The Flaming Lips. The Worlds Most Frustrating Band?

Update on this: Telepathic Surgery (Restless 7 72350-2) sounds fine. Good dynamics (at least on the two songs I sampled). I wonder why Oh My Gawd is squished the way it is, and the other '80s albums aren't. Did it have a secret remaster that used the same identifiers, or was it just an odd anomaly? (Well, not odd for the Flaming Lips - the dynamic CDs are the anomalies there - but odd for CD mastering in 1987.)

 

Yes. It's just as horrible as the standard CD. It was doomed from the start, however:

"[Producer] Fridmann laughs when recalling how the original snippet from the jam ('Convinced Of The Hex') actually sounded. Drozd, he says, used only one mic — his Shure KSM44 through a Universal Audio 6176 direct into Pro Tools — and the result was almost ludicrously distorted. "You can't even imagine how ridiculous this thing sounded,” he says. "It was literally one mic sitting in between a double stack of bass amps, some keyboard PA and a drum kit, all going at full blast.

"...Though there's only one track — four or five different returns into the console we'd multi‑signalled. It'd be, 'This one's kick drum, this one's snare, this one's bass, this one's vocal.' Really, I would just be isolating and EQ'ing and compressing different sections of the sound so that we had some semblance of control to bring out the elements we wanted to when we wanted to. If somebody said, 'I wish there was more kick drum,' instead of having to change everything, you could move over to that fader and be like, 'Well, alright, we're calling that one the kick drum, we can turn that one up.'”

Flaming Lips ​

 

To be fair, the loud-as-hell Fridmann/Lips sound is part of their distinctive "sound" as an artistic choice. For 99% of the other music that is brickwalled, it's simply just to make their music "competitive" volume-wise with the other music on I-tunes/radio/etc...

 

Yes, the Lips use unlistenability as an instrument. It's the listener's decision whether or not that's acceptable. For me, it is.

 

Coyne has written about his drug experiences before. He'd only dropped acid twice as of the writing of the liner notes for Finally the Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid in 2002, and in Fearless Freaks all more or less dismissed any current or recent drug use. By 2013 he told The Quietus, "I only take MDMA (ecstasy) and coke and stuff.... These drugs are like the recreational fun drugs. That's what I call them. I'm not doing them in any soul-searching way."

The Quietus | Features | A Quietus Interview | A Battlefield Of Anxieties: The Flaming Lips Interviewed

 

They're certainly not alone in this regard. The Jesus and Mary Chain had that screeching, ear-piercing feedback on their early stuff for example.

 

Yeah, because molly and coke are on par with pot. I love ya Wayne, please don't ever change.

To be fair, he always seemed to be one of those "high on life" guys. He wrote his own reality not because of drugs, but just because he wanted to.

That said, coke still f***s your voice over, and his voice has suffered severely since that quote.

 

Ugh. The problem is there was a "pre-drugs" era... or more precisely, a pre-drugs-as-marketing/image/publicity.

What I always loved about this band is, aside from some references, the band wasn't specifically pro-drug; they were pro-weirdo. That could include drug use, but not limited to it. It was just rejoicing in weirdoism without the specific drug references. But by about the Embryonic era, after cashing in with the festival crowd, they really started hammering into the LIGHT IT UP 420 XDDD thing, which aside from being obnoxious, really demystifies the weirdoism-by-your-choice, if that makes any sense. They used to just be Fearless Freaks. Now they have to specify they are Fearless Druggy Freaks. Why does it even matter?

Also note, according to former drummer Nathan Roberts, they were never a drug band to begin with. I don't mean to further perpetuate the Wayne's Midlife Crisis narrative, but he either dived into this recently within the last decade, or it's an obvious catering to drug culture. Either way, ugh.

 

I had no idea that they have openly promoted drug use during the past ten years. News to me.

I do know that Wayne admitted to selling pot as a side job during his Long John Silver days.

 

Probably in the minority, but I much prefer their early garage/psych era, especially Oh my Gawd!

 

I recently got their first 3 LPs on the 2018 Rhino reissues. I’ve only heard Hear It Is so far, but really dug it. The debut EP is a bunch of fun too.

 

Yeah. I don't think I believe Wayne when he says he didn't do drugs. I mean, he was obviously, y'know, Wayne - for a person like that, no amount of drugs will change the core - but starting around 2013/2014 (maybe earlier... it didn't creep into The Terror, but it was happening around that time) he had his second mid-life crisis. When he had his first one with At War With The Mystics, there was enough steam in the pipes to carry him back to "normalcy", so to speak... but this time he just embraced the youth culture while pushing 60.

Props to the dude for doing what makes him happy. This world is a ball of horror and I support anyone doing anything (that is, anything that doesn't negatively affect other people) to make it tolerable. And, to be fair, he is still the friendliest guy to his fans and admirers - that much hasn't been affected. But I really feel like... the best way to put it is that he lost sight of the character in "The Sound Of Failure". That song was about being isolated from the shininess of pop culture - well, now he's embraced it. And while, like I said, I don't begrudge him for doing something that clearly makes him happy, what I admired about him was his inherent "outsider-ness". He headlined festivals with bright colorful balloons and confetti shotguns and laser hands, but he still understood and connected with the outsiders.

That's part of what I admire about Embryonic (there's a billion and one reasons, because that album is unbelievably powerful, but this is one of them). Even when the Flaming Lips were a big name, doing those insane live shows and everything like that, they still maintained - fiercely - their independence, their individuality, their defiance, by releasing a desolate, unwelcoming, impenetrable monolith of an album (on a label as popular and well-known as Warner Bros., to boot). They'll be your friend, they'll shake your hand, they'll make you smile - but they're going to do what they want to do, expectations be damned.

Now, it's hard to say where and why things changed, because that's still true (Oczy Mlody sure as hell wasn't a hit-breaking pop sellout or anything). But I really feel like, somewhere along the way, he shut the door on that "outsider world" (and I apologize for repeatedly using that phrase, but I really can't think of another term for it). As mentioned, he's still friendly with fans, and I still respect him greatly for that... but something cracked somewhere, and I get the vibe that a lot of him is an act now. The fact that he seemed to be - and, I'm convinced, was - that way naturally is one of the biggest reasons I admired him so much. But now... the cracks are starting to show. And it's hard to put into words.

That said... I still love the band. Oczy Mlody was a huge step down from the holy trinity of Embryonic/7 Skies H3/The Terror that I admire so much, but there's enough good stuff on it that I still put it on from time to time. King's Mouth, to me, signifies a change in direction, and I sort of wonder if the band knows where they're going. But, like the previous album, I enjoyed it and I'm going to be quite happy when the CD finally arrives. (A month late, wow...) The fact that Wayne has clearly changed as a person doesn't take away from my enjoyment of the music (for the most part... I can do without the Miley Cyrus vocals and such). And they still have my respect and loyalty for continuing to experiment, and to not get complacent, even if we're beginning to reach stages of diminishing returns. None of that changes the fact that they're a strong contender for my all-time top 5 bands (if I can't count Bash & Pop as being appended to the Replacements, then they'll probably take the #5 spot).

Man, that's a lot of writing for really not saying anything at all. Someone get me a job at Rolling Stone!

 

Those were in heavy rotation when I worked in college radio back in the day. Ahhhhh....when the workplace had the scent of "imported" cigarettes and other herbal offerings. Saw them live late 80s Mpls Uptown Bar. They were so loud the glass window next to the stage cracked!

 

The Flaming Lips? Loud?? No!

 

This was after seeing early Nirvana which was deafening. The Uptown only held a couple hundred people if that. Imagine that with 130 decibel sound mate!

 

Well, they did make Priest-Driven Ambulance as loud as it is due to a badly dubbed Nirvana tape being louder... huzzah! The death of music, all started by not setting levels properly.

 

My narrative was from a live perspective. They were making obnoxiously loud lps from day one, which is what most self taught garage punks do....hehe

 

Oczy Mlody was an uneven album, The King’s Mouth is much better. I picked up the vinyl LP on Record Store day, and downloaded a digital copy from HD Tracks. These will be the first albums from the Lips and Tool that I won’t ever be buying on CD.

I see “The Terror” as the end of their string of masterpieces which started with “In A Priest Driven Ambulance”. I love it all, the weird and and the sublime.

Seeing the band on the Embryonic Tour, and being on stage with them, is probably the greatest concert experience of my life. It was a magical day I’ll never forget.

 

While I can accept that this has been an intentional choice on the part of the band, I still strongly feel that it is a poor one, verging on incomprehensible. I don't consider myself to be a hardcore audiophile--I enjoy plenty of modern releases that purists would turn their noses up at--but this kind of dial everything up to 11 production aesthetic (a.k.a. the Fridmann Way) that relentlessly bludgeons your eardrums into submission is hard to fathom. Embryonic was the point where I got off the bus. For me, they got too carried away with extreme over-indulgence for its own sake by then.

 

Coyne in 2011:

"I think without [Mercury Rev's] Deserter's Songs being so significant, The Soft Bulletin would probably have not been followed too much. But since it was put in the same vein, people became very interested in us. With that show, we were doing a really dramatic thing, we didn't have a drummer then, we were using video, showing you these images. And us standing there, trying to embrace this new character that we'd become, by doing The Soft Bulletin. ...We definitely became these characters that do The Soft Bulletin. I think that's who we even are now. In the way that Roger Daltrey became Tommy, I became that guy who could sing The Soft Bulletin. Previous to The Soft Bulletin, I didn't ever feel comfortable just standing there singing songs about death. ...After The Soft Bulletin I could do this different thing. We would still do a bunch of crazy [stuff], but it's me singing these words and thinking that's where the power lies."​

The Quietus | Features | A Quietus Interview |

And therein lies the frustrating part for me. The Flaming Lips achieved something great with The Soft Bulletin, but they became characters, or caricatures after that. Yoshimi and Mystics appeared heartfelt, but the net effect gradually felt empty and false. When Embryonic was released, they sounded like they were aping Tago Mago or something. At least the last time they did a CAN impression with "Take Meta Mars" it appeared more like a one-off cover, as though filtered through their own personality. While Embronic was better than Mystics, it still didn't feel original. Throw in Coyne's celebrity antics, the costumed psychedelic hippie barely-legal groupies as distractions, and myriad unfocused music-related releases and I am left feeling, yes, frustrated.

Sorry for the rant...

 

I pay very little attention to that stuff. I just listen to the music. Then again, I rarely pay attention to or use social media outside of talking about music on the Hoffman forum, so that might have something to do with it.

 

I have Transmissions and Yoshimi, but honestly haven't listened to them in probably 10 years. Will have to pull them out now and give them a listen.

 

I definitely disagree on the notion of Embryonic being unoriginal. But to each their own. I don't know too much about Can, so you may be completely right.

I feel like there's a further split: they became characters with in the '00s, and caricatures in the '10s. Which my sleep-deprived novel from last night/this morning tried to summarize.

Despite my rambling, I don't either - but I have picked up on it through the music, and that's what bothers me.

 

At the same time, they are still fearless freaks. Just perhaps more damaged and weathered from time and fame than before.

 

I had a FLAC version of the 24-hour song which I downloaded back at the beginning of the year. Just went to play it, only to discover that 19 and a half hours had vanished! I know it was complete when I downloaded it - I have no idea what happened. I don't know where the original download link I got it from went. Damn!