The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin

For better or worse, the Flaming Lips grow up

Well, this has sure become a lot of people's favorite Flaming Lips album. "The Pet Sounds of the '90s," they say. I won't argue one thing: it is a good album. When done properly, I love lush, psychedelic symphonic pop. The sound of the album on a whole is big, grand, and sweeping. Which makes sense, since the Lips had originally intended this to be their last album (though that didn't happen, thankfully - what would the world be without "Do You Realize??"). So, once more, the band decided to create their own genre for themselves by fusing elements of the aforementioned lush, psychedelic, symphonic pop (something that never seems to go out of style) and electronica. The result is an album at least as daring as anything else they've done, if not more, because it also represents a total shift in priorities for them. Loud, fuzzy guitars and white noise experiments are out; strings are in.
The album has a lot going for it. The intricate arrangements are fascinating. A lot of attention was paid to getting all the details right. For instance, you have the overdubbed strings and overdubbed vocals on the beautiful "Race for the Prize," the Arabic-influenced strings on the first half of "The Spark that Bled" (before it turns to country-rock for no good reason), and the piano-synthesizer interplay stuff on "Spiderbite Song," the most overtly techno-ish song on the album and probably the most complicated, to the point of annoyance - it's otherwise a great song, but it's dragged down by overly busy drum machine fills. The melodies are gorgeous, like on "A Spoonful Weighs a Ton," which also has an interestingly weird arrangement. The sound of the whole album is quite lovely.
And there are a lot of fantastic songs here. "Race for the Prize" is 100% pure gorgeous. "The Spark that Bled" has a lovably strange arrangement that flies in the face of genre conventions. "What is the Light?" has a huge, orchestral conclusion and a creepy, echoing low piano loop. And since I'm a total sucker for cool sequencing tricks, I'm a big fan of how "What is the Light?" flows right into "The Observer" with the wonder of a "thud-thud-thud" rhythm that carries through both songs and gives "The Observer" a foundation to build upon, and build it does, adding quiet guitar passages, layers of synthesizers, and strings. The leadoff single "Waitin' on a Superman" is one of the group's strongest, with the chimes, the piano, and the treated vocals combining to create a gorgeous effect. I'm surprised it wasn't a bit hit. It should've been, because on top of all the other good stuff about it, it also has a very strong melody. I still prefer "Race for the Price" in terms of sheer sonic soothingness, though.
But I have two major problems with The Soft Bulletin, and wouldn't you know it, both of them go hand-in-hand. Problem a: the album is way too long. Problem dos: all the songs sound the same. I'd be all for (okay, maybe a bit hesitant about) a fifty-six minute album that was really diverse, but when you stay in one bag for almost an hour, it kind of tries my patience, which admittedly wasn't much to begin with. Objectively there's nothing really wrong with "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate" and "Suddenly Everything Has Changed." The problem I have with them is that there are so many other, superior songs like them on this album they just feel warmed-over and inferior. No way either of these are as good as "Waitin' on a Superman" or "Race for the Prize." "The Gash" admirably tries to break formation by using a symphony of vocal effects, but it, um... un-admirably does so by applying a symphony of vocal effects. Terrible-sounding vocal effects, too. It's one of the few unlistenable Flaming Lips songs I'm aware of. It might even be the only one.
A lot of people consider this the band's masterpiece. And hey, I'm not gonna mess with them for it or anything. But in this opinionated reviewer's opinion, discussions of the band's best work are not complete without Transmissions from the Satellite Heart and Clouds Taste Metallic. I also kind of miss the cool song titles from earlier albums ("Guy Who Got Headache and Accidentally Saves the World" comes to mind. So does "The Big Ol' Bug is the New Baby Now"), but that's such a minor thing to quibble about I just won't quibble about it. And this is an enjoyable album. It's hard not to love "Race for the Prize" or "Waitin' on a Superman." But I think this record's maturity in comparison to old records actually hurts it in a way, just because there's nothing adorable like "Christmas at the Zoo" or "She Don't Use Jelly." But I'm sweating the small stuff. Time to stop it now.
November 20, 2008

Sparkling musical escapade

The tension between gaining mass appeal versus critical acclaim is aptly illustrated by the Soft Bulletin, the sparkling musical escapade that was the ninth recording by the Flaming Lips. Moving past the interesting but sometimes trying experimental work embodied by Zaireeka, the group unleashed a nearly perfect recording. Soaring melodies, swirling, layered psychedelic hooks, cool subject matter, stellar playing, and the contrasting almost twangy vocals of Wayne Coyne yield a heady mix, one to be played loudly and shared with friends.

This one is highly recommended for those who grew up with the first wave of psychedelic and those who appreciate the aftershocks from those seminal recordings.
October 31, 2008

Knocked me socks off!

Lying down in the dark listening to The Soft Bulletin letting the music take you on its wonder journey is a delicious experience engaging emotions and mind. November 29, 2007

This album is probably really good...

...but i wouldn't know, because i can never manage to listen to it all the way through without wanting to change it. don't get me wrong, i've listened the all the songs. i thought this would be one of those cds that just takes me awhile to get used to. i think after about 2 years of owning it, i can say i will probably never like it. the songs are bad, they are just ardously boring. wayne coyne doesn't have a great voice, but he makes it work on other albums, but the vocals stand out here, and that is not a good thing. "giving more than they had" in Spoonful never ceases to make me cringe. the instrumentation is all well and good (but yes, still boring. a good boring, but boring nonetheless), so i think the reason this album fails in my opinion is the vocals. even when the tempo is fast, like the sweet drum beat in "where is the light" he'll just drag out that "cause.....it's.......natuuuuural....."

none of the songs on here come close to the best songs on yoshimi, or dare i say even, "she don't jelly". but i know a lot of people listen to boring bands, so if you are one of those people, go right ahead, dig in. October 8, 2007

"They're just humans with wives and children."

When I think of The Flaming Lips, I think of the somewhat-electronic, extremely happy sound of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. I honestly have no idea what they sounded like before. All I know is that after their guitarist left, they decided to change their sound and make a particularly crazy release (A quadruple album with the four discs intended to be listened to simultaneously) called Zaireeka. Afterwards they made The Soft Bulletin, which was extremely acclaimed critically and laid the framework for who they are now.

The Flaming Lips never completely gelled with me the way they seem to do with other people. I like them, but I don't quite find them amazing as bigger fans. They do a lot of nice things, and have made some really great, catchy songs. But they never blow me away, and some of their stuff doesn't seem to go anywhere. They have a very pleasant sound, and at their best some of their tunes might as well be the essence of joy, even if the subject matter of the often strange lyrics aren't. They can also still rock a bit too though, with some nice harder parts and solid bass, including a lot of synth. They never really do what other bands do when they want to make noise, but it's still fun to listen to.

"Race for the Prize" is a perfect encapsulation of what's good about the Flaming Lips, with the infectious melody and distorted vocals. "A Spoonful Weighs a Ton" starts off sounding pleasantly orchestral before breaking into the drum and bass part that can only be described as awesome. "The Spiderbite Song" is more of the reason I don't like the band so much. There's a bit of potential but there just isn't much there musically, and the vocals sound more like he's just talking in his singing voice than an actual tune. "Buggin'" is actually a bit traditional sounding for them, but is a nice, enjoyable song. "What Is the Light?" starts with a repeating bass drum that carries through the song and lasts into the next, which is a nice instrumental. It starts off very minimally but builds to a nice crescendo before coming back down. "Waiting for a Superman" is a good, drum and piano-heavy song. I love "The Gash". It starts off sounding like a truly epic song from a final confrontation in a movie or something before moving into a nice groove with somewhat disconcerting vocals. There are another couple nice songs before the album ends a bit strangely. There are repeats of "Race for the Prize" and "Waiting for a Superman", with some slight changes, but nothing enough that seems to really warrant it. I don't mind since they're both good songs, it just seemed weird. I liked The Soft Bulletin more than Yoshimi, but I still didn't love it. It is a good listen, though. September 16, 2007

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