Saturday, May 29, 2010

1987 Rarities and Live Vinyl

A Texas Trip
Recently, I picked up a couple of nice vinyl finds - which took me back to those late-'80s salad days. I might have told this story before, but the first time I discovered the Flaming Lips was early 1988, opening for Butthole Surfers, at Numbers. (Also on the bill was the forgotten Declaration of Love...)


"Flame Grape" from A Texas Trip (1987)

I've posted this one previously, but I just recently won an eBay auction for the vinyl LP of A Texas Trip (1987), the Butthole Surfers-curated compilation - released via Caroline as the first Latino Bugger Veil record. It includes Daniel Johnston, Bill Fitch, and Stickmen with Rayguns. One of the Stickmen songs, "Gravecity," was covered by The Exterminating Angels on their #17 album of the 2009 "Metal" Next 10. But "Flame Grape" is a definite highlight of the Buttholes' top-shelf era.



"One Million Billionth of a Millisecond on a Sunday Morning"
from A Beautiful Accident (live Calgary, AB - 8/24/1987)

I also recently found a copy of a Flaming Lips live recording, pressed to vinyl in "Estonia" (yeah, right). Eight songs from a late-1987 show in Calgary. As the classic "One Million Billionth..." shows, the mix is extremely vocal-heavy. Fortunately, this Floydian pysch-punk epic doesn't have a lot of screamin'. I remember Richard English saying in the Staring At Sound book, that he considers this the quintessential Flaming Lips tune - and I can definitely see that! One of the best off my first album from them.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I just found this album. I live in Calgary. I didn't find the lips until 1992, but many a friend was at this show. should arrive in a few days. I'm stoked.