The Flaming Lips Poll

Imagination...that's the way that it seems...

This poll was created to annoy me when Priest Driven Ambulance doesn't win.

maybe sweet Jesus will shine on you

Clouds Taste Metallic
Hit to Death in the Future Head
Transmissions/Priest Driven Ambulance (I love them both equally but in different ways.)
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Yoshimi/Soft Bulletin (tie)
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At War with the Mystics

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Hear It Is/Oh My Gawd/Telepathic Surgery

I've never actually heard Zaireeka. I did see the Boombox Experiment in Philadelphia, though.

I'd mostly agree although I think OMG and Surgery are a lot better than Hear It Is.

It's been a loooong time since I've listened to those three. Maybe I will revisit and see if my opinion on them has changed any.

Where's the Southern Oklahoma Cosmic Trigger Contest EP?

That is hands down the best thing they've ever done. Lips do country music.

As it is, I'll vote for Hit to Death in the Future Head. Their pre-Soft Bulletin stuff is sooo underrated. I hate it when people slag off the Flaming Lips and only mention their last three albums.

Terrible choice between Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi here. The former was def. more groundbreaking, but the latter more...complete somehow.

Easy choice here with #1 Clouds, #2 Transmissions.

However, as Jets Part 2 is my favorite song ever from them, when they reissue Transmissions in 2015 with that and the rest of the "Providing Needles For Your Baloons" EP as bonus tracks, I may reconsider that order.

im still guessing soft bulletin wins even with all these comments about other albums

I went with Zaireeka, even though I only get to hear it every few years.

im still guessing soft bulletin wins even with all these comments about other albums

I don't know, lately it seems like there's been a big backlash on Soft Bulletin, both here (ok, for the past 5 years here, not just "lately") and everywhere else, as well. I think the negative comments are a result of the album being overrated, not a lack of quality.

I still love just about everything they've done, starting with Priest Driven Ambulance and ending with some of Yoshimi. At War with the Mystics is just awful.

everything on the soft bulliten kicks ass except the superman song. i listen to the mixed down zaireeka alot. i pick clouds.

*bulletin

oh pssh "waiting for superman" is wonderful...

im going bulletin...no backlash here

1. Clouds Taste Metallic
2. Transmissions from the Satellite Heart
3. The Soft Bulletin

also love:

In a Priest Driven Ambulance
Hit to Death in the Future Head
Zaireeka
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
At War with the Mystics

eh whatevs. i never liked the superman song. i just got the 'demastered' version (the band's preferred version) and it's a much better tracklisting. also gets rid of those sucko "remixes."

1 Race for the Prize Flaming Lips 4:08
2 A Spoonful Weighs a Ton Flaming Lips 3:32
3 The Spark That Bled Flaming Lips 5:54
4 Slow Motion Flaming Lips 4:01
5 What Is the Light? Flaming Lips 3:16
6 The Observer Flaming Lips 4:04
7 Waitin' for a Superman Flaming Lips 4:11
8 Suddenly Everything Has Changed Flaming Lips 4:17
9 The Gash Flaming Lips 3:54
10 Feeling Yourself Disintegrate Flaming Lips 4:02
11 Sleeping on the Roof Flaming Lips 5:17
12 The Spiderbite Song Flaming Lips 3:09
13 Buggin'

Priest and Hit to Death are on a continuous pendulum for my #1 Lips album, but (oddly) Yoshimi is a definite #3. The rest, I can take or leave altogether.

providing needles for your balloons

yoshimi landslide.

Clouds Taste Metallic

Clouds, again. Then Transmission, Bulletin, Zaireeka, and the rest trailing way behind.

Clouds too for me

In A Priest Driven ambulance.

But Mystics isn't awful. None of their stuff is awful, I like them all.

Close call between Transmissions and Future Head, but Transmissions just squeaked past for me.

I do tend to think of the Lips as two different bands, but I like both of them.

And you like At War With The Mystics don't you?

I do, actually. A lot. I know lots of people don't, though.

The only one I wasn't really bothered about was Yoshimi v. Robots.

Which is my fave out of the last 3!

All the love for Clouds Taste Metallic thrills me to my core.

The records w/Ronald Jones playing guitar are the band's highwater points. His playing was so creative and inspired that all the records that came before them (and after them) seem lackluster.

The band hasn't really "rocked" since his departure.

Anyone know what he's doing now?

the priest through clouds shit is all still pretty much unslaggable unless you're some kind of jerk or something. clouds is my fave. zaireeka is fun for what it is (and the mixdown is pretty awesome, i agree!). soft bulletin has its moments but after that i lose interest.

more love for Clouds yo

Even tho I think Transmissions and Hit are better records all around, I gotta give it to Zaireeka for its unique scope.

Ronald Jones went off on some religious/spiritual ascetic trip, I believe... the last (and only) time I saw the Lips was on his last tour, not really interested in them without him, sorry to say. Soft Bulletin is okay but waaaaay to overbaked. After that I lost interest.

priest driven ambulance

I'll pretty much rep for anything from oh my gawd up through soft bulletin altho the ones before priest have some crap on em

O for the days when the punk rockers were finally taking acid...

I just listened to Telepathic Surgery for the first time in a while and it's really neat, goes off on all these weird little tangents. "Chrome Plated Suicide" is kind of the beginning of the classic Lips sound.

"The Soft Bulletin" may have gotten more critical acclaim, but "Yoshimi..." was when they really refined their style into something really great.

everything on the soft bulliten kicks ass except the superman song.

The version at the end of the album--can't recall if it's the remix or the original version--is the one to listen to. The harmonies absolutely put it over the top.

ok I just listened to Mystics again and I definitely think Surgery and probably OMG are better than it

I wouldn't argue with that, but it's still a good album. It's just a bit one paced really. Could do with less slow songs.

yeah I dunno about 3/4 of it goes in one ear and out the other. Just put OMG on and the first two songs alone are killer, "One Million Billionth of a Millisecond on a Sunday Morning" is such a dead on Floyd rip.

*Clouds. Gotta be Clouds.

(*I've not heard the last one or anything before Future Head in its entirety)

Prescription: Love!!!!! man I had forgotten most of these

gets points for the cover alone. (I couldn't find a jpg of the gatefold.)

http://www.flaminglips.com/media/discography/albums/02_ohMyGawd/afc_ohMyGawd.jpg

yeah that's a great sleeve, very sub-Santana-style

Can't Stop the Spring rocks too, yeah it's a good record. Let's see if I can make it through the first ep and Hear It is now...

well shit

Who voted for Mystics?!?!

haha I LOVE When You Smile!

Who voted for Mystics?!?!

Yeah, I wondered that too. I guess people who haven't heard anything else. Even for what At War with the Mystics seems to be trying to do, it doesn't do as well as Yoshimi or even the b-sides off of Yoshimi.

I'm more concerned about the dude who voted Hear It Is.

and c'mon louis how many songs have a chorus even remotely like "All of the subatomic pieces come together and unfold themselves in a second"?

That's like the sweetest love song ever! Well, second only to Mountainside.

i'm listening to priest driven now and it's really kicking the shit out of me. what a wonderful album.

hit to death is still a better album, though.

when you smile is a legit beautyfest

q: "raining babies" is about c on t's y/n

Well, I like it far more now than I used to! The weird wibbly sound effects in the second half work fantastically well. Thing is, it's such a fine album I prefer the other 13 tracks. Give or take 'This Here Giraffe' (which I'm guessing you all love as well :-P).

That chorus sounds like something Hum could very easily have writte, btw!

Sorry i missed this poll. I probably would have voted "Clouds" cos it was the first one I ever heard and after "Abandoned Hospital Ship" it pretty much sealed the deal for the Lips as my favorite band, at least for the next several years.

That being said I still think Zaireeka is my favorite album, and I kind of wish people would give it more of a chance but then whoever dismisses it because they don't feel like setting up multiple players (2 will work, discs 1 and 3 have the most stuff on them) is just missing out.

I think "Riding to Work" is the best song they've ever done, and the end jazz jam that they pull off is so cool in a 70s sci fi drone prog way that I was sad to see they veered away from that style so heavily in the following albums..

Nah louis Giraffe is probably my least favorite apart from the bassline, but Kim's Watermelon Gun, Fetus w/ Needles and Evil Will Prevail pwn all.

I need to get Clouds and Trans on CD again, I've been listening to a cassette dubbed off the vinyl I used to have for nearly a decade. Those were cool LPs, Trans was orange vinyl and Clouds was green.

My favorite Trans song is Pilot Can At The Queer of God.

ps gotta stick Guy Who Got a Headache on my clouds favorites

HEY GUYS THE MIXDOWN OF ZAIREEKA IS AVAILABLE LIKE EVERYWHERE ITS A VERY FUN LISTEN

ARE ANY OF THE SONGS BETTER THAN KIM'S WATERMELON GUN

best songs on CTM = Fetus, Guy Who Got A Headache (last 30 seconds = most joyous 30 seconds in rock), Kim's Watermelon Gun, They Punctured My Yolk and Bad Days.

oh god I've gone and forgotten Lightning Strikes The Postman IT'S SUCH A GOOD ALBUM FFS

if pressed for a favourite, Headache and Yolk tie for first.

On Zaireeka, I heard it once, in full, thanks to a friend's owning it and a big strategic effort in collecting four CD players together. It was fantastic. If I'd heard it more, it might be my favourite. 'A Machine In India' might be the trip-out jam to end all others (but I kinda forget); 'The Big Ol' Bug Is The New Baby Now' MIGHT be better than Kim's Watermelon Gun.

Giraffe is one of my faves. Fuck you haterz.

the bassline is neat

EWP is win for "the magic bullet is the glowing mother ship" alone

May I mention how much I love "Lightning Strikes the Postman?" HEAVY.

If your knowledge of the Lips begins with The Soft Bulletin, you are missing out hugely!

Jets Part 2 is my favorite song ever from them

Cavendish OTM. I listened to this song last night for the first time in quite a long time. Classic Ivins bass line and screaming R. Jones guitar.

Seems to be that there's a pretty good argument here that the Lips were the best band of the 1990's.

That said, which of the two comps is the one to get?

erm probably get jesus egg first if you haven't heard Priest, though I don't have that yet. "A collection of songs..." will basically give you the highlights of all the pre-WB stuff, but it's missing a lot of good shit.

for those who don't know, jesus egg = Priest with outtakes etc.
Punk rockers are taking acid = s/t ep, Hear, OMG, Surgery

wow clouds taste metallic is actually really great. i had never heard it until being inspired by this poll.

thanks. i'm loving the album.

holy shit i listened to the soft bulletin non-stop freshman year, but i haven't pulled it out in like 6 years

HA:
http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/108769/clouds_taste_metallic

(doesn't say how many stars this originally got, but I think it was 3 IIRC)

glad CTM came through as the winner, as i've slowly been getting back into the lips lately and it's mainly through this album that i've come to appreciate them all over again. a pock on 'yoshimi' though.

i just got the 'demastered' version (the band's preferred version) and it's a much better tracklisting. also gets rid of those sucko "remixes."

1 Race for the Prize Flaming Lips 4:08
2 A Spoonful Weighs a Ton Flaming Lips 3:32
3 The Spark That Bled Flaming Lips 5:54
4 Slow Motion Flaming Lips 4:01
5 What Is the Light? Flaming Lips 3:16
6 The Observer Flaming Lips 4:04
7 Waitin' for a Superman Flaming Lips 4:11
8 Suddenly Everything Has Changed Flaming Lips 4:17
9 The Gash Flaming Lips 3:54
10 Feeling Yourself Disintegrate Flaming Lips 4:02
11 Sleeping on the Roof Flaming Lips 5:17
12 The Spiderbite Song Flaming Lips 3:09
13 Buggin'

Where is this version? I tried to play this album(CD) at a low level, and couldn't believe how bad it sounded.

It's the CD part of this, I think:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Soft-Bulletin-5-1-CD-DVD/dp/B000DN5W0W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1238402826&sr=8-1

I seem to be in the minority, but I think the remixes of the Soft Bulletin tracks are far superior to the "demastered" ones. Pity they're all out of print now.

Seems to be that there's a pretty good argument here that the Lips were the best band of the 1990's.

You could replace "of the 90s" with "ever" and you'd get no argument from me.

Dere Flaming Lips,

Plz rerelease "Zaireeka" on one CD

Plz

Plz

Love,

But that would defeat the whole purpose of the album!

Dude, it has been 12 years. They have made their point. However, I have heard the album once. It was EFFORT. It was also a completely amazingly awesome piece of music that I REALLY want to hear again. Without inviting all my friends and their hi-fis over. Or shifting equipment around the house. Great, revolutionary, uncompromising etc....now just give us the goddamn music

a 7.1 mix would get em pretty much there

If you like the sound of Wayne Coyne going "Track number one this is CD number one number numberthreenumberfour" and then a whole roomful of college kids yeling "FUCK!!" at least twenty times, then Zaireeka is the album for you.

But Snrub...it don't have to be this way

Also, when I and some schoolfriends ran the Zaireeka experiment, we synched it pretty well. The slight out-of-synch-nesses were all part of the fun. But it's time. It's time for those songs, in synch, without the fun of the set-up, without the glorious unpredictability. It's time.

louis unified zaireeka is widely available on the internet fyi

But if they officially acknowledged unification, we'd officially be able to acknowledge the songs in their pristine format, and there'd be a useful flurry of positive criticism headed Coynewards

plus I like owning groovy CDs

This has not stopped me from finding a copy of unified Zaireeka online.

No self-titled 1984 debut EP on LSD Records with "My Own Planet" on it, no credibility.

Zaireeka is an amazing album, absolutely amazing. I think "Riding to Work in the Year 2025" is my favorite Flaming Lips song ever.

I was really into them in high school and thru Soft Bulletin but kind of go in and out of phases nowadays. Their 90s output, tho, is top notch. Really hard to pick a favorite of any of them.

there'd be a useful flurry of positive negative criticism headed Coynewards

Fixed.

This album should not be rereleased in its unified format, ever. Why spoil the fun? Why take one of the decade's most baffling, uniquely interesting experiments and turn it into just another album? Why take away the mystery? Part of the fun, Wayne has always said, is never hearing the same album twice...

Yoshimi

So awesome In a Priest Driven ambulance got so many votes. "There You Are (Jesus Song No. 7" has an amazing solo

how dafuq did soft bulletin not win this

I'd put all the other 90s albums ahead of soft bulletin.

Yoshimi is where they lost me, but they got me back briefly with Embryonic.

There You Are (Jesus Song No. 7" has an amazing solo

damn right it is. that song gives me chills, and the coda chord progression is so sad and beautiful. imo it's proof that they had something of a Soft Bulletin in them even before Steven joined the band.

^ Fuck yeah :)

how dafuq did soft bulletin not win this