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Oh My Gawd!!!...The Flaming Lips

The Flaming Lips - Oh My Gawd!!!...The Flaming Lips Audio CD

A fair review of the The Flaming Lips "Oh My Gawd!!!...The Flaming Lips" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Flaming Lips reviews here, or go back to the The Flaming Lips tabs.

Band: The Flaming Lips
Title: Oh My Gawd!!!...The Flaming Lips
Rating:

Release Date: 1993-07-01
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Everything's Explodin' 2: One Million Billionth of a Millisecond on a Sunday Morning 3: Maximum Dream for Evil Knievel 4: Can't Exist 5: Ode to C.C., Pt. 1 6: Ceiling Is Bendin' 7: Prescription: Love 8: Thanks to You 9: Can't Stop the Spring 10: Ode to C.C., Pt. 2 11: Love Yer Brain

TAKE THIS BROTHER, MAY IT SERVE YOU WELL....
I just aquired OH MY GAWD!!! on a limited edition vinyl bit from 2007. 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. 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??
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.

More hidden tributes...
Not to mention the classical sample at the end of "Can't Stop The Spring;" any guesses?
. There's a couple of other obscure references here besides the obvious Beatles samples; like the first 45 seconds, the verses and the ending of "The Ceiling Is Bendin" which are a spot-on cover of the Alice Cooper Bands' song "Levity Ball" (from their first album PRETTIES FOR YOU).

EGAD!! The Flaming Lips!!
It was a great buy. Ok, this album rocks. Someone once told that it wasn't worth it to get their early music, because they had a different vocalist then what people are use to. Well whoopie-de-do! This album is awesome! It's like late 60's rock/ acid punk rock. I loved this band the moment I heard them with Yoshimi, but I am starting to love their earlier work more now because it's heavier, more raw, loud and just darn cool! A very good mix of songs. . . these are the ones that stick out to me. . .

"Everythings Explodin" is a pretty good opener which starts off with a piece from the Beatles song Revolution #9, "Take this brother may it serve you well" and then it starts off into the Lips song.

"One Million Billionth of a Millisecond on a Sunday Morning" Is over 9 minutes of pure awesomeness! The first time I heard this I was in awe.

"Can't Exist" I very nice slower song that is on the edge of beautiful. It sounds very nice.

"The Ceiling is Bending" great lyrics and a really good drum beat to it.

"Prescription: Love" is an awesome jam song. Just listen to it, it rocks!

"Thanks to You" Another really nice mellow song I really liked the first time I listened to it like most of the album.

The REST of the songs are awesome as well, but don't stick out to me as much as these. The album is amazing. You really should get into the original Lips, because Oh My Gawd!!! . . . It's The Flaming Lips! And they are an amazing band. Their drums stick out so much more in their early years. Their guitar is bleepin' great, grungy, raw and crazy!

Warning: They sound nothing like the later stuff. (BUT YOU SHOULD STILL GET THE EARLY ALBUMS!!!)

Pretty awesome band for being from Oklahoma! Weird! No offense to anyone from Oklahoma.

Flaming Lips are a really awesome hard rockin' acid punk grunge wonder of a band and are turning into a very obscure unique artistic band. I love everything they do! (but I hear that their first album isn't so great) BUT, everything else after it they ROCKED HARD!!

EGAD!! THE FLAMING LIPS!!.

One Of My Favorites
It's also their first great album, their debut is kinda boring. This is definately a great Flaming Lips album, and one you should definately check out.

You can see a complete list of all The Flaming Lips discography, or go back to the The Flaming Lips tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.