SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-Lighting Strikes the Postman: The Flaming Lips Remix (2016).
This release came out on Record Store Day 2016. It is, simply put, the Lips’ album Clouds Taste Metallic but remixed to remove all of the vocals and to highlight all of Ronald Jones’ guitar playing. This was Jones’ last album with the band and he has become pretty reclusive since then.
You can hear the very basic structure of all of the songs–drums, bass and rhythm guitar are all there, but mixed low. The rest of the CD is Jones’ rather unique style of playing–noisy, feedbacky, almost improv-y, but never out of control.
The release also comes with a comic book penned by Wayne Coyne. The comic pretty much explains Jones’ guitar playing.
You see, after the band released the album, Ronald was abducted by aliens. Why would they take him? Because back then he had one of the most elaborate homemade pedal boards on earth. He would hook together an endless amount of gadgets, some that were not meant to go together. One night he connected to a giant antenna. Then while searching for a sound to enhance the ending of “Placebo Head Wound,” he found the sound of the dreaded Zorgodrites’ freaky 2 way radio and boy were they mad.
They came down and took him away and he was never seen from again.
And so that’s what you get. Around 55 minutes of guitar freakouts. But unlike an album of just noisy, weird stuff, this collection is based around songs. Some of the songs are the same length as the final product. Others are a bit longer. The opening track “The Abandoned Hospital Ship” is about three minutes longer than the album version–mostly for Jones’ noodling.
I tried to sync up the disc to the original via Spotfiy with varying degrees of success.
If you know the album pretty well, you’ll recognize the songs–the verses and choruses are in tact, it’s just that you get to hear some wild guitar around those melodies instead of the melodies themselves.
It can be a disconcerting listen if you are expecting to hear the songs, but if you put that aside and just listen to the kind of things Jones is doing it’s a pretty cool exploration of the guitar. But definitely not for everyone.
[READ: October 1, 2020] Cycling: The Craze of the Hour
I love books like this. This is a collection of pamphlets from around the turn of the 20th century, both pro and con for bicycles. The first item is an instruction manual about how to ride a modern bicycle. The second talks about the dangers (to your heart) of riding a bicycle. The third and fourth are humorous stories in which bicycles feature prominently.
The first bicycle was invented at the turn of the nineteenth century but the craze really took of in the 1890s. And so you get:
“The Modern Bicycle (with Practical Illustrations)” (1877) by Charles Spencer
Spencer was an early proponent of the bicycle. In 1869, he rode from Trafalgar Square to Brighton in fifteen hours (Google maps says it should now take you a little over five on a bicycle, so that’s pretty impressive for 1896.)
This instruction manual is fascinating. Now, the bicycle they are talking about is more or less a penny-farthing. The “modern bicycle” may be slightly shorter than a pennyfarthing. And yet, as a person who can ride a bike today, I can”t imagine riding one of these death traps.
After raving about the new-fangled bicycles, he explains that the pamphlet in your hands can easily fit in our pocket to consult as needed.
Once you have secured your velocipede, be sure to walk it around so you get the hang of how it is supposed to be upright. Then (picture included) you should sit astride it while a friend rolls it along.
Directly you are in motion you will feel quite helpless, and experience a sensation of being run away with, and it will seem as if the machine were trying to throw you off.
You should practice this for about fifteen minutes before putting your feet on the pedals–but you are still being pushed–so you get the feel for how the pedals move.
The third lesson is to try to move it of your own volition–just make sure your friend is there to catch you as you fall.
There are a number is options for getting on and off the bicycle. Even with the pictures they are somewhat hard to imagine, especially since you are encouraged to get on and off the bicycle while it is in motion. Remember the front wheel is abut waist high, you are sitting on top of the wheel (more or less), so as you get on an off, you are still pretty high off the ground. Also,
take care never to let go one hand until you have a firm hold with the other, or you and the whole affair may come to extreme grief.
As you get more advanced, you may want to try riding while resting your legs on top of the contraption. So you’re up about three and a half feet off the ground and you are and resting your legs out in front to you! You could also try biking without using our arms–your legs are now propelling and steering the contraption.
He also has pictures of bicycles with their front wheel about shoulder height. I’m not sure which one is the modern bicycle (I think the taller one). But you are five foot eight, you might consider a bicycle that if 54 inches high.
The final test is to try to ride while….lying down! Yes, lying back flat on the bicycle, not looking where you are going, legs out in front of you, back on the break spring. No pedaling or steering. He says he knows of people who could go about 300 feet (indoors) in such a manner
He also talks about what to eat to stay healthy. Abstain from bread, butter, milk, sugar, beer and potatoes. (Wow, pretty spot on).
But so he consumes a lot of meat and two or three glasses of sherry with lunch, dinner and after dinner snack.
Up next is spoilsport Dr. George Herschell, and his “Cycling as a Cause of Heart Disease” (1896).
After showing a skeleton of a human hunched over (presumably from riding a bicycle, Herschell gets right to it. The craze of the hour may turn into the injury of a lifetime. He says that if you cycle in moderation you will get benefit from it, but if you go beyond moderation–those who ride for several hours, will produce degenerative diseases in the heart. He speculates that five of every thousand people has weak hearts and will have an attack while riding.
The middle aged man suffers from symptoms of an indefinite nature. He is troubled with flatulence both before and after meals. He is short of breath on slight exertion and has a palpitation of the heart. His sleep is broken and disturbed and he probably dreams.
But despite some of his overly cautious concerns–should we even allow children to ride a bicycle?–the fundamental advice is sound–consult your physician before undertaking any exercise.
The first story is by Barry Pain. “His Last Pupil” (1905) is really quite funny.
It is about a bicycle instructor. His name is Barkinstone and he is an excellent teacher. He charges quite a lot, but his worth it.
The narrator visits Barkinstone and learns that he is booked for the next two weeks. The narrator finally gets his appointment and after five days he is able to ride for forty miles without feeling particularly exhausted (damn!). Barkingstone imagines that after a few more months, he will be able to retire.
A year later the narrator is riding his bicycle when he sees a man wobbling along on his bicycle. Could that possibly be Barkingstone? Is he drunk? The end is really quite funny.
In the final short story “Women and Wheels” (1897) Jerome. K . Jerome is concerned that the bicycle is undermining the femininity of the nation.
Even a young newlywed is not with his wife because she is out with another man.
They walk slowly up and down with their arm around each others’ waists. In moments of deep feeling she flings her arms around his neck, and cries to him before all the spectators…
No to mention, some of the men are losing their trousers. Women wear them under their skirts.
you mark my words there will come a day when they wear them openly.
The average person can learn how to ride a bicycle in six months if they don’t miss a day of practices.
This piece is kind of weird, because it starts off as a funny story, but ends with an almost informative explanation about bicycles.
So this book is 90 small pages. It’s a fun read both to see what they got right as well as what they got wrong.
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