Hit to Death in the Future Head
Hit to Death in the Future Head | ||||
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Studio album by The Flaming Lips | ||||
Released | August 11, 1992 | |||
Genre |
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Length | 69:04 | |||
Label | Warner Bros. | |||
Producer |
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The Flaming Lips chronology | ||||
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Hit to Death in the Future Head is the fifth studio album by American rock band the Flaming Lips, released on August 11, 1992, by Warner Bros. Records. "Talkin' 'Bout the Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues (Everyone Wants to Live Forever)" was released as the lead track on the EP Yeah, I Know It's a Drag... But Wastin' Pigs Is Still Radical to promote the album. The title provided the inspiration for the name of the British band the Futureheads.
Recording and release
Recorded in 1991 by the same lineup that had been featured on In a Priest Driven Ambulance, the album's release was delayed for nearly a year due to the use of a sample from Michael Kamen's score for the film Brazil in the track "You Have to Be Joking (Autopsy of the Devil's Brain)", which required a lengthy clearance process. During the intervening period, both Nathan Roberts and Jonathan Donahue left the band (the latter resuming his duties in Mercury Rev). By the time of the album's release both Steven Drozd and Ronald Jones had joined, and performed on the subsequent tour.
The album is known for a particularly long hidden track at the end of the CD that consists of a continuous burst of staccato noise that pans from channel to channel and lasts for nearly a half-hour. This track is omitted from the vinyl release, possibly due to time constraints.
Reception
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Great Rock Discography | 6/10[3] |
MusicHound Rock | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Select | 5/5[6] |
From contemporary reviews, Andrew Perry of Select gave Hit to Death in the Future Head a five out of five rating, noting the groups "gorgeously melodic garage pop is rarely short of breathtaking", and compared the band to Mercury Rev, declaring that if "Yerself Is Steam has seldom left your turntable, this won't either. Magnificent."[6]
From retrospective reviews, AllMusic's Jason Ankeny noted that even though the album's "not as conceptually tight as In a Priest Driven Ambulance", it's "no less cohesive or imaginative", and ultimately concluded that the album "serves as the bridge between the band's noisier, more hallucinatory indie work and the acid-bubblegum aesthetic perfected on their later Warner Bros. albums".[1]
Track listing
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Talkin' 'Bout the Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues (Everyone Wants to Live Forever)" | 3:49 |
2. | "Hit Me Like You Did the First Time" | 3:41 |
3. | "The Sun" | 3:31 |
4. | "Felt Good to Burn" | 3:21 |
5. | "Gingerale Afternoon (The Astrology of a Saturday)" | 3:45 |
6. | "Halloween on the Barbary Coast" | 5:42 |
7. | "The Magician vs. the Headache" | 3:12 |
8. | "You Have to Be Joking (Autopsy of the Devil's Brain)" | 3:55 |
9. | "Frogs" | 4:28 |
10. | "Hold Your Head" | 4:24 |
11. | "Noise Loop" (hidden track) | 29:16 |
Total length: | 69:04 |
Personnel
- Wayne Coyne – vocals, guitar
- Michael Ivins – bass
- Jonathan Donahue – guitar
- Nathan Roberts – drums
References
- ^ a b Ankeny, Jason. "Hit to Death in the Future Head The Flaming Lips". AllMusic. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
- ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). "The Flaming Lips". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9780857125958.
- ^ Strong, Martin C. (2004). "Flaming Lips". The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). Canongate Books. p. 543–544. ISBN 1-84195-615-5.
- ^ Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel, eds. (1999). "The Flaming Lips". MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. p. 428–429. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
- ^ Cross, Charles R. (2004). "Flaming Lips". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 300. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- ^ a b Perry, Andrew (June 1992). "Reviews: New Albums". Select. p. 71.
- v
- t
- e
- Wayne Coyne
- Steven Drozd
- Derek Brown
- Matt Duckworth Kirksey
- Nicholas Ley
- Mark Coyne
- Jonathan Donahue
- Kliph Scurlock
- Michael Ivins
- Hear It Is
- Oh My Gawd!!!
- Telepathic Surgery
- In a Priest Driven Ambulance
- Hit to Death in the Future Head
- Transmissions from the Satellite Heart
- Clouds Taste Metallic
- Zaireeka
- The Soft Bulletin
- Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
- At War with the Mystics
- Embryonic
- The Terror
- Oczy Mlody
- King's Mouth
- American Head
- The Flaming Lips
- Yeah, I Know It's a Drag... But Wastin' Pigs Is Still Radical
- Due to High Expectations... The Flaming Lips Are Providing Needles for Your Balloons
- Fight Test
- Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell
- Yoshimi Wins! (Live Radio Sessions)
- It Overtakes Me
- Gummy Song Skull
- Gummy Song Fetus
- Strobo Trip
- 24 Hour Song Skull
- A Collection of Songs Representing an Enthusiasm for Recording...By Amateurs
- Finally the Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid
- Shambolic Birth and Early Life Of
- The Day They Shot a Hole in the Jesus Egg
- 20 Years of Weird
- iTunes Originals
- Heady Nuggs
- Greatest Hits, Vol. 1
- Scratching the Door: The First Recordings of the Flaming Lips
- "She Don't Use Jelly"
- "This Here Giraffe"
- "Race for the Prize"
- "Waitin' for a Superman"
- "Do You Realize??"
- "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1"
- "Fight Test"
- "The Golden Path"
- "The W.A.N.D. (The Will Always Negates Defeat)"
- "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power)"
Albums | |
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EPs |
- Atlas Eets Christmas (as Imagene Peise)
- Discography
- Late Night Tales: The Flaming Lips
- Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz
- Dave Fridmann
- Bradley Beesley
- George Salisbury
- Ray Suen
- Electric Würms
- Flaming Lips Alley
- Deap Lips