With all the success The Flaming Lips enjoyed with their layered, emotional Pet Sounds-inspired albums like The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi, it’s easy to forget that they started back in the 1990s, as a raw, psychedelic guitar band. This song, originally from 1992’s Hit to Death in the Future Head, is even more frenetic in this 1994 live version from Lollapalooza; Wayne Coyne’s rhythm guitar is especially frantic.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A-eQHhIZ2nc
Here’s the studio version for reference – 1992’s Hit to Death in the Future Head was already their fifth album, and their last to feature guitarist Jonathan Donahue, who was already a member of Mercury Rev, and who left to concentrate on that band.
I’m very fond of this album. Enjoyed seeing it get air time!
I think Soft Bulletin and Priest Driven Ambulance are my favourites though.
So far I’ve only got the 2 you mentioned (and I hadn’t thought about the Pet Sounds connection, perhaps that’s why I liked them so much!) – nice to read that there’s much more to the discography!
They were very good all through the 1990s – lots of good guitar rock before The Soft Bulletin. Everyone else seems to love 2002’s Yoshimi. but I’ve never connected to it as much.
It’s always nice to see some love for the early fuzzy Flaming Lips… I think the reason I like Oczy Mlody so much is that it has such a deep connection to that stuff sonically.
Anyhoo, I think they’re one of the best ever… few bands can match that run from In A Priest Driven Ambulance to At War With The Mystics.
Yeah, that’s pretty much all the Lips I have – they’re all pretty good, even though I think Yoshimi is a bit overrated.
Yoshimi is certainly the one that the mainstream grabbed on to… people recognise tracks without necessarily knowing who the band is. Personally, I think it’s a beautiful album. Not their best (pushing for a place in the top 5), but it’s a really splendid album.