Customer Reviews

Finally the Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid 1983-1988

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This 3 CD collection comprises all of the Lips recordings from 83-88, and includes the complete recordings of The Flaming Lips EP, Hear It Is, Oh My Gawd, and Telepathic Surgery. Each disk also contains bonus tracks, encompassing covers, b-sides, live tracks, and the like. If you don't already have these albums, and chances are good you don't, this is the best way to get them.

As others have mentioned, new fans should be warned that the Lips of old have little relation stylisitically to the Lips of today. Their evolution towards the the Transmissions From the Satelite Heart is clearly in motion, but you'll hear nothing like The Soft Bulletin or Yoshimi here. Some tracks even have a different vocalist, Wayne's brother Mark (who left the band shortly after its inception) is the lead singer on The Flaming Lips EP, and also all bonus tracks on disk 1.

Still, this is some great stuff. I love the Lips today, but I have to admit I often miss the confusion and chaos of their earlier material. They've gotten a lot better at what they do these days, but sometimes too much skill takes the fun out of things. :) You also have to give them credit for their originality, this stuff is WAY out there compared to most of what was going on in the 80s.

If you're a fan of their older material, you NEED this collection. If you're a newer fan but curious, I still recommend it, just be warned it may not be quite what you expect. If you're new to the Lips, I recommend either Clouds Taste Metallic(for overdubbed guitar insanity) or The Soft Bulletin (for orchestrated mellow goodness) as starting points.

BTW, check out the AMAZING cover of Neil Young's 'After the Gold Rush', a wall of guitar noise that I'm sure Neil would have been proud to record himself. :)

I don't think the guy who called this 'death metal' has ever actually heard any. Fear not, this material has absolutely no relation to Cannibal Corpse, and Cookie Monster does NOT appear as a guest vocalist. ;)

As you've probably figured out from other reviews, this is a compilation of the band's first ep, first 3 albums, and a cavalcade of bonus material. It's fairly agreed that flaming lips albums were fairly hit and miss up till their fourth release (in a priest driven ambulance), but there's still a lot of early classics worth buying this for, like "jesus shootin' heroin", "with you", "one million billionth of a millisecond on a sunday morning" and "chrome plated suicide". If you're already a diehard fan you may want to leap right into the early material with this set, but if you're looking for a cheaper look into the pre-warner brothers era, you can pick up "1984-1990", which compiles most of the more essential material found here. If you like what you heard, pick up "in a priest driven ambulance" or the recent two cd re-release "the day they shot a hole in the jesus egg", which gives you all of that album and a bonus cd of demos for the price of one cd as well.

The first cd starts off with the self titled ep, with the band's original vocalist Mark Coyne, Wayne's brother. The style is very different from the later lips, and even quite a bit different from the rest of the material on the first cd. These 5 songs seem very much inspired by 60's psychadelic garage rock, in fact almost all of these five songs would fit in perfectly among tracks you'd find in "nuggets" compilations. Mark is a fairly limited vocalist, but has the attitude for this style of music. Although he seems to have a vocal range of about two notes, his deep vocals lend themselves to the darker vibe of the material. Only the last track, "my own planet", hints at the faster, more melodic material ahead, and even then, hearing it lead into the first album's opening track, the mellow "with you" is quite astonishing. While still showing the Lips as a developing band, the album is mostly very solid, remarkably so considering it's Wayne's first time at lead vocals, alternating between raw but beautiful ballads and noisy punk rock-like numbers that at times recall early sonic youth. Next come the bonus tracks, more demos with Mark as the vocalist. These are considerably faster than the mostly slow and druggy material of the first ep, and mostly covers, including a hillarious take on the batman theme.

The second cd starts off with the second album, "oh my gawd" whichis about on par with the first. There's more of an accent on the melodic, and the band takes a few steps forward, but a few failed experments like "ode to cc part 1" weaken things a bit. For bonus tracks, we get yet another set of Mark Coyne demos, this time mostly songs that would end up making the first two albums, with an amateur-ish but amusing led zeppelin cover and a )deservedly) never before heard track thrown in. You wouldn't really be able to imagine the guy who sang on the first EP doing these songs, but he does a commendable job on them, particularly his intense and over the top reading of "jesus shooting heroin". In the liner notes, Wayne describes his brother's performances here as "Ian Curtis meet Chris Farley (not the fat part - just the absurd intense part)".

The last disc gives us the album "telepathic surgery". It's considerably more bogged down with filler than it's predecessors (reportedly the band originally intended to make an album length sound collage that got worked on extensively, then discarded aside from the excerpt "hell's angel cracker factory", and thus probably had less time to write material). Still, there's enough glimpses of greatness to make it worth listening to, and the assorted aural experiments like the simultaneously goofy and scary "ufo story" and various strange interludes make for an interesting listen. The bonus material is a handful of live material, including a sonic youth cover, another led zeppelin cover, a drastically different Wayne vocal-ed version of "my own planet" from the first ep, a goreous version of "after the gold rush" from a neil young tribute album, and an alternate mix of "can't stop the spring" from 'telepathic surgery'. Finally, the whole album closes with a strange sound collage meant to be listened to while reading the introduction to the liner notes, which detail Wayne's first experience with acid. Prentious as [heck]? sure. But it's also incredibly terrifying and creepy to hear those amplified heartbeat noises as you read the surreal tale of blood, fear of death, french fries turning into worms, supernovas, time shifts, and the fear of death, even if the track doesn't really stand up on it's own.

This 3 disc set is a must have. My only complaint is that they edited the 23 min plus track HELLS ANGEL'S CRACKER FACTORY down to 3 min. Perhaps it was because of space but you can still get it on the regular Telepathic Surgery cd.

This is a great package they put together along with "The Day They Shot A Hole In The Jesus Egg". It makes the recent curious fans able to buy their early stuff w/o spending too much money. These are hidden gems indeed, I actually like their stuff from this and "Jesus Egg" the best. They were more of a wacky psychedelic distortion band back then, now they're a trippy electronic band. It's all good really, super kudos to them for changing their sound and still pulling it off very well. These fellas are the chameleons of alternative music for sure.

"..Acid" is a triple CD set featuring the Flaming Lips' self-titled EP and their first three LP's ("Hear It Is", "Oh My Gawd!!!", and "Telepathic Surgery"), plus some bonus tracks (demos/covers/etc).

The songs are hit or miss. If you're only familiar with "The Soft Bulletin" or "Yoshimi" era Lips, this will be a shock. If you know "She Don't Use Jelly", picture that song..only noisier and without the infectious hook. That's a good description of The Flaming Lips' early material. Like the title suggests, rooted in punk rock, and glossed over in a druggy, psychedelic haze.

The EP features Wayne Coyne's brother on lead vocals (he left shortly afterwards). Songs like "Scratchin' at the Door" meander left and write without any real melody. It sure is an interesting listen though.

That applies to 1986's "Hear It Is" as well. Highlights include "With You" (power ballad + screeching guitar noise), "Jesus Shootin' Heroin" (scariest song ever), "Trains, Brains & Rain" (which has a genuine pop hook), and "Godzilla Flick" (a mournful accoustic ballad).

1987's "Oh My Gawd!!!" is probably the best album on here. Some of the more memorable moments include: "Everythings Explodin" (a noisy assault), "Maximum Dream for Evil Knievel" (a trippy, Pink Floyd like dirge), "The Ceiling is Bendin" (a delicious slice of warped psychedelia), "Thanks To You" (which borrows from Led Zeppelin's "Thank You", which is actually covered later in the set), and "Love Yer Brain" (a mid-tempo ballad which culminates in a destroyed piano and a loop from "Tomorrow Never Knows").

1989's "Telepathic Surgery" is the most sprawling and difficult of the three. But there's some good stuff to be found; "Chrome-Plated Suicide" (a pop song that borrows heavily from "Sweet Child O' Mine"), "Right Now" (raucous fun), "Miracle on 42nd Street", "Begs & Achin" (more racuous fun), "Shaved Gorilla" (which sounds like The Cure in a twisted sort of way), and the totally bizarre "UFO Story".

Like I said, this is largely hit or miss. There is some genuinely good stuff in here..but this set is more for curious fans who want to hear The Lips' beginnings. Before they really knew the fine art of songwriting.

3 Stars for the songs, 5 Stars for the 'interesting' factor..so call it 4 altogether.

I've already written reviews on all three of these albums individually, so I'm going to address this release as a whole.

This is a good collection, compiling The Flaming Lips first three albums and their debut EP, spanning their first four years as recording artists. This set also includes some bonus tracks, including demos and live versions of songs... The problem is, some of these are not worth the space, and this waste keeps the tracks "Summertime Blues" and the full version of "Hell's Angel's Cracker Factory" from making it on. I also do not like how the album covers have been reduced to 1x1 inch thumbnails inside of the jacket, although there are some nice liner notes. Aside from these two minor-ish drawbacks, this is an excellent collection that provides much insight on the Flaming Lips early career.

I agree with reviewer who called material inessential. I have only recently gotten into Lips. I started with Yoshimhi and worked backward to Satellite Transmissions. To be honest,If asked to do a blindfold test prior to buying this, I wouldn't have known this was Flaming Lips. I guess it has some value as historical document of where the group came from, but I can't see myself listening to it much in the future.

If you like albums like THE SOFT BULLETIN and YOSHIMI BATTLES THE PINK ROBOTS, be forewarned that that sound is light years away from what you'll find here. This collection includes early material from a time when the Lips' biggest influences (as mentioned by Wayne Coyne in the liners) were a combination of psychedelic music of the 60s, arty English new wave (Psychedlic Furs,Bauhaus,Echo and the Bunnymen), and some of the early alternative acts (Redd Kross, R.E.M.,Black Flag,Meat Puppets, B*tthole Surfers). Expect a lot rawer sound that owes quite a bit to punk and garage rock and not much to the lush orchestrated pop the Lips make these days.

The set features material from "The Flaming Lips EP", "Hear it Is","Oh My Gawd! The Flaming Lips","Telepathic Surgery" and various unreleased tracks and live rarities from 1983-1989. Additionally, it is not Wayne Coyne who sings on tracks #1-5,#16-19 (disc 1) and #12-16 (disc 2), but his brother Mark (who later left the band).

Best tracks here are: the punk loner fantasy of "My Own Planet" (heard in a live rendition on Disc 3 that begins acoustic then accelerates into punk mayhem), "Can't Exist"'s collision of distorted garage rock guitar and singer-songwriter acoustic strumming, the nonsensical imagery ('All your teflon pancakes always make me too high') in the catchy "Can't Stop the Spring", the musings on love in "Chrome Plated Suicide", and a passable amped up cover of Neil Young's "After the Gold Rush".

The set is bogged down by many cuts which are mainly excuses to noodle around with guitar noise ("U.F.O. Story" is a particularly egregious example). Other lowspots include covers of the "Batman" television show theme song and Led Zep's "Communication Breakdown" and a 4 1/2 minute drum and heartbeat sound effect track intended as accompaniment while you read "As Diarrhea Smears the Space Bible" in the liners (AKA "Death Tripping Yer B*** off at Sunrise"). Can you say "artsy-fartsy"?

Bottom Line:
Occasional glimmers of latter day Lips can be heard here, but this is probably more for fans of punk/psych music and completist Lips fans than those who love their orchestrated but skewed pop on albums like "Soft Bulletin" and "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots".

Additional Note: Some of the discs appear to have been pressed with the tracks out of sequence. On CD1, track 3 is clearly "Garden of Eyes/Forever is a Long Time" but the CD insert labels it as "Scratchin' the Door" which is actually track 4.

THIS is the Flaming Lips, more than the latest two albums. The FLips are punk rock guitar pioneers and if you don't know that (and you can't tell it from Pink Flamingo Robot Sushi or whatever it is), then you might like Super Tramp too. Please, bring the guitars next time, Wayne.

This collection of Lips songs shows the different styles of music the lips can record. I have to say that there are many other lips cds that are better, but if your into acid rock this is a perfect buy for you. The songs express the feelings and opinions of the group. One of my favorite songs on this collection is the Charlie Manson Blues and A Bag Full Of Thoughts, simple, yet clever.I definently recomend thier new albumn however, Yoshimi battles the pink robots, it shows their talent with a smooth rythmic beat, and good lyrics.