The Flaming Lips have been around since (believe it or not) 1982 and have since then been now declared "one of the 50 bands you must see before you die." And why not? Believe it or not, this band was once that kind of band no one had ever heard of. Then came popular releases such as
Soft Bulletin and
Yoshimi and the Top 40 single
She Don't Use Jelly and now they're pretty recognizable as of this day.
The earlier Flaming Lips is somewhat of a different experience for those who enjoy the bands more recent material and is regarded as much different. The earlier material has lyrics that somewhat make Wayne Coyne and his bandmates look like demented freaks, and the albums have a more rawer punk sound to it than their earlier stuff. The problem is, certain "diehard" fans of the Flaming Lips who are more used to their recent albums somewhat think of their older earlier stuff as mediocre, and tend to just ignore them.
Current Flaming Lips however is different. The lyrics have gotten much more mature focusing on death, and politics yet still have that flaming lips kind of charm in them. If you think
Yoshimi is bizarre and weird, then wait till you hear this.
Right before this album was released, the Flaming Lips had just signed to Warner Brothers and this album was recorded on some kind of budget. It's still just as raw as their earlier material, but it even has some more mellower, mature songs that were building up to later albums such as
Transmissions and
Clouds Taste Metallic. The guitar are fuzzy, Wayne's vocals are high pitched as usual, and the drums hit hard and sound better than a typical rock record. Despite it being a different sound, it's still almost as experimental as
Yoshimi. It even has a 29 minute noise track at the end of the record.
The great thing about this album is it has no flaws. Alms track is brilliant. The first track
Talkin' Bout The Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues (Everyone Wants To Live Forever) has a great guitar intro, the "wah wah" vocals in the background give it a good dynamic sound, the guitar are fuzzy, and even the title and lyrics are creative.
Felt Good To Burn has a softer mellower feel to it and Wayne's vocals work out great as usual.
Frogs is absolutely catchy, with the verses, the chorus, and Wayn'e vocals of course. I love how the guitar get louder and more distorted towards the end too.
The only tiny problem with this album is the dullness. Wayne's vocals may be great, but sometimes can sound a tiny boring, and even the guitars aren't always 100% great. But it's a great way to discover what the Flaming Lips were like before they started maturing and creating more experimental, poppy music. Definitely worth a listen.
Pros
Underproduced, which make it sound better
Great guitar and drum work, even some of the other instruments are great too
Wayne Coyne's song titles, lyrics and vocals work out well too
Cons
Some people may be turned off by some of the weird lyrics and songtitles and the bands messy production (not a problem for me)
Some of the tracks are be a little boring and require just a couple or few listens.
Recommended tracks
Talkin' 'Bout The Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues
Felt Good To Burn
Frogs
