Never trust anybody who says they like the Flaming Lips' "old stuff" better. There's no arguing that the boys from Oklahoma are that rare artistic entity that actually improved as it went along. Now, if someone were to say they like Transmissions From the Satellite Heart better than The Soft Bulletin, this I can understand. Some people still want a little noise, and the new album is so squeezabley soft that Mr. Whipple probably listens to it in the bathtub. I happen to love it, but I can see why others find it a little fluffy. But '80s Lips better than '90s Lips? No way in hell.

Which is why this collection is a treat. Here we get the highlights from the early years without all that rank filler. This compilation covers everything from the band's 1984 debut through to 1990's In a Priest Driven Ambulance, hitting most of the highlights along the way. Truthfully, the Flaming Lips hit their stride with Priest, and if you're down with Transmissions, you'll probably want to own that one in its entirety. Wayne's vocals were still a little out of tune at that point, and they had yet to find their way with the catchy melody. But it marked the first time they used the studio in a really creative way, and the record still holds up.

A Collection of Songs is a nice portrait of the young band. We get the epic ugliness of "Jesus Shooting Heroin," in which the Lips try to sound artsy and heavy but end up just being funny. We get "One Million Billionth of a Millisecond on a Sunday Morning" which sounds distressingly like something off Pink Floyd's Animals-- a real testament to the Lips' penchant for that classic rock sound. Then there's "Chrome Plated Suicide," which sounds a lot like what the Replacements what doing at this time, swapping acid for alcohol as the lyrical inspiration. Especially pleasing is "Unconsciously Screaming," one of the better tracks off of Priest-- the band even included the video on an enhanced CD-ROM portion of the disc. The fuzzy sludge of "God Walks Among Us Now" reveals a real marked Sonic Youth fixation. But on the downside, "Hells Angel's Cracker Factory" is a chaotic tape- splice piece-- the kind of thing they eventually got a lot better at.

This records also points up nicely the fact that the Flaming Lips always had a way with covers. They give us their version of Elvis Costello's "Peace, Love and Understanding," Led Zeppelin's "Thank You" and Neil Young's "After the Gold Rush." They're all cool, twisted versions that fit in seamlessly next to the Lips originals. In sum, while there are a couple of throwaways, this is solid portrait of an '80s indie band. Hardcore Flaming Lips fans (are there any other kind?) and those interested in what was going down in college rock during the Reagan/ Bush years won't be disappointed.

-Mark Richard-San