The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin [1999]

Genre: Indie Rock, Alternative, Psychedelic, Progressive Pop

MySpace: flaminglips

My opinion & thought: This is one of my favourite Flaming Lips' album, this album is actually quite commercialize if compared to all of their previous albums but still sounds good. Lots of catchy sing-along-chorus & creative musical arrangements. Surprisingly entertaining!

Stands out track(s): Race For The Prize, Waitin' For A Superman



The Soft Bulletin is the ninth album released by The Flaming Lips on May 17, 1999 (see 1999 in music) in the UK, with a US release following on June 22, 1999.

Sound:

The album was considered to mark a change in course for the band, with more traditional catchy melodies and accessible-sounding music (their previous album, 1997'sZaireeka, was a quadruple album of experimental sounds meant to be played on four separate stereo systems simultaneously) and lyrics that were more serious and thoughtful in content.

The album was noted for its fusion of ordinary rock instruments, electronic beats and synthesizers. Its large, layered, symphonic sound has also earned it a reputation as the Pet Sounds of the 1990s from a few critics.


Critical & commercial impact:

Despite never reaching the Billboard 200 (it hit #12 on the Heatseekers chart), The Soft Bulletin reached universal acclaim (85/100) on Metacritic and topped over 60 "Best of 1999" lists with some critics, namely Allmusic and Inkblot Magazine, even going so far as to name it as a contender for the best album of the 1990s. Pitchfork Media rated The Soft Bulletin at #3 in their top 100 albums of the 1990s.

The Soft Bulletin is partially responsible for establishing the latter-day identity of The Flaming Lips, and as its following expanded over the years after its release, paved the way to them being among the most well-respected groups of the 2000s. The album sold 38,000 copies in the U.S. in 2006.

In 2006, Robert Dimery chose The Soft Bulletin and its follow-up Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots as part of his book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

The cover artwork of the album is a modified version of a photograph taken by Lawrence Schiller for a 1966 Life magazine article on LSD.


Tracklisting:

Upon its release, The Soft Bulletin was subject to record company demands for commercial-sounding music, hence the inclusion of remixes of several songs. In addition, the US and UK CDs each contain one track that the other does not, "The Spiderbite Song" and "Slow Motion" respectively.

  1. "Race for the Prize" (Remix) – 4:09
  2. "A Spoonful Weighs a Ton" – 3:32
  3. "The Spark That Bled" ("The Softest Bullet Ever Shot") – 5:55
  4. "The Spiderbite Song" – 4:02
  5. "Buggin'" (Remix) – 3:16
  6. "What Is the Light?" ("An Untested Hypothesis Suggesting That the Chemical (In Our Brains) by Which We Are Able to Experience the Sensation of Being in Love Is the Same Chemical That Caused the "Big Bang" That Was the Birth of the Accelerating Universe") – 4:05
  7. "The Observer" – 4:11
  8. "Waitin' for a Superman" ("Is It Gettin' Heavy?") – 4:17
  9. "Suddenly Everything Has Changed" ("Death Anxiety Caused by Moments of Boredom") – 3:54
  10. "The Gash" ("Battle Hymn for the Wounded Mathematician") – 4:02
  11. "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate" – 5:17
  12. "Sleeping on the Roof" (excerpt from "Should We Keep the Severed Head Awake??") – 3:09
  13. "Race for the Prize" ("Sacrifice of the New Scientists") – 4:18
  14. "Waitin' for a Superman" (Remix) – 4:19

Personnel:

The Flaming Lips at this time consisted of:

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