The Flaming Lips: The Soft Bulletin
The Flaming Lips had seemed to have painted themselves into the same arthouse rock corner that Sonic Youth have revelled in for the past 20 years. The plucky junkies from Ohio have spent their last eight albums shocking us with sporadic moments of a greatness, ... Read review
This review already contains more than 120 words. As a Ciao member you could earn up to £5 with this review.
separate CDs, the idea being that you played them simultaneously on four separate stereos to benefit from their full effect. The only flaw in this delightful plan is ...
The Soft Bulletin -
The Flaming Lips are a restless band--their 1994 album,Zaireeka,was released on four
... more
separate CDs, the idea being that you played them simultaneously on four separate stereos to benefit from their full effect. The only flaw in this delightful plan is t...
The Soft Bulletin. Anyone who had the gumption to actually listen to Zaireeka, a song cycle that could only be heard by playing four CDs at the exact same time on different stereos, knows that head Lip Wayne Coyne and his Oklahoma City brethren had it in them. That album, along with the Lips' Parking Lot Experiments, offered proof that Coyne wasn't playing by the same rules as everyone else. He was growing up and away from the splenetic psychedelic freak-outs of earlier albums and emerging as a first-rate composer--perhaps the first alt-rock star to earn such status. The Soft Bulletin is absolutely colossal, a testament to their position as the vanguard of a movement that includes Spiritualized's Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, Mercury Rev's Deserter's Songs, and Olivia Tremor Control's Black Foliage. As with those albums, Bulletin shares a love of cosmic, vaguely psychedelic pop and a closet full of pet sounds. But the Flaming Lips only uses these as a launch pad for rocketing into ethereal sonic space. Although Bulletin steps back from Zaireeka's over-the-top indulgence, it manages to be symphonic, bombastic, outrageous, and damned catchy--while still oozing the band's unique weirdness. The sound is massive and complex; gongs, harps, grand piano, bells, pipe organ, strings, oboes, choral harmonies, and, strangely, very, very little guitar squall all merge into one wall--no, wall of sound doesn't do it justice. It's a cliff of sound, propelled by drummer Steven Drozd's tremendous pounding. On top of it all, Coyne's sweet but ravaged voice yields tender lyrics that tag a catalog of Lips stalwarts, such as insects, spirituality, and superheroes. One imagines Coyne in front of a full orchestra, urging them to keep up as he sings, "Ooh, those bugs / buzzing 'round..." on "Buggin." But the Lips orchestrated the entire album in their studio, sometimes manipulating more than 200 separate tracks to achieve Bulletin's vast symphonic excess. Each song is a rare gem. "A Spoonful Weighs a Ton" sounds like a collusion of Bach and Tricky. "The Spark That Bled" infuses a fey, Belle and Sebastian-esque ditty with Led Zeppelin-like funky swagger. "The Spiderbite Song" is a shotgun wedding between a tender piano ballad and the industrial noise of things falling apart. "The Gash" is just too singular to adequately describe. It'll be interesting to hear what the Lips do next. If The Soft Bulletin is any indication at all, they can do anything they please. And we can't possibly imagine what it will sound like. --Tod Nelson
Growing up in public Review ofSoft Bulletin, The - Flaming Lips (The)by
harrison_simon
Advantages: The greatest yet by a pretty great band Disadvantages: Not many people have heard of them
The Flaming Lips: The Soft Bulletin
The Flaming Lips had seemed to have painted themselves into the same arthouse rock corner that Sonic Youth have revelled in for the past 20 years. The plucky junkies from Ohio have spent their last eight albums shocking us with sporadic moments of a greatness, only to slip back into the same old indulgent alternative path trod by so many lesser talents. When fellow travellers Mercury Rev released 1998’s Deserters ... ...nearly made its. The Soft Bulletin changes everything. While British bands can only marvel at the completed adventure that was The Beatles, Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips take the D roads and dirt tracks, taking in such wonders as The Loving Spoonfuls and Captain Beefheart, to arrive at perhaps the last example of unfinished 60s experimentalism. Basically put, both bands have carried on where Brian Wilson left off. And where Deserter’s Songs lost ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Originality
Lyrics
Quality and consistency...
How does it compare to ...
Value for Money
helpful
05.07.2000
I like this Review ofSoft Bulletin, The - Flaming Lips (The)by
mumsymary
Advantages: excellent Disadvantages: you may not like it
The flaming lips.
The soft bulletin
This was recorded in1999
I am sat here on a sunny day resting after gardening I decided to play this it is perfect for a sunny day. The music is just right. Its psychedelic progressive indie a bit reminiscent of the music I used to listen to as a young teenager the music is bright uplifting has some soaring orchestral passages in it. Maybe the words are not so light questioning searching.
The track on now “race ... ...of all mankind”, “theirs is to win if it kills them”. A symphonic swell of strings lifts this song along
This track bugging Lyrics comparing insects with the love bug flying around in the air in the summertime.
Yes they are right, I am remembering my youthful summer days young and in love being so aware of the person I was in love with. How I just had to be with him scratching the itch called love couldn’t get him out of my hair (still with him) ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Originality
Lyrics
Quality and consistency...
How does it compare to ...
Value for Money
helpful
11.05.2003
(27.06.2003)
Infinitum Review ofSoft Bulletin, The - Flaming Lips (The)by
steveedee77
Advantages: A record to transform your life Disadvantages: What disadvantages?
...with many different outcomes. The Soft Bulletin sounds like Hope and tranquility, with a troubled underbelly. I'd Blah on all day about this album if I could, but to sum it up, DONT LET YOUR RECORD COLLECTION BE WITHOUT IT. Mark my words, in years to come they'll be mentioning this in the same breath as the White Album. ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Might just be the best album ever recorded... Disadvantages: What do you think?
...with the release of 'The Soft Bulletin,' the whole musical world, (Smash Hits possibly excepted) the immense amount of praise heaped upon it made certain it at least partially crossed over.
What can I say? NME album of the year, and their judgement is usually to be trusted. Simply IMMENSE!! There really aren't any words I could use that would do justice to this fantastic record. All I'm gonna say is:
BUY THIS NOW!!! YES, NOW!!!
ARE YOU STILL HERE? ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Originality
Lyrics
Quality and consistency...
How does it compare to ...
Value for Money
helpful
12.09.2000
Hard Bulletin Review ofSoft Bulletin, The - Flaming Lips (The)by
neilcarhart
Advantages: Breathtaking and fun Disadvantages: Takes time to get into
I am going to stick my neck out a little and say this album is hit or miss. Not trackwise, if you love it, you love every second, if you don't you just don't get it. That is my experience anyway. After listening to this album a few times it suddenly hit me as being one of the most amazing albums made in my lifetime. The album is very dense musically, but at the same time can float around the room. However, despite the fact that I am convinced this ... ...it. I have recomended this album to several people and have only ever got two reactions. Just over half (note the majority :D) fall in love with it and agree with me, they are blown away. While the remaining friends just don't like it. And i sympathise with them that it is not an album you can easily get into. But once your are, it is into you. The songs can be delcate and heartfelt, while the lyrics are at best off the wall and are never straight ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
