Flaming Lips
Telepathic Surgery
»
Flaming Lips
Telepathic Surgery
Restless, 1989
RiYL: Sonic Youth, Black Sabbath, Music Tapes |
One of the funny things about the Flaming Lips (there are many) is that for them, the case has been the exact opposite. The Lips had all sorts of trouble with an indie label, Restless, and since signing to Warner Brothers, have had the kind of artistic freedom Guided By Voices' Robert Pollard must just dream about. They put out Zaireeka, a 4-CD simultaneous play set, for gosh sakes!
Not that I am endorsing "selling out." Far from it. It's just naive to say that all major labels are manipulative and all indie labels are bastions of liberty and truth. Regardless, the story of how things went wrong with Telepathic Surgery is a fine cautionary tale no matter which route you may choose to take in getting your music to the masses.
Basically, the record was initially conceived as a giant, multi-part, sound symphony, to which end Head Lip Wayne Coyne and Assistant Lip Mike Ivins went around recording all sorts of stuff -- lawnmowers, appliances, and the like -- for a giant, psychedelic cacophany to end all giant, psychedelic cacophanies. But prodding from Restless caused them to pare down the symphony to one 23-minute headtrip, eventually titled "Hell's Angel's Cracker Factory."
This track is the centerpiece of Telepathic Surgery, and it's an incredible listen if you're in the right frame of mind. Mixing bits of songform with giant slices of ambiance and gleeful use of noise for noise's sake, the only disappointing thing about "Cracker Factory" is the knowledge that it was cut short.
Forced to slim their masterwork down, the Lips were still left with half an album to fill, and very little studio time left to do it. To finish Telepathic Surgery the band had to camp out in the studio -- the best track on the record, other than "Cracker," is the 29-second guitar solo "Michael, Time To Wake Up," which has one of the most straightforward titles in Lips history. Ivins was sleeping next to Coyne's guitar amp, and Coyne, well, woke him up, while tape was rolling.
The rest of the record is a mess. The magic of the Flaming Lips has never been in the individual instrumental performances, but in the way the band brilliantly overlays and mixes them. The songs on Telepathic Surgery were recorded hastily, with few guitar overdubs. The Lips without overdubs sound sort of like a metal band with a Muppet singing lead -- not a palatable combo.
"Redneck School Of Technology" and "Hari-Krishna Stomp Wagon (Fuck Led Zeppelin)" get by on enthusiasm alone, but just barely. Coyne's singing sounds tired -- if you've ever slept in a drum closet, you don't have to ask why -- and unusually, listless. Ultimately, Restless's attempts to make Telepathic more commercial sank it.
Thankfully, the story has a happy ending. With Restless going out of business, the Lips were able to record their next album (In A Priest Driven Ambulance) exactly the way they wanted to. It got zero promotion, of course, but somehow found its way to Warner Brothers' A&R department, the staffers of which immediately realized its genius and signed the band to a long-term, zero-restrictions contract.
The move paid off, as the Flaming Lips went on to make some of the last decade's best albums, and continue to push the musical envelope as far as it will go.
MARK T.R. DONOHUE | Mark T.R. Donohue is a prolific freelance writer whose areas of expertise include Rockies baseball, video games, genre television, English soccer, and pub rock. He lives in Colorado, where he cultivates the largest and creepiest private collection of Alyson Hannigan memorabilia in the Mountain West.