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The Day They Shot a Hole in the Jesus Egg - The Priest Driven Ambulance Album, Demos and Outtakes

The Flaming Lips - The Day They Shot a Hole in the Jesus Egg - The Priest Driven Ambulance Album, Demos and Outtakes Audio CD

A fair review of the The Flaming Lips "The Day They Shot a Hole in the Jesus Egg - The Priest Driven Ambulance Album, Demos and Outtakes" 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: The Day They Shot a Hole in the Jesus Egg - The Priest Driven Ambulance Album, Demos and Outtakes
Rating:

Release Date: 2002-10-01
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Shine On Sweet Jesus 2: Unconsciously Screamin� 3: Raining Babie 4: Take Me Ta Mars 5: Five Stop Mother Superior Rain 6: Stand In Line 7: God Walks Among Us Now 8: There Your Are 9: Mountain Side 10: What A Wonderful World 11: Lucifer Rising 12: Ma, I Didn�t Notice 13: Le Me Be It 14: Drug Machine In Heaven 15: Strychnine/ Peace, Love & Understanding 16: Take Me Ta Mars 17: Mountain Side 18: There You Are 19: Five Stop Mother Superior Rain 20: Raining Babies 21: Unconsciously Screamin� 22: Stand In Line 23: God�s A Wheeler Dealer 24: Agonizing 25: One Shot 26: Cold Day 27: Jam 28: She�s Gone Mad 29: Golden Hearse 30: Unconsciously Screamin� 31: Stand In Line 32: I Want To Kill My Brother 33: Five Stop Mother Superior Rain

She's Gone Mad
It was the last cut on their Violent Religion album, and as a beautiful ballad is utterly unlike any other Chainsaw Kittens song. She's Gone Mad is a song by the Chainsaw Kittens, from Norman Oklahoma. It's been my favorite song of theirs ever since I first heard it, almost 20 years ago. You may wonder why I would mention this here? Who cares, right? Get this cd, which has the excellent In A Priest Driven Ambulance, single b-sides, demos from the era, etc. It is an excellent cd. However, you might never notice the song She's Gone Mad on here. It's hard to catch. But. . . . it is worth the effort. I would suggest that you put the song on repeat and listen to it a few times to get the jist of the recording: it is not a mere cover version, it is a total epic, and a tribute to the excellent Tyson Meade, songwriter and singer for the Chainsaw Kittens. That is my interpretation anyways. Prepare some herbal tea. . . . So the song starts out as a story with sound effects. I guarantee you will drift off and forget to listen to the second half. But that's OK, that's why you put it on repeat, remember? So you wander back to the stereo, try to catch the drift of the story, and you wander away again, doing dishes or whatever. Eventually, you will realize that there is a song there too. It sneaks up on you, and then there it is. You can listen to it! (If you remember) But you will forget. I guarantee you will! But you should not forget, because it is the coolest version of this song imaginable. Hopefully it will make you want to check out the Chainsaw Kittens' first album, because She's Gone Mad is on there, (remember?) It is not a rock song, it's a touching thing and nicely done by the Lips and Wayne. Epic, it is.

Grows on you like a patch of wildflowers
The other companion collection, "Finally The Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid", discs 1-3, are the first recordings by the Flaming Lips, and it is very good. This is an incredible collection of Lips early stuff. If you are a huge fan of the Flaming Lips like I am, both of these are good to have for historical purposes. The Flaming Lips have a rich history of inventive music and if you just start at The Soft Bulletin, arguably where they are roughly at stylistically, and have the three most recent recordings, that one and Yoshimi, and At War With The Mystics, then wouldn't you be a bit curious as to how they arrived at this point?

I was curious, and I live in the area where they grew up in central Oklahoma, and pretty much ignored them up until about a year ago. Now I have all of their CDs except for one of them.

You should be curious if you consider yourself to be an explorer of artistically viable music. The Flaming lips have obvious influences from the classic/acid-rock era including Pink Floyd, the Beatles, and many others. But this collection reveals how they developed their ideas from a Punk Rock Acid Rock perspective, and, depending on your frame of mind, and how receptive you are to noise/Acid/punk and their newer musical ideas, you should find The Day They Shot A Hole In The Jesus Egg rewarding--I did.

Disc one includes the "Preist Driven Ambulance" album, which was their last pre-Warner Bros. album, and also their last album without Steven Drozd on the drums. It is looser, and much more guitar driven than their recent recordings, although all the recordings prior to Soft Bulletin are more guitar/noise driven. There are plenty of mind-blowing ideas and many beautiful songs. The bass is more prominent in the mix. The rawness is there but the punk-influenced Acid sound is there and it plays very well. Some of the stand-out songs from disc one are played again as out-takes, different versions and they are on Disc Two, the Mushroom Tapes. This disc took me a few plays to enjoy but I now listen to it more than the others. There are some songs that are beautiful, such as the Stones-influenced Five Stop Mother Superior Rain, with its slide guitar work, harking back to Stones Wild Horses, or Pink Floyd.

Anyway, I won't go into the details. Listen and experience this collection on your own. With an open mind, you'll be richly rewarded.

Give it a second spin
I felt like I had to like it cause I like the band, but i really didnt like it. Im not going to lie, when i bought this album (blind) I hated it. But after giving it another try recently, I found that it was about ten times better than I originally thought. After my third time through it, I actually greatly enjoyed it. It can be hard at times, because of their drug induced lyrics and music, but still a credit to Wayne Coynes upbeat and silly styl. So dont be fooled by the 30 second clips, cause this album has more than meets the initail eye.

WOW
But once I sat down with a nice pair of head phones and just listened, I was able to appreciate what a mature, gorgeous album this is. The first time I listened to this album, it sounded like a bunch of lo fi noise.

Yes, there is a lot of guitar noise. But the noise is not an end in itself. It is a tool that the Flaming Lips deploy with surgical precision. In this album's best moments, feedback effects laden guitar riffs alternate with periods of unsettling quiet to create a heightened sense of dramatic tension. This tension, which is sustained for most of the album, turns what would otherwise be a bunch of very catchy country and blues inspired melodies into an edgy psychedelic masterpiece.

It may take a few listens to really appreciate what the Lips are doing here; but, in my opinion, the reward is well worth it.

The Flaming Lips get...good? Whoa.
Although it's loaded with demos and outtakes, the main reason you want to own ". Jesus Egg" is for "In a Priest Driven Ambulance". I think the actual album is out of print, so you might as well get it here with the nice packaging and what not.

"Ambulance" is The Flaming Lips' fourth album (released in 1990), and it's a major improvement. The haze of psychedelia, punk, and white noise that made up their previous three albums is still in tact. . but now they've injected the music with a heavy dose of pop. In other words, these songs actually have distinguishable melodies and hooks!

"Shine on Sweet Jesus" combines caterwauling guitar feedback and Wayne Coyne's shrill vocals with an irrestiable singalong hook. It's like white noise meets bubblegum pop.

"Unconsciously Screamin" is a glorious psychedelic mess, as are the noisy assaults "God Walks Among Us Now" and "Mountain Side".

There's actually a lot of quieter moments on the album too. "Rainin' Babies" is a really gorgeous ballad; it's like a lo-fi precursor to "The Soft Bulletin". The majestic "Five Stop Mother Superior Rain" is similar fare that also works well.

Other highlights include the thumping bass weirdness of "Take Meta Mars", the trippy "Stand In Line", the unsettling, parking-lot folk of "There You Are" and their cover of "What a Wonderful World" (which surprisingly stays pretty true to the original).

The outtakes are hit or miss. There's some decent stuff on there. And the demos are interesting, but not something you'll probably listen to over and over again. But "In a Priest Driven Ambulance" is a true gem; not only their best early work, but one of their best altogether. And that's why ". . Jesus Egg" is an essential purchase. .

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.