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Rating: Enchanting. That's how I would define "Telephatic Surgery". A dreamy, dreamlike trip. A sonic macumba, an album marked with the Lips' blood, music that leaves you speechless and amazed. "Telephatic Surgery" is the diamond of neo-psychedelia.
To immediately set the gastric acids in motion in our stomach, there's the hard and almost metal "Drug Machine In Heaven", which arrives there, fierce, in front of everyone and everything, with a raspy voice, incendiary drums, and two chords thrown in there to make the rhythm more badass. You might say: "But is this hair metal?". But then comes the vaguely grunge riff of "Right Now", and a concentrate of Pink Floyd and emphatic choruses in repetition begins, blasting your ears. Conye's voice, which here recalls the Husker Du, is tormented but fierce. After the 30 distorted seconds of "Michael, Time To Wake Up", we arrive at "Chrome Plated Suicide".
A melancholic but hopeful ballad, sad, painful, but optimistic. The guitar, which in my opinion expresses itself best here, has a dirty but pleasant sound to the point that you don't care about what's behind it and are satisfied with the beautiful melody. It concludes with an ending rich in pathos that dissolves, rises, and fades away. "Hari-Krishna Stomp Wagon" is a simple and genuine punk that seems to come out of the Pistols' repertoire, but the ending contradicts us with a hint of psychedelia, which introduces "Miracle on 42nd Streets", an acoustic piece, which fits well as it is, with that lullaby-like whispering voice. I don't know what effect it has on you, but I saw echoes of Minutemen ("Do you want New Wave or Do you want the Sound?", "Cohesion"). "Fryin' Up" balances between seventies Hard Rock and a raucous garage, ending with drum rolls and Van Halen-like riffs.
Then comes the moment. "Hell'S Angel'S Cracker Factory". That marked bass and an engine revving. It seems like the intro of "European Son" by Velvet Underground, but a first chord arrives. And it takes just one chord to understand where Jane's Addiction took inspiration for their compositions, especially for "Three Days". Such extreme guitar work, I thought only Jimi in a trance state or Frank Zappa in "Gumbo Variations" were capable of. Amid hallucinatory chaos, bizarre instrumentalism, accordions, background chatter, video game sounds, and honks, you arrive exhausted and with bags under your eyes at the end of this deafening diatribe. Overwhelmed, yes. But satisfied. The "Interstellar Overdrive" of the Lips.
The musical chat that introduces "U.F.O. Story" seems to calm the waters, but only two minutes pass and a noisy psychedelic noise returns to make us suffer, but at the same time enjoy. To conclude, a heartfelt and very emotional piano. "Redneck School of Technology" instead is a hard blues revisited in a punk key, very, very cheerful and decisive. Another little jewel of the album is the psychedelic ballad "Shaved Gorilla", which will influence several indie groups to come. After the acoustic "The Spontaneous Combustion of John", which leaves a bitter aftertaste, comes "The Last Drop Morning of Dew", an energetic and gritty pop rock.
We are at the end. "Begs and Achin'" feels like rock, feels like rapcore, and feels like punk. Let's say it feels like crossover. At least in the beginning. Then it increasingly expands into a pleasant pop rock that beautifully closes this chapter of the Lips' music. Whether you believe it or not, or whether you are aware of it or not, this album is probably one of the best of the 80s in the panorama, not only experimental but also of all rock.
A difficult dish to digest, but varied and full of original insights.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Right Now (03:57)
The daylight rips at my naked thoughts
A hundred miles an hour
But I'm still lost right now
We think we know just who we are
But sometimes I think we've gone too far
Right now ... right now
In my head all my engines die
And it's scraping pieces out of the sky right now
Once I thought I had figured it out
In dream I knew what it was all about
My life and times are lyin' on the floor
I ain't never walkin' through there no more
And I'm walking down this highway
I don't know the year, I don't know the day
03 Michael, Time to Wake Up (00:29)
Mchael, it is time to wake up
Sleepy Head
It's time to wake up
You have slept too long
In the darkness of night,
And now it is time to awake
And see your girlfriend...
What a fright...
10 Redneck School of Technology (02:56)
I'm draggin' everybody down
But being healthy's just a big drag anyway
I'm startin' to reconsider things
I'm gonna live like a trucker without his uppers every day
Me and mom sit and talk all night about
Peace and love and politics
And the millionaires we'll be someday
My momma told me something once
She told me something, I forget what it was
Ronny Van Zandt's ghost lives inside of me
But he just sits there
I don't know what he does
I'm leaving everything behind
Except my mind and my valentine if I got time
Gonna go to some redneck town where
They hold class in the middle of the night
If my school had burned to the ground
I would've gotten smarter sooner
And you know that's right.
12 The Spontaneous Combustion of John (00:53)
It's such a shame, Johnny smokes
And his eyes are full of fire
Like the first time Captain Marvel zapped him
Right between the eyes
14 Begs and Achin' (04:15)
I see ya flyin' in your UFO all the time Crash and burnin' in my backyard It's begs and achin' all the time I ridin' on your brainwaves Surfin in a dream I wish you'd save those dreams for me I see you flyin' in your UFO all the time I don't remember what day it was Begs and achin' all the time
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Other reviews
By freakout
If you don’t cry listening to 'Chrome Plated Suicide,' you might as well seriously consider suicide.
This album oozes tears, sweat, and blood from every single note and even from the silences.
By freakout
This is the best Flaming Lips album.
'If you don’t cry at "Chrome Plated Suicide", you might as well seriously consider suicide.'
