Customer Reviews

In a Priest Driven Ambulance

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This was the 3rd Lips album that I heard (after Transmissions and Clouds) and the one that converted me from a casual fan to a diehard. Everything comes together for this album (their last for the strugging Restless Records) as future Mercury Rev frontman Jonathan Donuhue adds a huge musical punch, adding extra sonic walls of blistering guitars and scorching feedback, creating an alternate universe of joyous noise-pop/rock.
Every song is a classic hard-rocking jam, from the pounding "Unconsciously Screamin" to the deafening feedback-laden "God Walks Among Us Now". The album even adds two bonus tracks from the Screamin' EP: "Lucifer Risin" and "Let Me Be It". My favorite, however, is the downright beautiful cover version of "What A Wonderful World".
The Lips never got as head-banging as this again. Click on that Buy button right now!

I've been listening to the Flaming Lips quite a bit ever since "She Don't Use Jelly" became a semi-hit a while back. I just recently heard this album for the first time and I'll have to say I'm incredibly impressed and wish I had gotten this a long time ago. The sound on this album is very different from what they sound like now. It's very much a guitar-based sound and the Brian Wilson and 60's pop influences that really came through on their later stuff like "Clouds Taste Metallic" have yet to appear. Yet, this album is startlingly original; there isn't any other band that they really remotely sound like. The songs are all great, especially "God Walks Among Us" and "Mountain Side", two particularly caustic tracks that are incredibly catchy as well. "Mountain Side" in particular gets me; midway through it goes off into this noise breakdown for a few minutes only to go right back into the song again. To top it all off, the album ends with a great, unexpected cover of "What a Wonderful World". How can you get much better than this?

this is actually the album that got me back into the flaming lips. it's really just fine, every song is wonderful and different and GOOD. lots of jesus/god songs, that really have nothing to do with jesus or god, as far as i can tell. i've never heard the american release, the one with the bonus tracks stuck right in the middle of the album, but i know that the ten tracks i have are among the flaming lips best. this album would be worth it on the merit of any of the single songs alone. buy it.

I can't recommend this enough. The acid fried psychedelic majesty of this album is something to behold. Buy it and for God's sake, turn it up!
Some info on the vinyl release - There is a 15 track colored vinyl reissue on the same label (Plain). That's the one that came out in late 2005. I don't necessarily know which one the sellers are offering, so you might want to check. The extra 5 tracks are "Lucifer Rising", "Ma, I didn't notice", "Let Me Be It", "Drug Machine", and "Strychnine/Peace, Love and Understanding". These tracks are the same that are on the first disc of the expanded CD reissue of this - "The Day They Shot A Hole In the Jesus Egg."
Enjoy. The early days of The Flaming Lips have been sorrowfully overlooked.

This is my favorite Flaming Lips album, and that's an awfully high recommendation. The songs alternate between tender, moody songs, and emotional walls of sound. The best tracks are Shine On Sweet Jesus, Unconciously Screamin', Rainin' Babies, and Mountain Side but there isn't a single track not worth listening to.

This album (the last before their major label debut) is possibly one of the best rock albums out there. The lips recorded this album thinking it could be there last one (thank god it wasn't!) and it shows. From the first second to the end of What A Wonderful World, you are constantly hit with layers of music and an atmoshpere you can just slip away in to. (This release, though not listed, has 2 extra songs....) This album is a MUST buy for any music fan, it truly captures the spirit.

It is undoubtedly an album that never received the publicity that it deserved. It has some of their greatest hits of all time, in my opinion, including Shine On Sweet Jesus and Unconciously Screaming. This was the last album released on an independent label, and if they had identified their stregths on this basis, they would have had substantial success in their careers. After all, Warner Bros. heard samples from this record, and that was what landed them a major label recording deal. But nooo, they had to become a soft rock/easy listening band later on. For starters, this is the first album you need to get, but stay away from anything after Zaireeka. I'm sure glad that I heard this one first.

The Flaming Lips are perhaps one of the greatest bands of all time.

A transitional record for the Flaming lips, bridging the manic, eclectic psonic pspew of the 1st 3 releases & the more user-friendly major label output. The sonic barrage of "God Walks Among Us Now" and "Lucifer Rising" is balanced with the Zeppelin-meets-Neil-Young melodicism of "There You Are" and the memorable thump of "Take Me Ta Mars". Their ability to mix out-and-out WIERD with utterly compelling & accessible still confounds known natural laws to this day. This is where the zygote of what was to become today's Flaming Lips can be viewed, grinning.

Along with Hit to Death in the Future Electric Head, this is the best album that the Flaming Lips have released. Wonderful rolling swells of sound, deep levels of melody and fuzzy guitar noise...a sparse, mildly disturbing rendition of "What a Wonderful World," what more could you want?