Great post on the early Lips and a fantastic album.
I adored them when I discovered 'Oh My Gawd!!!' at 17 or 18. I felt like I had finally found a band not from the '60s or '70s playing psychedelic music! Soon after, I discovered Spacemen 3 and other '80s psych bands, which was a revelation.
I saw the Lips countless times pre-'Soft Bulletin,' and my god, they were incredible! I still rate Ronald Jones as one of my generation's greatest, unsung guitarists (along with Verve's Nick McCabe). The sounds Ronald could pull out of the guitar were beautiful, mind-blowing, scary, disturbing, and absolutely majestic, all at the same time!
Back then, they played tiny college bars where it was just me and maybe 9 others. They filled the space with a fog machine, projected weird films through the thick haze onto the ceiling, and completely eviscerated the place. They would almost always close the sets with "One Million, Billionth..." (from 'Oh My Gawd!!!"), and it was total sonic, projection, light, and fog mayhem. Afterward, they would humbly have beers, chat, joke, and play pool with us!
However, when ‘Soft Bulletin, came out, it just didn't work for me, and I jumped ship. I initially fell in love with their noisy, weird Oklahoma acid punk, and it was hard for me to transition to their newfound love of orchestrated Beach Boys-ish pop-psych. That said, Wayne and Michael thoroughly deserve their success. They have worked exceedingly hard for every bit of it, and I will never take that away from them.
‘Soft Bulletin' and 'Yoshimi' also definitely ushered in the orchestrated pop-psych sound of the '00s. Tame Impala, in particular, seems to have used these albums as a blueprint for their sound.
The Lips are one of those bands I have such a long, intimate history with. Not too long ago I played 'Oh My Gawd!,' 'Priest,' and 'Hit To Death,' and they immediately took me back to my teens and twenties.
Thanks again for your brilliant breakdown on ‘Priest!’
PS: I know Ronald doesn’t play on ‘Priest,’ but I just had to voice my love for his guitar playing!
Great post on the early Lips and a fantastic album.
I adored them when I discovered 'Oh My Gawd!!!' at 17 or 18. I felt like I had finally found a band not from the '60s or '70s playing psychedelic music! Soon after, I discovered Spacemen 3 and other '80s psych bands, which was a revelation.
I saw the Lips countless times pre-'Soft Bulletin,' and my god, they were incredible! I still rate Ronald Jones as one of my generation's greatest, unsung guitarists (along with Verve's Nick McCabe). The sounds Ronald could pull out of the guitar were beautiful, mind-blowing, scary, disturbing, and absolutely majestic, all at the same time!
Back then, they played tiny college bars where it was just me and maybe 9 others. They filled the space with a fog machine, projected weird films through the thick haze onto the ceiling, and completely eviscerated the place. They would almost always close the sets with "One Million, Billionth..." (from 'Oh My Gawd!!!"), and it was total sonic, projection, light, and fog mayhem. Afterward, they would humbly have beers, chat, joke, and play pool with us!
However, when ‘Soft Bulletin, came out, it just didn't work for me, and I jumped ship. I initially fell in love with their noisy, weird Oklahoma acid punk, and it was hard for me to transition to their newfound love of orchestrated Beach Boys-ish pop-psych. That said, Wayne and Michael thoroughly deserve their success. They have worked exceedingly hard for every bit of it, and I will never take that away from them.
‘Soft Bulletin' and 'Yoshimi' also definitely ushered in the orchestrated pop-psych sound of the '00s. Tame Impala, in particular, seems to have used these albums as a blueprint for their sound.
The Lips are one of those bands I have such a long, intimate history with. Not too long ago I played 'Oh My Gawd!,' 'Priest,' and 'Hit To Death,' and they immediately took me back to my teens and twenties.
Thanks again for your brilliant breakdown on ‘Priest!’
PS: I know Ronald doesn’t play on ‘Priest,’ but I just had to voice my love for his guitar playing!