lambchops's Full Review: The Soft Bulletin by The Flaming Lips
After years of trying to like The Flaming Lips, I’ve finally had an epiphany. I don’t just like them, I love them. Artsy and strange yet wholly appealing, the band has proven their knack for making music that completely appeals to the mind, heart, and ear. I feel good when I listen to The Flaming Lips—as if I’m at the cutting edge of what’s new and cool in slightly less-than-mainstream music (despite the fact that there is nothing new or indie at all about The Flaming Lips).
Some time about ten years ago, I got my first sampling of The Flaming Lips. I at first discarded them as a novelty act. It was difficult to think anything more than that as the only song I knew was the modest hit She Don’t Use Jelly from album Transmissions from the Satellite Heart (1993). Truth be told, the band slipped my mind for a few years following their unexpected brush with success. In fact, it never was the song that stood out with me; it was the flame-colored hair of the “lead singer.” Of course in the case of The Flaming Lips there is no mere “lead singer,” there is only writer and guitarist and producer and singer Wayne Coyne (aka, that guy with the extraordinary bright orange/red hair).
Despite not stumbling on to The Flaming Lips until 1994 or 1995, the Oklahoma band has been around since 1983. She Don’t Use Jelly is to date the band’s only hit single, but with a repertoire of nearly a dozen albums the band has earned a good deal of critical acclaim. Always weird, usually catchy, and unusually creative (look no further than 1997’s oddly interactive Zaireeka for one of the wildest musical experiments in history) The Flaming Lips really seemed to come into their own as the last decade drew to a close. Coyne remained the major creative force while the remaining two members (a third disappeared during a 1996 spiritual trek) provide percussion (Steven Drozd) and bass (founding member Michael Ivins).
It was 1999 when the band released what would become their most heralded album. The Soft Bulletin is an evocative pop album and nothing much at all like Zaireeka. This was something of a new direction for The Flaming Lips—one that attracted a whole new crop of fans and a renewed interest for other listeners like myself. I am engrossed by the fourteen songs and impressed by the ease and melody of the effort. The Soft Bulletin was most certainly a bid at commercial success, but fortunately the bad made no sacrifices artistically. It is an outstanding, transcendent, cohesive, and utterly luminous album which ranks easily as the band’s best and possibly even the best of 1999.
As much as the whole of The Soft Bulletin is fabulous I have to give props to The Flaming Lips for making each individual part important to the success of the album—remixes included. By the way, the fact that remixes exist on this album is further proof of the big for mainstream attention. Engineer Peter Mokran (R. Kelly, Aaliyah, Janet Jackson) successfully fiddled with some of the better songs and thus injects some dynamism to the already outstanding album.
To speak of superior songs is to downplay the importance of those left unmentioned. So instead of talking about the “best” songs, I’ll merely speak to my “favorites” and encourage readers to seek out their own personal “favorites.” The remix of Race for the Prize begins things off nicely with a smooth, jazzy lounge feel. One thing of note about this song and all the rest is that Coyne’s voice is nasally and strange. If you can’t take his quirky style you’re likely not going to even like this fantastic album. A Spoonful Weighs a Ton is the first song I really love. With a sweeping melody and memorable lyrics (in particular the ones that surround the equally memorable chorus), it helps to put the whole album in some context. It is an emotional opus.
The Spiderbite Song is also a highpoint for me—in part because the stories are real. Drummer Drozd nearly lost his hand to a spider bite while bassist Ivins was involved in a strange hit and run accident. It is clear that Coyne felt the pain of his bandmates and would have felt the loss of them musically. The song is about being thankful for what you have rather than dwelling on loss. It is about hope and the simplest joys in life. Waitin’ for a Superman is also a modest, eloquent pop offering worth mentioning.
The Gash, though is the strangest and most interesting of the bunch. Starting off with a Beatles-esque orchestral arrangement ala I am the Walrus, it sparkles with life. In addition, the odd choral arrangement makes it wholly different than anything else on The Soft Bulletin. The Gash makes me smile. It’s that good a song. Finally, I want to mention that I think the original Race for the Prize is the superior version to the remix.
In all I am completely impressed with everything about The Soft Bulletin. At nearly an hour in length, it passes quickly and easily—a characteristic of all great albums. Nothing is extraneous and nothing is boring. The Flaming Lips (and for that matter Coyne) has proven that they are a band to watch and respect. Following the success of this release, they returned a few years later with the nearly as perfect Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (which is something of a technologically-rooted concept album). In any case, if you don’t have The Soft Bulletin yet, you’ve already waited too long.
Rating: 5/5 stars
Track Listing:
01. Race for the Prize [remix]
02. A Spoonful Weighs a Ton
03. The Spark That Bled
04. The Spiderbite Song
05. Buggin’ [remix]
06. What Is the Light?
07. The Observer
08. Waitin’ for a Superman
09. Suddenly Everything Has Changed
10. The Gash
11. Feeling Yourself Disintegrate
12. Sleeping on the Roof
13. Race for the Prize
14. Waitin’ for a Superman [remix]
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