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Mar 28, 2018 The Flaming Lips By Christopher Roberts

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The Flaming Lips are releasing a new six-CD box set that collects their early work, Seeing the Unseeable: The Complete Studio Recordings of The Flaming Lips 1986-1990, on May 25 via their longtime label Warner Bros. Before that they are releasing a single disc compilation, Scratching the Door: The First Recordings of The Flaming Lips, on April 20 via Warner Bros. Now they have shared the rarity “Flaming Lips Theme Song 1983,” from Scratching the Door. It was originally released as a very limited edition 7-inch, but has never been officially released online before. Listen to it below via Stereogum (who premiered it), followed by the band’s upcoming tour dates.

The two releases are the start of what a previous press release called “an ambitious reissue program” for the band in 2018. The Flaming Lips’ last album was 2017’s Oczy Mlody. The band’s longtime producer David Fridmann remastered everything, with help from the band’s Wayne Coyne and Michael Ivins.

The previous press release described Scratching the Door: The First Recordings of The Flaming Lips as such: “Scratching the Door highlights tracks recorded by The Flaming Lips’ original line-up, which featured Wayne Coyne’s brother Mark on vocals. The album includes the band’s first and second cassette demos, in addition to The Flaming Lips’ first self-released EP, which has been remastered from the original 1/4” analog tape master. This marks the first time all of these recordings have been collected together on a single release. Among the other featured tracks are covers of The Who’s ‘Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere,’ Led Zeppelin’s ‘Communication Breakdown,’ and the theme song from the 1960’s Batman television series, which previously appeared on Rykodisc’s 2002 compilation, Finally The Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid.”

The press release described Seeing the Unseeable: The Complete Studio Recordings of The Flaming Lips 1986-1990 as such: “Seeing the Unseeable brings back into print (physically - they are available digitally) all four studio albums that the band released on Restless Records 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). All of these have been remastered from the original 1/4” analog tape masters and include sonic treasures such as ‘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 set is also packed with rare recordings originally released as B-sides, flexi discs, and on various compilations like, the Sub Pop single ‘Strychnine/Peace, Love and Understanding’ and a cover of ‘After the Gold Rush’ from a 1989 Neil Young tribute album. Also included is The Mushroom Tapes, the series of demos for the band’s final Restless album, In a Priest Driven Ambulance, only previously issued on the Rykodisc compilation CD, The Day They Shot a Hole In the Jesus Egg.”

Read our 2017 cover story interview with The Flaming Lips on Oczy Mlody from our 15th Anniversary Issue

The Flaming Lips Tour Dates:

May 06 - Memphis, TN - Beale Street Music Festival
May 31 - Jackson, WY - Jackson Hole Center for the Arts
June 02 - Eugene, OR - McDonald Theatre
June 03 - Seattle, WA - Upstream Music Fest + Summit
June 04 - Bonner, MT - Kettlehouse Amphitheater
June 06 - Garden City, ID - Revolution Concert House
June 07 - Ogden, UT - Ogden Amphitheatre
June 08 - Aspen, CO - Belly Up Aspen
June 22 - Saskatoon, SK / CAN - Sasktel Saskatchewan Jazz Fest
June 24 - Winnipeg, MB / CAN - Jazz Winnipeg @ Burton Cummings Theatre
July 20 - Cheshire, England - Bluedot 2018, Jodrell Bank
July 21 - London, England - Kaleidoscope Festival, Alexandra Palace
Nov 09 - Weissenhauser Strand, GER - Rolling Stone Weekender, Ferienpark
Nov 16 - Europa-Park, GER - Rolling Stone Park

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