Label: Warner
Reissued 2011, originally released 1999
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 SEBATISIAN-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.
Track Listing:
- Race for the Prize
- A Spoonful Weighs a Ton
- The Spark That Bled
- The Spiderbite Song
- Buggin' [Remix]
- What Is the Light?
- The Observer
- Waitin' for a Superman
- Suddenly Everything Has Changed
- The Gash
- Slow Motion
- Feeling Yourself Disintegrate
- Sleeping on the Roof