprisingly straight forward songs with the occasional weird moment peppered in. There are very simple songs on here, but they often are tempered with some odd lyrical choices, like an homage to Godzilla (“Godzilla Flick”) or “Charlie Manson’s Blues”. What are they about? Not really sure to be honest.
Overall, much more tunefull than the EP, with actual melodies, singing (all from Wayne now that Mark is gone, though he’s using a much deeper singing voice here than he later would), song structure, and all that stuff.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
VC's Fantastic Flaming Lips Freak Out: Vol. 1
As I briefly mentioned around the end of year hoopla, the release of Christmas on Mars has reinvigorated my love of The Flaming Lips. Not because that album is so good (in fact, it’s so sparse that it hasn’t sunk in with me yet, but more on that later), but more just because it was nice to have the weird acid freak Flaming Lips back, and it made me realize how much I miss that band. This is not a “They sold out!” kind of post – they’ve toiled away for years and I am thrilled to see them improbably become stars – but I do miss some of their old insanity.
And so, I’m embarking on a little journey here, making my way through the complete Lips catalogue album by album and sharing some thoughts. Perhaps it will bore you to tears, or perhaps it will inspire you to dust off your copy of Clouds Taste Metallic and rock out. We shall see.
Onwards and upwards!
THE FLAMING LIPS EP (1984)
This is their not widely available debut EP, re-released in a 3 disc set with their first 3 proper albums and assorted odds & ends. Essentially this is their Syd Barrett phase (and I doubt that will be the last Pink Floyd comparison) as Wayne’s brother Mark is the front man at this time. He apparently was a bit of a kook – I’ll let Wayne summarize, in his own words (the quotation marks are Wayne’s, not mine):
My brother Mark was, and still is, a very intense person. He was considered an exceptional athlete and a high school football star. He has boiled and drank his own blood. Has rescued countless doomed animals (he currently has a three-legged dog). He has torn down an entire house using only a single hammer. He consumed over a hundred doses of L.S.D. one summer when he was 13 years old. And he has a “self-diagnosed,” “split personality,” “competition neurosis” that he has named “the duality of man.”
So there you have it.
This bizarreness shows on this EP. It’s very rough with little polish and a lot of freak out style jamming and singing. Still, there’s some pretty great stuff. “Bag Full of Thoughts” is a nice little single, and “My Own Planet” is very much in line with what the band would do in the coming years without Mark. There’s also some odd covers collected here including the theme from the Batman TV show and “Communication Breakdown”.
My Own Planet
Overall, the big thing you get here is energy. These are young guys just pounding their sound out. That early 3 disc set is titled Finally the Punk Rockers are Taking Acid which fits this perfectly. It’s got crazy raw energy, but instead of always attaching that energy to a short poppy song, sometimes they latch it onto a 9 minute space jam, such as the early version of “Jesus Shootin’ Heroin” (which is awesome).
It’s amazing to think of this thing coming out in 1984, the year of Born in the USA, "Like a Virgin", etc. Is it a great start to their career? No, but it’s got some strong moments and shows that from the get go, these guys were out there doing something pretty odd.
And so, I’m embarking on a little journey here, making my way through the complete Lips catalogue album by album and sharing some thoughts. Perhaps it will bore you to tears, or perhaps it will inspire you to dust off your copy of Clouds Taste Metallic and rock out. We shall see.
Onwards and upwards!
THE FLAMING LIPS EP (1984)
This is their not widely available debut EP, re-released in a 3 disc set with their first 3 proper albums and assorted odds & ends. Essentially this is their Syd Barrett phase (and I doubt that will be the last Pink Floyd comparison) as Wayne’s brother Mark is the front man at this time. He apparently was a bit of a kook – I’ll let Wayne summarize, in his own words (the quotation marks are Wayne’s, not mine):
My brother Mark was, and still is, a very intense person. He was considered an exceptional athlete and a high school football star. He has boiled and drank his own blood. Has rescued countless doomed animals (he currently has a three-legged dog). He has torn down an entire house using only a single hammer. He consumed over a hundred doses of L.S.D. one summer when he was 13 years old. And he has a “self-diagnosed,” “split personality,” “competition neurosis” that he has named “the duality of man.”
So there you have it.
This bizarreness shows on this EP. It’s very rough with little polish and a lot of freak out style jamming and singing. Still, there’s some pretty great stuff. “Bag Full of Thoughts” is a nice little single, and “My Own Planet” is very much in line with what the band would do in the coming years without Mark. There’s also some odd covers collected here including the theme from the Batman TV show and “Communication Breakdown”.
My Own Planet
Overall, the big thing you get here is energy. These are young guys just pounding their sound out. That early 3 disc set is titled Finally the Punk Rockers are Taking Acid which fits this perfectly. It’s got crazy raw energy, but instead of always attaching that energy to a short poppy song, sometimes they latch it onto a 9 minute space jam, such as the early version of “Jesus Shootin’ Heroin” (which is awesome).
It’s amazing to think of this thing coming out in 1984, the year of Born in the USA, "Like a Virgin", etc. Is it a great start to their career? No, but it’s got some strong moments and shows that from the get go, these guys were out there doing something pretty odd.
Friday, August 01, 2008
Christmas On Mars Trailer
It is impossible to tell from this trailer whether this will be brilliant or a disaster.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Christmas on Mars
I can only dream, but reports are that Christmas on Mars is actually going to be out and in our hands by the end of the year. Too good to be true? Coming out the same week as Chinese Democracy? Maybe, but for now, consider me excited...
Billboard Article
And I'll say it now, if this comes out, I will fly to New York to watch it with most of you fine folk this spring, provided we all agree to wait and watch together.
Billboard Article
And I'll say it now, if this comes out, I will fly to New York to watch it with most of you fine folk this spring, provided we all agree to wait and watch together.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
More Airplane Gazing
The previous post about airplane related songs gave me an excuse to post this, my personal favorite song abouit airplane flight, which just so happens to be from a band I'm currently really digging on. "Thirty-Five Thousand Feet of Despair" by The Flaming Lips. This was originally on Zaireeka, here in a normal stereo mode courtesy of the Waiting for a Superman single. Listening to this makes me wish that any band, including the Flaming Lips themselves, would be gutsy enough and weird enough to put out something as ridiculous as Zaireeka again. I mean seriously, that thing is insane to even contemplate releasing as an album, but they did it, and it blew my mind. I wish to have my mind blown in that same manner again, but until then, this will have to do:
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