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Rating:
This is what music is to my ears: garage-punk rock psychedelic noise! Back in '86, Wayne Coyne already had an exceptional melodic talent but seasoned his songs with a bit of good old guitar noise, not with cloying studio-crafted effects.
Finally The Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid: how better to describe the music of the Lips in the '80s? Finally, punk married psychedelia and began to explore the interiority of man, not just the social aspect. Wayne Coyne recounts being struck by listening to "Eight Miles High" performed by Hüsker Dü and suddenly understanding that the inner struggle is a fierce and bloody psychological battle for survival! The Flaming Lips express the concept in a more cartoony manner than the Hüskers, but appearances can be deceiving: despite the B-movie look and sometimes nonsensical lyrics, the essence of this psychedelic punk is very serious.
Musically speaking, the album is very eclectic: it alternates garage-punk with acoustic ballads, ragged blues-rock with country and psychedelia. Above all, it’s played with a simplicity and sincerity that unfortunately does not shine through in their latest records.
There are some classic Lips tracks: "With You", a prelude to what they will do in the '90s, the epic (and lengthy) "Jesus Shooting Heroin", and the moving "Godzilla Flick". My favorite is "Charlie Manson Blues", an aggressive rock number sung in a Jim Morrison style filled with comic falsetto choirs and rhythmic UH-AH-UH-AH in the background.
The Flaming Lips were truly great in the '80s, in the '90s they transitioned to a more commercial and lighthearted rock (still of very high quality) to reach the dizzying heights of "Zaireeka" in '97 and then move definitively to the mainstream pop (always classy) of "The Soft Bulletin" and "Yoshimi".
I recommend everyone to purchase the box set "Finally The Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid" which collects, in addition to "Hear It Is", their first eponymous EP and the excellent "Oh My Gawd" and "Telepathic Surgery" plus a ton of bonus tracks (the whole golden period of the Lips, in my opinion).
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
02 Unplugged (02:14)
In this bogus town we ain't got nothing to do.
Everybody's pretty cool, hate to stoop.
Thinking they're great, some new kind of drug.
They got their wires pulled out, tell ya man they're unplugged.
They're unplugged.
Everybody here is a mental case.
Their eyes are staring out into space.
Try to talk to them and I really get burned.
Nobody's home, I tell ya man they're unplugged.
They're unplugged.
There's too many dumb-fucks.
Man, it really sucks.
Spending all their bucks.
They're all unplugged, in their heads. Come on.
In their heads.
Sick!
09 Godzilla Flick (04:05)
This isn't no Godzilla flick,
This isn't no Godzilla flick.
People that you love,
are never going to say 'hello' again.
And it's only in the movies.
This isn't no Godzilla flick.
This isn't no Clint Eastwood flick.
People that you love,
Shouldn't take the life out of themselves.
And it's only in the movies.
This isn't no Godzilla flick.
This isn't no Godzilla flick.
This isn't no Godzilla flick.
And no this time I think it's really it.
And it's only in the movies.
10 Staring at Sound / With You (reprise) (05:08)
I just don't want them to say,
"Oh, it's a beautiful day."
Let's just not talk about the gloom.
Let's all go die in my living-room.
I want to be a movie-star,
And play the part of a man from outer-space.
When we meet, I'll fall in love with you.
And we have sex, but I don't know what to do (what to do).
I want to hear some band play,
A song that sounds just like you look.
And when they play, I'll follow them around,
Cause all I'd do is stare at the sound.
I'd just stare at the sound.
I'd just stare at the sound.
I'd just go.
Come on.
Hey.
What?
All that I know
is my mind is blown.
When I'm with you.
When I'm with you. x5
When I'm...
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By alessioIRIDE
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