The Flaming Lips are releasing an extended version of Clouds Taste Metallic, their final album as a "rock" band before their later-'90s transformation in toe three-piece. I remember seeing them on the tour for this album and was just blown away, but apparently that tour also blew guitarist Ronald Jones' mind because he left the band afterward.
You can hear hints of where they would go, and while Zaireeka is the true bridge between the group going from guitar band to a more "symphonic" affair, Clouds definitely has nods in the direction the band would eventually go.
I've been listening to the reissue and while I owned 99% of the first of the 3 disc set it's nice to have the b-sides and rare stuff from the period collected in one place. The true gem in the 1996 recording of the band playing a full show in Seattle. It brought back so many memories, and as the live version of "The Abandoned Hospital Ship" explodes into the drums I can almost see all the swirling holiday lights that decorated their stage exploding on at just that moment. And in true Lips fashion the recording is overdriven and far from pristine, so it actually feels like their live sets of that era.
The guitar tones Jones could coax out still sound otherworldly and so fucking massive, and they are even more so in the live set. And I still don't know how one guy make that much wild sound live and onstage despite seeing it happen in front of my eyes a number of times.
Listen to the band reminisce about recording the album below, and grab it when it comes out (CD/digital on November 27 and vinyl on December 18).
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