1993 Album of the Year

1993: Album of the Year – Transmissions from the Satellite Heart by The Flaming Lips.

This year was another tough choice for me. Not because I was torn between a selection of amazing albums, but because there weren’t any albums this year that really stood out. There’s a couple CDs that I’ve heard a little bit from and sounded nice, but the only albums I’m really familiar with just aren’t wowing me. And so I went through a couple of different choices this year before finally settling on my final pick. Tool’s Undertow, and the Wu-Tang’s Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) were both possible contenders at one point. But in the end, I had to hand it off to Transmissions from the Satellite Heart by The Flaming Lips (which, to be honest, is growing on me the more and more I listen to it).

The album opens with my personal favorite on the album, a pretty little ditty called Turn It On. I’m not really too sure what it’s about, but the lines “When you ain’t got no relations/ To all those other stations/ Turn it on” are constantly stuck in my head. Moving on from there is Pilot Can at the Queer of God, which harks back to 60’s pop boy bands… if all the singers were run through a dishwasher. Skipping ahead a bit we come to the band’s “breakthrough” hit She Don’t Use Jelly, and while I certainly enjoy the song, I don’t see why there would be so much appeal to make it a radio hit (especially compared to some other songs that this album has to offer).

From there, the album takes an odd turn (something you’d sort of expect given the nature of the Flaming Lips) and presents you with something... beautiful. Chewin in the Apple of Your Eye has this tearjerker quality about it without actually being sad, and Superhumans also retains a similar "part melancholy, part uplifting" vibe. Be My Head brings the album back to the cheery pop mentality of the first couple of tracks and the rest of the CD stays in the realm of mid tempo tunes that are one half alternative rock, one half pop greatness, and one half space oddity noise. That’s three halves, folks.

Final impressions: Lots of catchy songs with more strangeness than you can shake a stick at, but the album starts to feel like it drags on by the end.

Best tracks: Turn It On, Pilot Can at the Queer of God, Be My Head.

-BPSstephen, end transmission.