Before they were the Kings of Pop Utopia, the Flaming Lips were a bunch of scrawny, rock 'n' roll-obsessed kids making an unholy racket in the basements, garages and alleyways of Oklahoma City, miles removed from the futuristic pop machine that is now making critters, critics and pundits alike foam at the mouth.
More of a luxury item than an essential purchase, Finally the Punk Rockers are Taking Acid: 1983-1988 includes the band's first three albums for Restless -- Hear it is, Oh My Gawd... and Telepathic Surgery -- as well as their long out-of-print self-titled EP and an army of bonus cuts, outtakes and alternate versions culled from the band's personal sonic stash. Taken at face value, these three albums aren't exactly the most awe-inspiring moments of the band's career, but they illustrate the first few steps in the band's evolution from humble lo-fi loons to the paisley-clad, distortion-wracked psychedelic bandoleers who melted the nearly impenetrable heart of a major label (Warner Brothers) -- and even more implausibly, won over patrons of the grunge nation with their whimsical brand of cyanide-laced pop 'n' roll.
While the three discs deliver heaping helpings of LSD-drenched psychedelic weirdness, the collection's release is a bit of a conundrum; old guard fans are being asked to buy this material for a second, perhaps even third time (albeit with desirable bonus tracks), while newer fans are likely to be taken aback or scared off completely by the guitar-dominated obliqueness and compromised production values that drag these songs much further afield, weirdness-wise. Regardless, it's handy to have all three albums in one place -- and to be fair, the extra material alone is worth the price of admission. Particular goodies include a crazed version of the "Batman Theme", a roaring cover of the Who's "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" and interstellar live versions of "Jesus Shooting Heroin" and "My Own Planet".
They might not sound like the 'Lips you've become accustomed to, but these three albums form the cornerstone of one of the strangest careers the music world has ever seen. The Grateful Dead's "long strange trip" ain't got nothing on Wayne & Co.'s neuron-decimating cosmic trajectory.
