** Hall of Fame is where we discuss our favorite albums of all time, they may not be the most critically acclaimed, but they hold a special place in our hearts**
Ahh, The Flaming Lips, they are the chameleons of indie rock, the juggernauts of the new psychedelia, and one of the most impressive live shows around. However, before they became popular with well known albums like The Soft Bulletin or with anthems like "Do You Realize?" they were a grittier more guitar driven band.
1995's Clouds Taste Metallic was in fact the last album where The Lips presented themselves as a big guitar band. One theory as to why the group decided to deconstruct their sound and approach their music from a different angle lies in this album itself. Clouds Taste Metallic explores a whole lot of terrain while sticking to their roots, thus is is possible that Wayne Coyne and company felt that they had done all they could with that style of rock. Before this record, The Flaming Lips had gone through a phase of grittier albums, however they cleaned up the excessive feedback and honed in on musicianship on this release.
This album also starts some of the more fantastical positive tones behind The Flaming Lips music, themes of space exploration and aliens are littered throughout Clouds Taste Metallic, "Christmas at the Zoo" and "Brainville" are testament to that. However, my personal favorite track from this record is the driving force of "Kim's Watermelon Gun" it is a shame that the band has neglected this song in their live performances. It is one of their most straightforward rock songs to date, and is truly a great example of what an underrated song is.
Clouds Taste Metallic is simply, one of the most solid albums that The Flaming Lips have ever released. Sadly it is quite often one of their most overlooked records as well. It is one of my many hopes that this album gets a reissue soon, and starts gaining more of the attention that it deserves.
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