Search - Flaming Lips :: Oh My Gawd Flaming Lips

Phase Two of the Flaming Lips quest for sonic perfection

caparo@email.unc.edu | Chapel Hill, NC | 02/23/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After the release of "Hear It Is" (preceded by their eponymous debut EP), the Flaming Lips spent a while on the road, honing their chops and composing and tightening up the material that would comprise their follow-up. As such, "Oh My Gawd!" thoroughly delivers on the promises made on the first two records - and then some. The songs are more cohesive, the playing is tighter, and the direction, if you can call it that, is considerably more focused. Right off the bat, "Everything's Explodin'" sets the tone for the record with lyrics like, "Boy, you're so loud that you could wake the dead, and some of the living, they're waking, too." Tongue in cheek, perhaps, but accurate; almost everything here expands on the themes on "Hear," from the Pink Floyd-isms of "One Million Billionth of a Millisecond On A Sunday Morning" to the piano-smashing (literally) and Beatles tape-loop of "Love Yer Brain." That, and everything in between, shows a band interested in growing and building on their previous work. "Oh My Gawd!" isn't the ultimate achievement for the Flaming Lips, but it is the next evolutionary step for a rock group already obviously unique in a sea of sameness. The Lips make music for the Lips first, but are happy when anyone else gets the joke; as they put it in "Explodin,'" "If you don't like it, write your own song.""

TAKE THIS BROTHER, MAY IT SERVE YOU WELL....

wally gator | USA | 05/02/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've been trying to build up a collection of early Flaming Lips stuff, ever since I discovered that they have a pretty good set of eighties garage and pseudo-psychedelic titles. I just aquired OH MY GAWD!!! on a limited edition vinyl bit from 2007. It was a toss up between this and their 1989 release, Telepathic Surgery.



I find it hard to believe that I never ventured beyond that Dont Use Jelly song of theirs when I was a kid. While they have had some interesting releases in recent years, the further back you go in the Lips catalougue you can find some really rad stuff. This album for instance is great... smarmy punk fused garage act like a set of bones that hold together the albums flesh of harmonious dirges; a little bit sad and crippled, with scattered sound, but still rather beautiful. Within are plenty of psychedelic breakdowns and a crash fest or two. They put a lot of unique production behind the soundscape as well, the nine minute second track (read the title on your own its too long and crazy for me to remember) switches between rockin guitars to easy beating acoustic and piano grooves. If you like the Lips of modern day art rock fame, I think you may just find this bit every bit as interesting. Its got more of a raw sound to it. Really these guys could bust some heads back in the day...



Telepathic Surgery here I come...

"

Even MORE Ambitious??

Acdir | Livermore, CA. | 08/27/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Flaming Lips trudge on, getting a bit more mastery of their instruments, with OH MY GAWD!!... And the results really vary. The first track, "Everything's Explodin'", sounds very much like the first album, except for the slightly different drum sound. It's another garage rocker with a nice acoustic bridge... Oh yeah, they go acoustic a lot in this album.



The second track is a Pink Floyd knock-off. It's nine minute long and quite progressive, and I must say I'm impressed with what they made of two guitars, a bass, and a drum set. This is the pretentious album cut, much like "Jesus Shootin' Heroin" was on HEAR IT IS. Sometimes it feels like it's going nowhere, but it's quite the tribute.



"Maximum Dream Of Evil Kinievel" is one of those songs that is very, very bad... but at the same time, it's endearing and kind of hard to resist. It's got very punchy verses with punk riffs in between the lines, and a Beatles reference. Speaking of The Beatles, they include a clip of "Revolution 9" at the very beginning and a clip of "Tomorrow Never Knows" at the end of this album.



"Can't Exist" is an acoustic song contributed by the Richard English, and of course they couldn't help but plaster feedback all over the place. It's a mediocre song, and the vocals suck... This is why drummers should not contribute songs (I'm only kidding!) Actually, the main drawback of this album is the vocals. Wayne really needed work on his voice here, but he fortunately fixed that throughout the next album. "Ode To C.C. Part 1" is just backwards noise and talking... not the best of their tracks, for sure. "Celin' Is Bending" is bland, and apparently stole the very music of one of Alice Cooper's songs... Tracks 4-6 are pretty much the low point of this album.



"Prescription: Love" is one of my favorite tracks here, with a very, very lengthy intro following the basic blues/punk formula with the I-IV-V chords, but it's damn catchy. I like the lyrics, as well. "Thanks To You" is the second song contributed by the Richard English, which is very much better than "Can't Exist" as far as the music goes, but the vocals are still pretty terrible.



"Can't Stop The Spring" is a great song, in my opinion, and they had some amateur string sampling thrown in, but it works. "Ode To C.C. Part 2" is a good folksy acoustic ditty. The vocals are much better here, and Wayne's showing more promise as a singer. "Love Yer Brain" is my absolute favorite, though, and the piano really makes it. Four basic chords repeated over and over, with some lovely lyrics thrown in and the destruction of a piano... How could an album end any better? BY THROWING IN A BEATLES SAMPLE? I guess so.



So it's quite the rocky album, but the good tracks are definite improvements over "Hear It Is," and leaves one intrigued to see what comes next."