Obsessive music fans are a strange ilk. Not only will they fill their homes with every deluxe reissue of a record, but they’ll take on some barely functional curiosities, too. Here’s a look at the releases that stretch the definition of “album,” often requiring so much effort that it begs the question if it’s worth it—or, in some cases, if it’s even music. 1. The Flaming Lips, various releases The Flaming Lips love a good packaging and listening challenge. For years, the band’s most infamous release was the 1997 album Zaireeka, which required listeners to set up four CD players (or, after a 2013 vinyl reissue, record players) and play four separate discs at once to experience the music properly. In 2011, however, the Lips upped the ante considerably by releasing four songs on a USB drive encased in a gummy brain, which in turn was lodged within a life-sized gummy skull. Later in the year, the Lips released another version of the seven-pound skull, only this one contained a live version of The Soft Bulletin within a green, marijuana-flavored gummy brain. In other words, accessing the music required a rather sharp knife and a surgeon’s delicate precision. (Love of…