With the exception of the superb {^In a Priest Driven Ambulance}, {$the Flaming Lips}' early albums for the {@Restless} label are at best hit-or-miss affairs; {^A Collection of Songs Representing an Enthusiasm for Recording...by Amateurs} sifts through the debris to rescue the most enduring material from those LPs, revealing a band still struggling to discover its voice but on occasion capable of flickers of startling brilliance. The best tracks here -- {&"Unconsciously Screamin',"} {&"Jesus Shootin' Heroin,"} and {&"One Million, Billionth of a Millisecond on a Sunday Morning"} -- rival anything in the group's catalog, while even the weaker selections still suggest a truly original musical vision in embryo. Complete with a batch of unreleased covers making the set as valuable to longtime fans as more recent converts, {^A Collection of Songs} proves once and for all that {$the Lips} didn't simply become a great band overnight -- they always had it in them, with the best still yet to come. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide