Soft Bulletin

The Flaming Lips | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 22, 1999)
• Original Release Date: June 22, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B00000JC6C
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (344 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,113 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #34 in Music > Alternative Rock > Indie & Lo-Fi > Dream Pop
  • #67 in Music > Miscellaneous > Experimental Music
  • #78 in Music > Alternative Rock > American Alternative > General

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: FLAMING LIPS
Title: SOFT BULLETIN
Street Release Date: 06/22/1999
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How often does it get this good?, July 26, 2002

By 

Aaron C. Burkhalter "aaronburkhalter" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Soft Bulletin (Audio CD)

This is not just a great album, this is an unbelievably rare album. Albums like this come once in a lifetime for most bands. Few bands are able to create musical experiences that could be called religious just out of their sheer beauty.
This album is beautiful, desperate, hopeless, hopefull, lost and constantly searching. This album reaches into your heart and holds it from beginning to end.
The Flaming Lips, as usual, are deceptively simple, with songs like "Buggin'" and "Race for the Prize" which contain what seem to be simple lyrics or a simple story, but it's never that simple. Reach deeper into the album, do a little more research. "Race for the Prize" isn't about a race, it's not about a scientist it's about finding a passion for something and loving it so much that you would hit rock bottom for it.
Songs like "Suddenly Everthing Has Changed" are introspectively genius, and with the mere descriptions of everyday tasks (folding laundry, putting away groceries, driving a car) and those being the moments in which everything changes.
"Waiting For Superman" is a beautiful song about desperation and waiting for the saving grace to lift up everything up of our shoulders that's "gettin' heavy."
Outside of the incredible lyrical beauty is the best production job I've heard in years on par with the likes of Brian Wilson's "Pet Sounds." The album itself bears many parallels to Pet Sounds with the diverse array of instruments and sounds with orchestra, also the beautiful instrumental interludes, plus an overall wall of sound Phil Spector-ish boom to everything, especially within "The Gash." It's been said that music is a combonation of sounds and silences, in "The Gash" the second is completely omitted.
The Flaming Lips encompass everything I love about music. They're catchy, with wonderful hooks, they make incredible ear opening sounds that just amaze, the production is deep and complex, and above all they say something without saying "Look at us! We're saying something!" Every step of their work is done with complete humility, verging on emberassment, almost as if they're surprised anyone would care. Their music goes completely off the edge, with visions as great and far reaching as John Cage, Ornette Coleman, and anyone else that completely challenged and destroyed everything we ever thought about music. And most importantly, it works. Their interviews they present themselves as performers who are just making only semi-decent music that somehow sells, but despite this lack of well deserved pride and confidence the music comes off brilliant, and I'll say I think they're one of the most genius groups to enter the scene in years. They are musical conceptualists that will always have my attention and interest.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Modern Art-Rock Masterpiece, September 11, 2002

By 

Steven R. Seim "Steve Seim" (Beaver Dam, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Soft Bulletin (Audio CD)

The Flaming Lips built their reputation on eclectic punk-rock and surrealistic lyrics. However, over the past few years, their music has continued to evolve and improve, both sonically and lyrically, resulting in two of the best albums of the past 10 years, "The Soft Bulletin" and, more recently, "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots."

Sonically, the band has lost none of its wonderful intensity. However, the rough edges have been smoothed, and Wayne Coyne & Co. have continued to experiment with new sounds and textures. The result is simultaneously more innovative and more accessible than their earlier recordings. "The Soft Bulletin" is power-pop meets progressive rock meets trip-hop and space rock.

Lyrically, the Lips have evolved from Dali-like weirdness to songs that movingly reflect the tension between humanity (and concepts like love, hope, courage) and the depression and alienation of post-modern society. Their philosophical searching is reflected in song titles like "Suddenly Everything Has Changed," "Waitin' for a Superman," and "What Is the Light?", and in these lines from "The Gash":

I feel like the real reason that you're quitting is that you're admitting that you've lost all the will to battle on

Will the fight for our sanity be the fight of our lives now that we've lost all the reasons that we thought that we had

Still the battle that we're in rages on 'til the end.

With this record, the Flaming Lips have created a true work of art. This is the band that everyone should be talking about - it is not hyperbole to call "The Soft Bulletin" today's "Sgt. Pepper." Unfortunately, outside of the music press and some dedicated fans, no one else seems to care.

Do yourself a favor - give this one a spin.

27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE BEST ALBUM EVER OF ANY GENRE EVER, January 31, 2001

By 

Jack (Kansas City, MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Soft Bulletin (Audio CD)

This album changed my life. It made the Flaming Lips not only my favorite band but also an inspirational guide. The songwriting on this record is perfect. 1. Race for the Prize- Gets things in motion. You realize that this uplifting gem has more to it than you first expect. Awesome lyrics. 2. A Spoonful Weighs a Ton- Awesome lyrics again. This song has a killer breakdown which makes you feel Brazillian. 3. The Spark That Bled- It gets even better. I stood up and I said "Yeah" 4. The Spiderbite Song- This song perfectly describes friendship, and how when you think that tragedy will strike, your friends are still there. 5. Buggin- Totally fun. The production on this is top notch. 6. What is the Light?- Production Production production. Vocals of Greatness. This song makes you feel like you can actually see auras around people. Boy, did that sentence just make me sound weird. 7. The Observer- This song is an instrumental. It just takes you further on the crazy canoe that is the "soft bulletin". Guitar is dope on this. 8. Waiting for Superman- This is a sad song, but like "Hey Jude" is a sad song. Bass shines on this. Piano is great. Wayne almost makes you tear up on this one. 9. Suddenly Everything Has Changed- This has to do with the shock of life irrevocably changing. It is a great tune. 10. The Gash- I don't want to describe The Gash because it is so ill that you should just go into it blindfolded. Genius. 11. Feeling Yourself Disintegrate- The album builds perfectly up to this song. Wayne talks about life, death and its value. Not for the beach but anyone in the world at any point in life can appreciate the beauty in this song. 12. Sleepin on the Roof- This song has a sprinkler-like sound in it. You actually feel like you just watched the OU game on television and decided to rest outside. Listening to this song makes you think about all that Wayne, Steve, and Michael have shared with you on the album. 13 and 14- Remixes to Race for the Prize and Waitin for Superman. They are the same chords, but the moods are different. When it ends, you feel forever enlightened.

This band changed my life.