In A Priest Driven Ambulance

The band's first unqualified masterpiece (and its last indie release) follows its second major lineup change, with Richard quitting the band and guitarist-vocalist Jonathan "Dingus" Donahue and drummer Nathan Roberts coming onboard. Recorded with soon-to-be regular collaborator David Fridmann in the student studio at SUNY's School of Music Sound Recording Technology in Fredonia, New York, the Lips finally had the opportunity to indulge every sonic experiment they'd been dreaming up, and Wayne and Jonathan produced a set of songs that warranted the elaborate studio treatments. The haunting "There You Are" was recorded outdoors in the middle of the night; "Five Stop Mother Superior Rain" is a sublime piece of existential angst that stands as the Lips' answer to the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses," and "Shine on Sweet Jesus," "Unconsciously Screamin'," "God Walks Among Us Now," and "Mountain Side" are superb examples of the powerful new two-guitar attack — though really, there isn't a single song on the disc that isn't stunning. "We did the album thinking, 'This is the last record we're ever gonna do, let's go out in a blaze of glory,'" Wayne recalled. Glorious it was, but it was far from the group's curtain call.