The Flaming Lips: In A Priest Driven Ambulance (1990)

Waitin' for my ride
Jesus is floatin' outside
(Shine on, sweet Jesus, on me)
Watchin' the water rise
I'm gettin' lost in the tide
(Cry all your teardrops on me)
While I'm still myself
Your blankets covered me
Covered me while I was still asleep

A vinyl pressing of this record was released in 1990. I have never seen a copy. My first copy was a CD. In 2005, the record was re-released as a double LP with bonus tracks on either red or pink vinyl. I have the pink version. The cover states: "limited edition vinyl only reissue of their space bible Masterwork 1990 LP." It should be Priest-Driven and vinyl-only.

 From Wikipedia:

It is a concept album primarily focused on frontman Wayne Coyne's fascination with religion. It is generally considered among critics to be one of the Flaming Lips' greatest albums. It is the first Flaming Lips album to feature Jonathan Donahue (also of Mercury Rev) and drummer, Nathan Roberts. [source]

I, too, am fascinated by religion, by my fascination derives mostly from why people call fall for such obvious stupidity.

This was the fourth record from the Lips. It's a brilliant album. I love the sound, the style, the lyrics. People new to the band might want to start here.

The Flaming Lips: Heady Nuggs: Clouds Taste Metallic 20 Years Later (2015)

This 5 LP box set comes in two flavours. One is a numbered limited edition on black vinyl. The other is a numbered limited edition on coloured vinyl. I have no idea how many copies were made of each. The coloured version will cost you more, and that's the one I have, even though I usually prefer black vinyl.

The box contains:

Clouds Taste Metallic, which was the seventh full-length release from the band, originally released in 1995. In this box, it's presented on orange vinyl.

Due To High Expectations… The Flaming Lips Are Providing Needles For Your Balloons, which was an EP from 1994. It's issued here on pink vinyl.

The third item is a double LP entitled: Psychiatric Exploration Of The Fetus With Needles (Live In Seattle 1996). It's pressed on maroon vinyl.

Finally, the last LP is called The King Bug Laugh, which is a collection of rarities on green vinyl.

1500 copies contain an autograph from Wayne Coyne. I do not think that there was any way to determine if you had an autographed copy until you opened the package. As it turns out, the enclosed copy of Clouds Taste Metallic in my box does have his autograph!

There is no download card, despite what I have heard. If you are an obsessive, you will already have this or maybe the CD version.

The Flaming Lips: Brainville (1996/2015)

This EP was originally released on CD in 1996, and then re-released on 10" yellow vinyl for the first time for Record Store Day 2015. It contains three tracks:

Brainville
Evil Will Prevail (Live)
Waterbug (Live)

Originally, it was sold for about $17.99 to $19.99. I got it for much less.

The Flaming Lips: Oczy Mlody (2017)

I read somewhere that the title -- Oczy Mlody -- is a Polish phrase that translates to "eyes of the young." I studied the Russian language for a few years, so I can affirm that this translation seems correct. I have owned this record for a short time, so the best I can do is to quote NME:

"This is a sparse, barely corporeal hour of synthetic glitch work connecting disjointed song segments – future funk, psychedelic and prog, goblin pop and bits that sound like a very tired Boards Of Canada trying to write a Broadway musical on heavy-duty tranquillisers. As you might expect from track titles like ‘Listening To The Frogs With Demon Eyes’ and ‘One Night While Hunting For Faeries And Witches And Wizards To Kill’, Coyne’s trademark hallucinogenic imagery still thrives, but it’s delivered cold and deadpan, with the air of a rigid, paranoid comedown.

In the bits when Darth Vader isn’t talking about purple-eyed unicorns shitting everywhere (‘There Should Be Unicorns’), the odd proper song drifts by like a neon island in a shifting ice lake. ‘The Castle’ sounds like ‘Yoshimi…’’s refined reprise, glacial ballads ‘Sunrise (Eyes Of The Young)’ and ‘We A Family’ are amorphous echoes of ‘Do You Realize??’ and minimalist electronic epic ‘How’ is what ‘Creep’ might sound like if Radiohead wrote it today. Otherwise, ‘Oczy Mlody’ is the sonic equivalent of a deserted space-ship adrift in the cosmos, with Coyne as the lonely repair-bot dusting the diodes. A psych rock Passengers, then, rather than Barbarella." [source]

I couldn't have written anything even close to that. I'm one of those people who think everything this band does s golden.

The Flaming Lips: This Here Giraffe (1996/2015)

This EP was originally released on CD in 1996, and then re-released on 10" orange vinyl for the first time for Record Store Day 2015. It contains three tracks:

This Here Giraffe (Album Version)
Jets Part 2 (My Two Days As An Ambulance Driver Live Peel Session Version)
Life On Mars (Live Peel Session Version) Usealotavolume

Somewhat appropriately, this EP contains a cover version of Life on Mars. I am still processing the untimely and shocking death of David Bowie. I have noticed a backlash arising on Facebook, which really irritates me.

Originally, this sold for about $17.99 to $19.99. I got it for much less.

The Flaming Lips: Bad Days (1995/2015)

This EP was originally released on CD in 1996, and then re-released on 10" green vinyl for the first time for Record Store Day 2015. It contains four tracks:

Bad Days (Edited Version) Remix – Dave Fridmann, The Flaming Lips
She Don't Use Jelly (Primitive Demos)
Girl With Hair Like An Explosion (Non LP Track)
Giraffe (Demo Version)

Originally, it was sold for about $17.99 to $19.99. I got it for much less.

The Flaming Lips: 7 Skies H3 (2014)

This was a Record Store Day release from 2014 that comes with this description:

"Limited edition clear vinyl exclusive
Condensed and remastered
A 50-minute distillation across 10 tracks of the epic 24-hour song recorded in 2011. On vinyl for the first time ever!

This vinyl only available at independent record stores"

I'd like to hear the 24 hour version. That version was for sale, as noted by Wikipedia:

"The song was released in a limited edition of 13 copies, on flash drives encased in real human skulls, for Halloween 2011. Each skull cost $5,000. A website was also set up, streaming the song on an endless loop." [source] That website seems to be down, permanently. The same Wikipedia entry also states that 7500 copies of the LP were released.

As for the music, I think it's really intriguing. From Popmatters:

"Ultimately, 7 Skies H3 is another strangely alluring addition to the Flaming Lips truly bizarre discography. Arguably less accessible and enjoyable than The Terror was, 7 Skies H3 still impresses tremendously. Always pushing the envelope doing things ‘their own way’, the Flaming Lips actually seem more innovative and fresher compared to any number of contemporary artists. 7 Skies H3 doesn’t make the band anywhere near the commercial realm or anything like that, but they’d be selling out if that were to happen, right" [source]

The Flaming Lips: The Terror (2013)

I paid less than $8 for a brand new sealed copy of this record. Sorry to brag. To me, describing the music of The Flaming Lips is almost impossible. Sometimes, it's best just to listen to the music. Or, if you like, you can read Allmusic's review, which is pretty good. In short, this album is brilliant.

The Flaming Lips: Peace Sword (2013)

This release came on the heels of the previous The Terror. It's very long for something labelled as an EP.

Apparently, this music was inspired by the movie Ender's Game. I think I read elsewhere that one track was used in the film, but the rest was rejected. I guess The Flaming Lips are too esoteric for some.

This was released for Record Store Day, Black Friday 2013 in a gatefold sleeve. The sticker on the shrink wrap says:

"LIMITED EDITION VINYL EXCLUSIVE FEATURING PEACE SWORD FROM THE MOVIE ENDER'S GAME. THIS VINYL ONLY AVAILABLE AT INDEPENDENT RECORD STORES"

I love all music from this band, and this is entertaining.

Imagene Peise [The Flaming Lips]: Atlas Eets Christmas (2007]

I hate Christmas music with a passion. I can sort of tolerate Xmas tunes if I hear the jingly-jangly music during the festive season, but only barely, and not until after my December birthday. Despite being an atheist, I have a clear preference for religious Christmas music, if I were forced to choose. I know, that sounds truly bizarre. Even Bruce Cockburn's Christmas album, chock-full of superstition and fairy tales, is far more palatable than secular curiosities, like Frosty the Snowman. I guess one explanation is that Christmas music is really music for children. Another explanation could be that Christmas music, especially the secular variety, is simply inane.

Having said that, I bought copy of this record on red vinyl (brand new, still in shrink wrap) for $1.99, marked down from $19.99. Only 5000 copies in red vinyl were released. At that price, I could not say no. I love The Flaming Lips, so I had to buy it. This was a 2014 Black Friday Record Store Day release. A limited edition CD came out in 2007.

Imagene Peise is a fiction. She is described as being an Iraqi jazz pianist who recorded this record at the age of eighteen. She is said to have committed suicide in 1978. This record is reported to have been a lost album. None of that is true, but I guess it's entertaining, and so is the record. I would argue that this is the greatest Christmas album ever recorded.

The Flaming Lips: Zaireeka (1997)

Although initially released on CD in 1997, the four LP box set came out on Record Store Day in 2013. It's described by Allmusic as: 'A combination of the words "Zaire" and "Eureka," Zaireeka is a term coined by Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne symbolizing the fusion of anarchy and genius." [source]

The intention is that all four discs (CDs or records) be played simultaneously, though one doesn't need to play all four. The records can be played in combinations of two or three or four. I think I could manage play four CDs simultaneously, but I do not have four turntables or receivers. I can't even play two records at once, unless I make a tape of one. In other words, this is a truly bizarre thing to have on vinyl. Nevertheless, the individual records are interesting in themselves. Perhaps this calls for a party, wherein I would have to invite four friends to bring turntables and receivers and speakers.

I found this item heavily discounted when a local record store closed a location. I paid just over $10 for a sealed copy. As a fan of the Lips, I could not turn it down. Each record is a different colour: blue, red, orange, and lime green. The enclosed booklet comes with this warning:

"Warning: this is a unique recording. These eight compositions are to be played using as many as four players, and have synchronized start times. This recording also contains frequencies not normally heard on commercial recordings and on rare occasion has caused the listener to become disoriented. These extremely high and low frequencies can cause a person to become disoriented, confused or nauseated. DO NOT listen repeatedly at high volume. Make sure infants are out of listening range. Zaireeka should not be listened to while driving."

An intrepid fan uploaded a video of all tracks synchronized on Youtube:

The Flaming Lips: Hit To Death In The Future Head (1992)

My copy is a remastered reissue from 2011. I wish I had an original German pressing, but the last time I checked, it was selling for more than $100. This record was the band's major label debut, having moved from Restless Records to Warner. The band shifted sound a few times, and I guess this is a bridge between the earlier stuff and what came next. I love it.

The Flaming Lips: Telepthaic Surgery (1989)

Telepathic Surgery began life as a concept album; the band initially set out to create a 30-minute sound collage. The plan was later scrapped; however, the remnants of this original idea are evident within the album's loose, meandering structure and the epic "Hell's Angel's Cracker Factory". The album is named after a line from the Flaming Lips song "Chrome Plated Suicide".

"Chrome Plated Suicide" stands out as one of the group's most accomplished early recordings, possibly due to being based on Guns N' Roses' critically acclaimed "Sweet Child o' Mine". Sub Pop asked the group to record "Drug Machine in Heaven" for their 'single of the month' series. It was retitled as "Drug Machine" and is the group's first official single. The 'A-side' was backed with "Strychnine/What's So Funny (About Peace, Love and Understanding)", a cover of "Strychnine" by The Sonics and "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" by Brinsley Schwarz, but based on the Elvis Costello and the Attractions cover version.

Similar to many albums of its time, the CD release of Telepathic Surgery had a track listing differing from its LP release due to the time restraints of a single vinyl LP. Extra tracks on CD versions were "Fryin' Up" and "Hell's Angel's Cracker Factory", which are included in between "Miracle on 42nd Street and "U.F.O. Story". [source]

That sums it up. I really love the sound of early Lips records, even if Allmusic doesn't. This record was repressed in 2005 in blue vinyl and again on black vinyl in 2018. I have the original US pressing, which might be hard to find.

The Flaming Lips: Oh My Gawd!!!...The Flaming Lips (1987)

It's very difficult to track down original pressings of early Flaming Lips records, and when I do find one, they are ridiculously expensive. As a result, this record is a 2005 limited edition re-issue on clear vinyl. I'd like an original, but there are other pressing needs. I love this band immensely. I went to their free concert at NXNE in Toronto a few years back and loved it.

The Flaming Lips: Hear It Is (1986)

No, I was not aware of the Flaming Lips in 1986. No, I do not have an original pressing of this LP. I picked up this 2018 repress and it sounds very good.