489. The Flaming Lips

(April 2023) Episode 489 is THE FLAMING LIPS, the durable indie/alt band out of Oklahoma that constantly reinvents itself led by the creative weirdness of Wayne Coyne. Their initial sound was very much 80s college radio, evolving into fuzzy guitar-driven psychedelic music, when they got their 15 minutes of pop fame through MTV’s play of “She Don’t Use Jelly” and a guest appearance at the Peach Pit on 90210. Starting in 1999, though, they shelved the guitars in favor of synths, creating a lush and heavily-processed sound, which bored me.  Coyne’s weak voice, while fitting on some songs, is a liability in the heavier tunes, although this is “fixed” by the later processing, for better or worse.  Kudos to them for recording (with mixed success) reinventions of Dark Side of the Moon and Sgt. Pepper’s, a quadrophonic experiment, several concept albums, and even a Christmas disc.

Favorite album: In a Priest Driven Ambulance

Favorite song: Unconsciously Screamin’

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: the four early 1990s albums (from “Priest” to “Clouds”)