The Flaming Lips Discography
 Buying 'Lips
A brief guide to tracking down the rarities

Time was when searching out the much wanted record involved getting dusty fingers trawling the boxes in second-hand record stores, vainly asking the owner if there was anything good in the new arrivals; every so often that 1000-to-one chance came along and you found what you were seeking, and it made your week. Now thanks to the Internet, finding those hard to find rarities becomes ever more easy. Here's my guide on where to start your search...

If you want a record badly, and you don't care how much it cost you, check out Esprit (eil.com); the range of items they have for sale is staggering, and they tend to come in near mint condition. More of them later, though.

If you want to recreate the sense of achivement felt from a good dig around—especially to find the best bargain—there are a number of 'marketplace' sites that list the wares of myrriad record shops from around the world, providing search engines and a unified front-end to make buying easy. I've used three on a regular basis, and wouldn't recommend anyone of them above the other, because they each have something unique to offer; they are NetSoundsMusic.com, GEMM.com and MusicStack.com.

NetSoundsMusic.com NetSoundsMusic is UK based, and I think the easiest to navigate of the three. The simple Artist/Title search box is straightforward—type in 'Flaming Lips' and see where it gets you—or use the 'Display All Media' pull-down to narrow down the format.
GEMM is the longest established of the marketplace sites and consequently serves the greatest number of record store. It's US based and so there is a skew to stock and sellers from that side of the Atlantic. They have recently overhauled the search facilities, and to my mind made it more complicated in the process; I suggest once you've entered a search and brought up some results, you click on the 'Use Classic Result Format' option to make things more legible. The 'Power Tools' and 'Advanced Search' options mean you can be very specific about your searches, but take care to set your critera before you make a search, otherwise they will have no effect.
MusicStack is another US based site, but often has different listings to Gemm because many sellers choose one or the other to list their stock. It's range is more limited, but has the very useful function of allowing buyes to post 'Wants' on the site. If you can't find what you're looking for post a wanted item, name a realistic price, and wait for someone to contact you. It really does works, too. Just make sure that you follow the advice to buyers using the facility to ensure the sellers are above-board.

I used to be very weary of purchasing items from abroad, but have found that this should not be any cause for concern (assuming you have a credit card, that is). The only thing to bear in mind is the postage costs. Not all sellers state these up front, so if you're ordering records from a different continent, it pays to contact the store first to confirm costs.

Then, of course, there's always eBay. Brilliant to find hard-to-find items, and in some respects recreates the thrill of hunting down a good bargain. It can be completely nerve-wracking though, but if you're not the sort that will stay up until 3am to see if they've won an item you could always search items listed with the 'Buy It Now' option.

So back at last to eil.com. Have a dig around; you will be amazed by the extent of their stock, and the breadth of information that accompanies each item. Be warned that their prices are usually about twice the going rate of any other record store; consequently I tend to use them as a last resort.

And finally... If you're keen to get your hands on the Thank You/Death Valley '69 or Life on Mars 7" flexi disc from the covers of 'The Bob' magazine, have a care before you splash out £30 at eil.com; The Bob Magazine is alive and well, and still sells back issues of #32 and #44 with Flaming Lips stories and accompanying flexi discs for $10 and $6 respectively. The articles are worth the money alone.

I'm always up for a trade, so if you think you can help me out, drop me a line on tim@neville-lee.com

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