With their multi-disc opus ZAIREEKA, the Flaming Lips radically expanded the scope of their melancholy psychedelia, as pop tunes became modernist soundscapes, part-Pink Floyd, part-John Cage. Obviously, the experience greatly influenced the band's direction, because on THE SOFT BULLETIN the Lips again scrap the guitar-bass-drum rock standard, sculpting instead a huge hi-fi record akin to a post-modern PET SOUNDS with the vision of a humanist OK COMPUTER.
Long-time producer and Mercury Rev studio savant Dave Fridmann helps with the completion of a Spectorian sonic canvas, full of epic gestures (glorious sweeping strings arrangements) and brilliant details (well-placed thematic samples). The music adds a context of grandeur to Coyne's lyrics of Zen and the cosmic joke. Songs like "Superman," "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate" and a half-dozen others, hint at the hopelessness of life's outcome while maintaining a sense of faith (a common Lips theme). THE SOFT BULLETIN raises such pre-millennial realist/fantasy notions in the midst of a 90s "Tomorrow Never Knows," and in the process setting a high bar for the last great rock-era records of the 20th century.
The Flaming Lips: Michael Ivins (vocals, guitar, bass); Steven Drozd (vocals, guitar, drums); Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitar).
Additional personnel: Scott Bennett (bass).
Producers: The Flaming Lips, Dave Fridmann, Scott Booker.
Recorded in Cassadaga, New York, New York between April 1997 and February 1999.
- Format: Vinyl
- Genre: Pop, Rock
- Double Black Vinyl
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TRACKS
A1 Race For The Prize 4:09
A2 A Spoonful Weighs A Ton 3:32
A3 The Spark That Bled 5:55
A4 The Spiderbite Song 4:02
B1 Buggin' 3:16
B2 What Is The Light? 4:05
B3 The Observer 4:11
C1 Waitin' For A Superman 4:17
C2 Suddenly Everything Has Changed 3:54
C3 The Gash 4:02
D1 Slow Motion 3:53
D2 Feeling Yourself Disintegrate 5:17
D3 Sleeping On The Roof 3:09
