The Ultra-Mega Flaming Lips post the finale

Cleaning out the Flaming Lips vault with whatever I have left, some EP's and stuff, again, I just feel the need to comment again on what an innovative band, all of their ideas may not work, but they sure as hell do take chances..... I hope you guys have enjoyed these post, and if the Lips are a new experience to you, I hope it has been a positive one. I think this is one band that, to properly profile, I need to put up everything I have from them, so as to paint an accurate, if difficult, picture of what they are about.

Let us begin with a grab bag of early tracks from various sources, some of which are taken from the early albums, but some rarities, program them as you wish.... this is entitled "A Collection of Songs Representing an Enthusiasm For Recording....By Amateurs".... a weird cover of "After the Gold Rush" from  Neil Young Tribute album (anyone have THAT by any chance?), some B-Sides, a couple Flexi-Disc tracks.....not always the greatest, but ALWAYS interesting, which summarizes the Lips pretty well.

"The Shambolic Birth and Early Life of the Flaming Lips" is a promo album, fairly similar to the above.....if I had the time or desire I suppose I could reprogram all this shit into a more manageable rarities set, but this is what you're getting...... again, one COULD program a BUNCH of this stuff down to  single disc.

These guys have ALSO put out a ton of EP's, I don't have them all, but here are the ones I have.... from 2003 we have "Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell".... f you recall there was an "Ego Tripping...." track on "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots", it appears here in a couple of remixed forms.... this is a pretty generous 7-track EP with either very little or no overlap with the other sets.

From the same year comes "Fight Test", a grab bag with a few live tracks, a cover or Radiohead's
"Knives Out", and, most notably, the title track which Cat Stevens (Cat Stevens!) claimed was plagiarized from one of his legendary numbers, "Father and Son" ....really, I have never heard Cat's tune, probably never will, but evidently Cat gets a huge chunk of the royalties from the track... whatever. A typical Flaming Lips song title: "Thank You Jack White (For the Fiber Optic Jesus That You Gave Me)".

"It Overtakes Me" is a brief, 4 track disc of stuff from the "At War With the Mystics" era, with a single-mix of the lengthy title tune, and a couple of others not available elsewhere. We also have a three track disc, "The Soft Bulletin Outtakes", exactly what the title would imply.

There are a ton of other EP's out there that I don't have, if anyone does have them, now is the time to share..... as far as live stuff, I am fairly surprised to find that I don't have any, was pretty sure I did, but what are ya gonna do? As always, open to contributions of live stuff, again, quite surprised to discover that I don't have any, but hopefully the stuff that I have put up gives you an accurate picture of a great and imaginative band.

Had a request for some Swans, what do you guys think? The reason I ask is they had such a huge volume of material, used to somewhat enjoy it, but to me it is nearly unlistenable now.... is my view a commonly held one, or is there interest in a Swans post, maybe a single day NOT their entire collection......just throwing it out there, trying to gauge interest. I know I will likely do a post on them in the near future, but what do you prefer, "Ultra-mega Swans", or just touching on the (ahem) highlights?

Thank for reading and listening and contributing and sharing, thank you Jenny McCarthy, just for being you.

A COLLECTION OF SONGS REPRESENTING AN ENTHUSIASM FOR RECORDING ...BY AMATEURS -01 Bag Full of Thoughts/02 Jesus Shooting Heroin/03 One Million Billionth of a Millisecond on a Sunday Morning/04 Chrome Plated Suicide/05 Michael Time to Wake Up/06 Hell's Angels Cracker Factory/07 Unconsciously Screamin'/08 God Walks Among Us Now/09 Strychnine/Peace Love and Understanding/10 Death Valley '69 (The Bob Flexi-Disc)/11 Thank You (The Bob Flexi-Disc)/12 Ma I Didn't Notice (B-Side)/13 After the Gold Rush/14 I Want to Kill My Brother, the Cymbal Head

THE SHAMBOLIC BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE OF FLAMING LIPS-01 Killer on the Radio/02 My Own Planet/03 She Is Death/04 One Million Billionth of a Millisecond on a Sunday Morning/05 Unconsciously Screamin'/06 Strychnine/Peace Love and Understanding/07 Lucifer Rising/08 Take Me Ta Mars/09 Chrome Plated Suicide/10 Agonizing/11 Shine On Sweet Jesus/12 Golden Hearse

EGO TRIPPING AT THE GATES OF HELL (EP)-01 Assassination of the Sun/02 I'm a Fly in a

Sunbeam (Following the Funeral Procession of a Stranger)/03 Sunship Balloons/04 Do You Realize (Postal Service Remix)/05 Ego Tripping (Ego in Acceleration) (Jason Bentley Remix)/06 Ego Tripping (Self Admiration with Blow Up Mix)/07 A Change at Christmas (Say It Isn't So)

FIGHT TEST (EP)-01 Fight Test/02 Can't Get You Out of My Head (Live on KEXP)/03 The Golden Age (Live)/04 Knives Out/05 Do You Realize?? (Scott Hardkiss Floating In Space Mix)/06 The Strange Design of Conscience/07 Thank You Jack White (For the Fiber Optic Jesus That You Gave Me)

IT OVERTAKES ME (EP)-01 It Overtakes Me (Radio Edit)/02 I'm Afraid of Dying....Aren't You?/03 Free Radicals (The Bird and the Bee Mix)/04 Time Travel?? Yes !!

THE SOFT BULLETIN OUTTAKES (EP)-01 1000 Ft. Hands/02 The Captain/03 Satellite of You

Lotta stuff over four days and there is a TON that I don't have.....once again if you have any of the (many) other EP's or any live stuff, won't you please share in order to make this thing work the way it needs to? Thanks.