Wayne Coyne’s Flaming Lips, and one of Oklahoma’s favorite sons, has remained a topical music act, always releasing heady psychedelically-influenced music since the early 80s. This year the band released its 7″ single, “The Story of YUM YUM AND DRAGON,” and were even nominated for a Tony Award for the band’s contribution to SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical. The announcement came after Rhino and Warner Bros. Records launched an ambitious reissue program, starting with material the band recorded for Restless Records between 1986-1990 before signing with Warner Bros. in 1991, and including a multi-disc best of from the WBR era.
The campaign lifted off in April with Scratching The Door: The First Recordings Of The Flaming Lips, a single-disc compilation of music recorded by the band’s original lineup. This is followed by Seeing The Unseeable: The Complete Studio Recordings Of The Flaming Lips 1986-1990, a six-CD boxed set that includes their four Restless studio albums, plus two discs of rarities, that is out June 29.
The reissues continue with releases of those Restless-era studio albums on vinyl, as well as a double-LP of rarities. All of the music on vinyl has been remastered from original sources by the band’s longtime musical foil and producer, David Fridmann, with help from the Lips’ Wayne Coyne and Michael Ivins, with lacquers cut at Sterling Sound. Additionally, the studio albums – which have been out of print for years – have been restored to their original cover art.
The music will arrive on vinyl in two waves, beginning on July 27 with HEAR IT IS, OH MY GAWD!!!…THE FLAMING LIPS, and TELEPATHIC SURGERY for $21.98 each. They’ll be followed on September 14 by IN A PRIEST DRIVEN AMBULANCE (WITH SILVER SUNSHINE STARES) ($21.98), and the double-LP rarities collection, DEATH TRIPPIN’ AT SUNRISE ($31.98).
The Flaming Lips released four studio albums between 1984 and 1990: Hear It Is (1986), Oh My Gawd!!!…The Flaming Lips (1987), Telepathic Surgery (1989) and In A Priest Driven Ambulance (With Silver Sunshine Stares) (1990). Highlights from those albums include: “Godzilla Flick,” “Unconsciously Screaming,” “One Million Billionth Of A Millisecond On A Sunday Morning” and their cover of the classic “(What A) Wonderful World.”
The rarities collection Death Trippin’ At Sunrise: Rarities, B-Sides & Flexi-discs is packed with music originally released on singles, flexis, and various compilations, and includes their Sub Pop single “Drug Machine In Heaven” b/w “Strychnine/Peace, Love And Understanding” and a cover of “After The Gold Rush” from a 1989 Neil Young tribute album. A number of tracks on the rarities compilation are making their first appearance on vinyl.
On June 1, Warner Brothers Records released Greatest Hits Vol. 1 , the three-time Grammy® Award-winning band’s first official “hits” collection, with eleven WBR-era singles and album cuts on a single LP pressing, along with expansive deluxe digital and 3-CD editions, numbering 52 tracks and gathering some of The Flaming Lips’ best-loved material from all their Warner albums, along with a bonus disc with b-sides, studio outtakes and unreleased songs.
HEAR IT IS
1.    “With You”
2.    “Unplugged”
3.    “Trains, Brains and Rain”
4.    “Jesus Shootin’ Heroin”
5.    “Just Like Before”
6.    “She Is Death”
7.    “Charlie Manson Blues”
8.    “Man From Pakistan”
9.    “Godzilla Flick”
10.  “Staring At Sound/With You (Reprise)”
OH MY GAWD!!!…THE FLAMING LIPS
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. (Part I)”
6.    “The Ceiling Is Bendin'”
7.    “Prescription: Love”
8.    “Thanks To You”
9.    “Can’t Stop The Spring”
10.  “Ode To C.C. (Part II)”
11.  “Love Yer Brain”
TELEPATHIC SURGERY
1.    “Drug Machine In Heaven”
2.    “Right Now”
3.    “Michael, Time To Wake Up”
4.    “Chrome Plated Suicide”
5.    “Hari-Krishna Stomp Wagon (Fuck Led Zeppelin)”
6.    “Miracle On 42nd Street”
7.    “Fryin’ Up”
8.    “Hell’s Angel’s Cracker Factory”
9.    “U.F.O. Story”
10.  “Redneck School Of Technology”
11.  “Shaved Gorilla”
12.  “The Spontaneous Combustion Of John”
13.  “The Last Drop Of Morning Dew”
14.  “Begs and Achin'”
IN A PRIEST DRIVEN AMBULANCE (WITH SILVER SUNSHINE STARES)
1.    “Shine On Sweet Jesus – Jesus Song No. 5”
2.    “Unconsciously Screamin'”
3.    “Rainin’ Babies”
4.    “Take Meta Mars”
5.    “Five Stop Mother Superior Rain”
6.    “Stand In Line”
7.    “God Walks Among Us Now – Jesus Song No. 6”
8.    “There You Are – Jesus Song No. 7”
9.    “Mountain Side”
10.  “What A Wonderful World”
DEATH TRIPPIN’ AT SUNRISE
1.    “Death Valley ’69”
2.    “Thank You”
3.    “Can’t Stop The Spring” – Remix
4.    “After The Gold Rush”
5.    “Death Trippin’ At Sunrise”
6.    “Drug Machine In Heaven” – Sub Pop 7″ version
7.    “Strychnine/Peace, Love And Understanding”
8.    “Lucifer Rising”
9.    “Ma, I Didn’t Notice”
10.  “Let Me Be It”
11.  “She’s Gone Mad Again”
12.  “Golden Hearse”
13.  “Stand In Line”
14.  “I Want To Kill My Brother; The Cymbal Head”
15.  “Five Stop Mother Superior Rain”