The Flaming Lips

Recently I've been listening to The Flaming Lips a lot. I've been a fan since sometime in High School, but haven't always listened to them all that much. Sometime last semester I got a few albums from interlibrary loan; The Soft Bulletin, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, At War With the Mystics, and Embryonic. That lasted me a long time as far as having new material to listen to, so I wasn't looking to get anything else for a while. In fact, until a couple weeks ago that was all of their music that I had in my iTunes at all. But then I read about an album that they made with Stardeath, White Dwarfs, Henry Rollins, and Peaches. What they did is they remade Dark Side of the Moon track for track, and let me tell you, it f**king rocks. It really captures the same ideas and moods as the original Pink Floyd album but with the bands' distinct characteristic sounds and styles. So, following this discovery it was with renewed interest that I looked up the Flaming Lips' discography and subsequently got every album that I could find. So, much like the earlier Sufjan Stevens post, I've decided to go through all the Flaming Lips albums that I have and give a brief review.

Hear It Is - 1986

One of the albums that I've only had for a brief period of time, but already one of my favorites. This album is a lot different from what you might expect from the Flaming Lips if, like me, you started listening to their later stuff before hearing this. It's much more.... normal. I don't mean that as a necessarily good thing or a bad thing either. It definitely rocks, but there aren't as many computer effects or synthesizers as you might expect from the Lips. In fact, without listening to the whole album right now to double-check, I don't think there are any. I would actually classify this album as being punk rock.

My Favorite Track: Jesus Shootin' Heroin

Oh My Gawd!!! - 1987

Another album which I only recently started listening to. Like Hear It Is this album is very heavy with a punk rock vibe. In a lot of ways listening to this album reminds me of older heavy metal bands like Black Sabbath and the like. It still has a punk feel, but is more psychedelic, foreshadowing the direction the Lips would take in future endeavors. The band kept on sticking with guitar, bass, drums, and vocals for the most part, but did add some piano in on this album... including on my favorite track, "Love Yer Brain".

My Favorite Track: Love Yer Brain

(This video is from the "U.F.O.s at the Zoo" DVD, 2006)

Telepathic Surgery - 1989

Yet another punk rock influenced album. This album seems to have a bit more variety from song to song than their previous two records, however. Their sound is still pretty traditional for the most part, but you can tell the band is starting to get into more and more experimental methods of making music, like in "Hell's Angel's Cracker Factory", a 23 minute musical epic. From what I've read this song is actually a "leftover" from when the band was originally considering making this album a "sound collage". They eventually scrapped that idea for a more traditional approach to the album, but that track remained. "Chrome Plated Suicide" is based around the tune "Sweet Child o' Mine" by Guns n' Roses, which makes it pretty fun to listen to.

My Favorite Track: Hari-Krishna Stomp Wagon (Fuck Led Zeppelin)

In a Priest Driven Ambulance - 1990

This is where I can really start to tell that The Flaming Lips veered away from "punk rock" and began playing in a style that was more "alternative". In some ways it really isn't all that different from previous records since the band continued to stick with pretty conventional instruments and compositional styles. This is the first album with Jonathan Donahue on lead guitar, and he really added something new and interesting to the band with his wild solos and meandering style. If I were to recommend one album to get somebody into the earlier music from The Flaming Lips, this is probably the one I would choose. It's more accessible and I think that the addition of Donahue really rounded out their sound well.

My Favorite Track: What a Wonderful World (awesome cover, one of the best)

Hit to Death in the Future Head - 1992

The band's 5th album and their debut album on Warner Bros. Records. For the majority of the album the band stuck with much the same "punk rock"/"noise-pop" sound, but there are a lot more pop-influenced tracks on this record than on previous ones. This is the last album with the same lineup that had been The Flaming Lips. After recording this album Jonathan Donahue (guitar) and Nathan Roberts (drums) both left the group and were replaced by Ronald Jones and Steven Drozd, respectively, for the subsequent tour. 

My Favorite Track: The Sun

Transmissions from the Satellite Heart - 1993

This album really marked The Flaming Lips becoming a household name, more or less. "She Don't Use Jelly" was their first ever song to hit the charts after being featured on Beavis and Butthead. The music video for this song and "Turn it On", the album's other single, were both played on MTV adding to the band's popularity. In my opinion, Steve Drozd was one of the best things to happen to the Flaming Lips. It was when he joined that the Lips started getting more into experimental stuff and using computer effects and synthesizers. As much as I like their earlier music, when I think of the Flaming Lips I tend to think of their later sound.

My Favorite Track: She Don't Use Jelly

Clouds Taste Metallic - 1995

I would say that it was this album which signaled the Lips really coming into their own as a group. Their sound really matured and includes a lot more memorable melodies and riffs instead of being so aggressive and guitar-driven. On this album the sound is less dense than on earlier albums and you start hearing instruments like xylophone. Drozd also adds backup vocals which becomes a part of the sound which I think of as being "the Flaming Lips". 

My Favorite Track: When You Smile

Zaireeka - 1997

I actually haven't had a chance to listen to this album properly yet. The reason being because it's split up into four discs which are supposed to be played simultaneously. I'm still really excited to give this album a listen when I get a chance. I still need to burn the discs and find three other people to listen to it. Around the same time they were making this album the Lips were also experimenting with their "parking lot experiments". What they would do is get a bunch of volunteers together in their cars in a parking lot and give everyone a cassett. Then they would direct the volunteers as far as when to come in or when to change dynamics. From listening to some of Zaireeka one disc at a time it seems like the music is going to be sweet, but I don't know yet. Maybe once I get a chance to do that I'll post an update about what I thought.

The Soft Bulletin - 1999

This is my favorite Lips album. This album is a lot more varied in the different instruments that they use. This is when computer effects and synthesizers really started playing a big role in the Lips' sound. The songs are also much more layered, although not necessarily dense. This album has often been described as the Pet Sounds of the 90's. This is also the first album whose personnel includes only the three "actual" (read "lasting", "current") members of the Flaming Lips... Wayne Coyne, Michael Ivins, and Steven Drozd. "The Spiderbite Song" from this album is about how each of the three members had to cope with some really heavy stuff and the band almost didn't make it through. Bass player Michael Ivins got in a bad car accident and was trapped in his car for hours when the wheel of another car flew up into his windshield. Frontman Wayne Coyne's father (or maybe stepfather, I can't remember) died after a long struggle with cancer, but his verse is also often ascribed to back in the day when his brother was in the band and decided to leave when he got married. Drummer Steve Drozd's verse is where the song gets the title. He almost had to get his arm amputated when he got either a) a spider bite, or b) an infection from shooting heroin. Chances are it was the second since it is well known that Drozd was a user. Drozd claimed it was a spiderbite, and Coyne was never the kind of person to be confrontational, so he probably just went with that story. However, the lyric, "The poison then could reach your heart from a vein" seems to point to Wayne trying to let Steven know how he felt without being confrontational. Especially if you take the chorus into account "I'm glad that it didn't destroy you/ How sad that would be/ 'Cause if it destroyed you/ It would destroy me". 

My Favorite Track(s): The Spiderbite Song, The Gash

(not the best recording, but it has some cool commentary by Wayne Coyne)

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - 2002

This album starts off with some contraversy over the opening track "Fight Test". It follows the same chord structure of Cat Stevens' "Father and Son", and it was later decided in a settlement that the band would pay royalties to Cat Stevens. I guess it's really no big deal, since Coyne wasn't trying to pull a Vanilla Ice and pretend he didn't do anything. He said, "I know "Father and Son" and I knew there would be a little bit of comparison. "Fight Test" is not a reference necessarily to the ideas of "Father and Son", but definitely a reference to the cadence, the melody, and chord progression. I think it's such a great arrangement of chords and melody". It was during this album that the band really became known for their space rock, neo-psychedelic sound with tracks like "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" and "One More Robot/ Sympathy 3000-21" among others. This album also features Yoshimi P-We doing vocals alongside Coyne, and she is awesome.

My Favorite Track: It's Summertime

At War with the Mystics - 2006

This is a close second when it comes to my favorite albums by the Flaming Lips. It still has the psychedelic sounds of Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi, but it also goes back to their roots a bit. It's very guitar oriented, like the amazing guitar solo around 2:30 in "My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion" and the riff from "The W.A.N.D." I feel like on this album the Lips found a way to continue with their more accessible sound but still rock as hard (if not harder) than on their earlier albums, and also keep the whole space rock, craziness vibe going on. "The Wizard Turns On..." won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 2006, which doesn't surprise me. It's an epic track, not in length, but in it's intensity and imagery. It also has some great drum fills. 

My Favorite Track: My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion (The Inner Life as Blazing Shield of Defiance and Optimism as Celestial Spear of Action) or Goin' On

Embryonic - 2009

When the Lips came out with Embryonic in 2009 they proved yet again that they could keep reinventing themselves. I think that when lead singer of the Lips, Wayne Coyne, put it best when he said it had "a freak-out vibe". I think Pitchfork.com's review of the album puts it well when they say, "The sprawling 70-minute marathon ruminates on themes of madness, isolation, and hallucinogenic horror, translating them into an unrelentingly paranoid, static-soaked acid-rock epic." This album can be a tough listen the first time, but it's worth it once you get to know the songs. 

My Favorite Track: See The Leaves

The Dark Side of the Moon - 2009

Actually this album's full title is "The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side of the Moon", but that's just a mouthful. As the title might suggest, this album consists of those groups doing just that... creating a track-for-track remake of Pink Floyd's best known (and arguably best) album. I figure that the reason for listing all the bands in the title is because this isn't really a Lips album featuring other groups; It's really a compilation including all those groups and singers as well. The Lips do play on seven out of the nine tracks, but they are also accompanied by the other groups quite a lot. Both Stardeath and White Dwarfs play on six tracks each, Henry Rollins on seven, and Peaches on two including the spectacular vocal solo during "The Great Gig in the Sky". I love the way this album stays so true to the original (Henry Rollins even recreates the interview bits) but still sounds so unique and different. I feel almost guilty saying it, but there are parts of this album which I like more than Pink Floyd's version. For instance, the Lips' version of "Money" sounds so much more mechanical, industrial, and even robotic. It seems to me to fit better with the theme of the song.

My Favorite Track: Any Colour You Like