This was their third disc and it should be mentioned the CD version was a moderately different re-package from the original vinyl, which was much shorter. Apparently, Telepathic Surgery was supposed to be the sound collage which eventually became “Hell’s Angels Cracker Factory” – although something tells me “U.F.O Story” could have been part of that as well – but that was not sufficient for the record company, so instead, other material was used. The CD version includes both, of course, making this a long haul to get through. Many of the elements which are on the ‘Lips classic early to mid-90’s works are actually present on this album, but in a lower-budget format. Wayne Coyne handles all of the guitar tracks, as well as the vocals, which is a different tack than later efforts when he usually had a second guitarist to handle all their crazy tangents. If you factor in the loads of sound effects used throughout the CD there is a lot to process. I feel like there is often too much to process, and beyond that, the overall mood of the disc is darker than later efforts. Especially when you get to the midsection of it, where you really get the effect of feeling hazy, and not in a good way.
Building on the above point, the whole thing appears to be structured like one messy, trailer-trashy, speed-induced acid-trip gone wrong, with all of the weird fade-ins and fade-outs and other random noises. Even Wayne’s vocals at this time match up with this take – he’s not the airy, high-pitched, starry-eyed singer of later albums crooning about jelly and man with headaches saving the world. He’s hoarse and borderline barking his lines at the listener. It all makes for quite the eerie experience which is interesting – at least compared to later efforts – but I do not care to come back to it too often, out of personal preference. I guess it depends on your level of fandom, but even a fan would have to admit that they are still working things out at this stage.
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