Clouds Taste Metallic

The Flaming Lips

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 19, 1995)
• Original Release Date: September 19, 1995
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B000002MYC
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #42,103 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

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

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Taste the metallic clouds, July 31, 2003

By	E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

It's hard not to like the Flaming Lips. These alt-rockers take such elaborate pleasure in being over-the-top weird that's impossible not to be sucked in. Wonderfully weird titles, complex music laced with unusual instruments, and a can't-be-copied sense of wonder make this one of the best albums to come out of the 90s.

From the hypnotic crackle of "Abandoned Hospital Ship," we soar into the lower-key "Psychiatric Explorations of the Fetus With Needles," the insanely lovely "Placebo Headwound" ("Where does outer space end/ it's sort of hard to imagine"), the charmingly catchy "This Here Giraffe," the harder-edged "Guy Who Got a Headache and Accidentally Saves the World" (isn't that the best title?), the more haunting "When You Smile," the delicious space-rock "They Punctured My Yolk," sizzling (no pun intended) "Lightning Strikes the Postman," and the thought-provoking, catchy "Christmas at the Zoo" ("Their wasn't any snow on Christmas eve/and I knew what I should do/I thought I'd free the animals all locked up at the zoo...")

You can tell an album is a winner if the lead singer informs you "It's just a supernatural delay." But this album is in a world of lightning-struck mailmen, talking animals, spaceships, outer space, dreams of shooting your boss, astronauts, and sparkling lights. The scifi-rock edge that was later further refined is here in its glory, tempered by more earthly material (like "Bad Days").

The brilliant basic music is enhanced by cymbals, screaming, bing-bang-booms, hums and buzzes and chimes. Anything that fits will somehow fit in. Wayne Coyne's voice is a little thin and flawed, but that only enhances the extraordinary music. The lyrics are determinedly weird and sometimes satirical, sometimes sad, sometimes very thought-provoking. But the entire album, welded together, has an aura of childlike wonder, an appreciation for the fantastical.

While "The Soft Bulletin" may remain the Flaming Lips' best album musically, "Clouds Taste Metallic" is a fantastic, playful psychedelic theme album, a sort of colorful space-rock. Highly recommended. It's an acid trip burned into a CD.

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Clouds Taste Metallic" will make you loose your head!, June 14, 1998

By A Customer

It's after listening to one of their albums like this one that, when you hear someone say "Flaiming Lips...? Oh yeah, the 'She Don't Use Jelly' dudes," you want to dump a bucket of custard on their heads. So start pouring the dairy products in the paint can because this album is truly phenomenal! It is with "Clouds Taste Metallic" that they finally get their freakshow together. The fact that something can be this weird, beautiful, warped, and melodic all at the same time gives you hope for the future of music. At least a little. With Wayne Coyne's plaintive whine (and I mean that in a GOOD way) and the joyful swells of carnival-like music, they create songs that will leave you with a bittersweet feeling inside. The Flaming Lips are always interesting to listen to and this album will give your ears something to chew on for a long time to come. It shows that pop can still be inventive AND fun at the same time. The lyrics are so unique and utterly compelling in their Brothers-Grimm-on-acid narration that you'll hear lines like "Kim's got a watermelon gun/It's the consciousness of love" and say to yourself "y'know he might have something there!" A lot of critics say this album reminds them of "Pet Sounds", it reminds me of when you were a kid and tried Pop Rocks for the first time. Those nuggets start crackling in your mouth and for a split-second you think your skull might just burst like a pinata. But then you think, "Hey, this stuff tastes great! It's really sweet and sounds neat! Who cares if my head explodes!" 'Nuff said.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Only 5 stars? Deserves more!!!, July 20, 2001

By	greatkingrat (Camarillo, Ca USA) - See all my reviews

I never gave the Lips more than a cursory glance. I was not impressed with "Jelly", and considered them to be goofballs, especially after they appeared on 90210.

Years later, a friend lent me "The Soft Bulletin." After the first listen, I thought they had possibilities, but their singer was a bit odd sounding, and their song titles and lyrics were too weird. After another listen I was hooked. I liked it so much and eager to recruit another fan, I loaned it to a friend, who kept it for a month.

During that time, I got a hold of "Clouds Taste Metallic." It has spent so much time in my CD player that it'll probably wear out soon.

From the opening words of "The Abandoned Hospital Ship" I knew I was in for a wild ride. Why doesn't anyone else make music like this? A carnival of sounds combine to make an aural feast that puts one's faith back in the human race. It makes one realize there are people dedicated to making great music and not just putting out radio-friendly pop-vomit-drivel for money.

The simple complexity of the music is astounding. There are no duds on this album, each track is a gem. Little things like the drum bell during the "chorus" on "Psychiatric Explorations...", the film projector in the background of the first track, and the multitude of "instruments" used to create such a sound are a joy. Each listen brings a new discovery.

The guitar work is fabulous. It is used as a true instrument, not just something to pound out chords and solos. The variety of guitar sounds is truly inspiring. The drums at times sound as if John Bonham has been resurrected. The bass is a thick foundation as well as an integral melodic machine. Combined with the myriad sounds of keyboards, handclaps, xylophone, angelic choirs, fuzz etc, it makes for a mix so heady, it leaves one gasping for a breath of sanity.

"Clouds Taste Metallic" can make you laugh, touch your soul and fill you with wonder. I don't think any other band can come close to what the Lips have achieved here. No one has the bravery or insanity to be this weird yet compelling and comforting at the same time.

This is not standard rock and roll. It rocks, but if you are looking for something like you've heard before, forget it. Flaming Lips are an acquired taste, and a heavily addictive one.