Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin

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Is There Anything As Good As This Masterpeice?

― Dude (The Yellow Dart), Thursday, 22 January 2004 06:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Plenty.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 22 January 2004 07:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I Enjoy The Album "Pet Sounds" By "The Beach Boys"

― Mike Ouderkirk (Mike Ouderkirk), Thursday, 22 January 2004 07:04 (twenty-two years ago)

i have that.
not as good
atleast thats what i think

― Dude (The Yellow Dart), Thursday, 22 January 2004 07:06 (twenty-two years ago)

I really like the Fall

― Silly Sailor (Andrew Thames), Thursday, 22 January 2004 07:07 (twenty-two years ago)

doesn't everyone?

― Dude (The Yellow Dart), Thursday, 22 January 2004 07:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Tanya Headon doesn't.

― Athlete #1, Thursday, 22 January 2004 07:09 (twenty-two years ago)

tanya headon? who is she? does she enjoy marshmallow fluff?

― Dude (The Yellow Dart), Thursday, 22 January 2004 07:10 (twenty-two years ago)

gorguts - obscura

― sean marvin (williamtell), Thursday, 22 January 2004 07:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I like "girls love bugs."

― billstevejim, Thursday, 22 January 2004 08:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Can someone please explain the appeal of The Soft Bulletin?

I just wrote in another thread that I sold it off, and am glad to have got it out of the house! What might I have missed?

― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Thursday, 22 January 2004 08:57 (twenty-two years ago)

its full of vocal hooks and led zep style drums that are cool. me? i hate the midi violins.

― Pablo Cruise (chaki), Thursday, 22 January 2004 09:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I quite like it, but that's as far as I'd go. I know loads of people who adore the thing and I get quite bewildered.

― Llahtuos Kcin (Nick Southall), Thursday, 22 January 2004 09:52 (twenty-two years ago)

it should be made into a musical

― the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 22 January 2004 11:01 (twenty-two years ago)

their only great record. everything before it is amateurish and fuzzy, with a smattering of great pop songs. bulletin sounded like they'd been through such a long and traumatic history, that they only had the energy to make melancholy orchestral music (with some oddball twists). when they pulled the same trick on yoshimi, it felt a little forced. like "haven't you gotten over it yet?"

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Thursday, 22 January 2004 11:14 (twenty-two years ago)

"Yoshimi" sucks so bad

― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 22 January 2004 11:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Of Montreal - The Gay Parade

s'fun!

― mzui, Thursday, 22 January 2004 11:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Masterpeice

huh?

― ddb, Thursday, 22 January 2004 17:31 (twenty-two years ago)

It's way better than Supertramp. Way way way way better.

Fave Lips album is In A Priest Driven Ambulance myself.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 22 January 2004 17:32 (twenty-two years ago)

I was really surprised to read in the recent NY Times artilce about the Lips that Yoshimi has sold something like 700,000 copies and the Soft Bulletin is nowhere near that. Was there a hit or a car commercial from Yoshimi?

― Magic City (ano ano), Thursday, 22 January 2004 17:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Songs on Soft Bulletin I still think are classics (I stopped finding the album so glorious when I realized that Supertramp comparisons are totally valid): "What Is The Light?" "Superman," "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate," probably another one I'm forgetting.

Part of my problem with the album right now is the distance between the music and the drums. It's woozy to a fault sometimes.

Yoshimi got a LOT more hype and attention, partially because of the underground digging Bulletin so much. Plus there were VH1 commercials, that whole Apple thing, lots of extracurricular stuff.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 22 January 2004 17:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Also the label hyped Yoshimi for a much longer period of time than they hyped Soft Bulletin.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 22 January 2004 17:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I love love love this album....damn the hataz. much better than Yoshimi, although still not as good as pet sounds.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 22 January 2004 17:41 (twenty-two years ago)

I actually have still not yet heard Yoshimi, which is odd since I own every '90s Lips album. I just don't feel like paying money.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 22 January 2004 17:42 (twenty-two years ago)

This is what drives me crazy about AMG. Soft Bulletin doesn't get five stars or the little check mark, but the review claims it might be the best album of the DECADE.
The 90s weren't so bad the best record doesn't deserve 5 stars, right?

― Magic City (ano ano), Thursday, 22 January 2004 17:44 (twenty-two years ago)

It RULES!! The Flaming Lips RULE!!

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Thursday, 22 January 2004 17:52 (twenty-two years ago)

This band tries so hard to be quirky. It is highly irritating. There is nothing less cute than an old guy trying to be cute.

― Adm Michel (adam michel), Thursday, 22 January 2004 22:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I still listen to "Race for the Prize".

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 22 January 2004 22:09 (twenty-two years ago)

It's probably my favorite Flaming Lips song in fact.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 22 January 2004 22:09 (twenty-two years ago)

it's up there, although it'll always trail behind "talkin bout the smiling deathporn immortality blues" (or whatever the dang title is) from hit to death..

― the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 22 January 2004 22:46 (twenty-two years ago)

off to slsk right away!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 22 January 2004 22:57 (twenty-two years ago)

i would like to see more of waynes paintings. there is a nice article in the new issue of juxtapoz

― kephm, Thursday, 22 January 2004 23:01 (twenty-two years ago)

"I was really surprised to read in the recent NY Times artilce about the Lips that Yoshimi has sold something like 700,000 copies and the Soft Bulletin is nowhere near that."

yoshimi was much higher profile in ireland, anyway, so i'm not surprised it was a bigger success. some of the singles are on the easy listening comp that plays on repeat at work. it's a good album, just feels a little forced. jim is otm re: "talkin bout the smiling deathporn immortality blues". one of few great early flips tracks.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Thursday, 22 January 2004 23:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Their best record is still their debut EP, the one with "I Want My Own Planet." Since then, it's been a fairly stready climb downhill.

― chuck, Friday, 23 January 2004 00:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Except Yoshimi was catchier than Soft Bulliten, now that I think of it. At this rate, they should be back in peak form by, what, 2021 or so?

― chuck, Friday, 23 January 2004 00:40 (twenty-two years ago)

This also answers the "My favorite album by X is their worst record acc. to everyone else" thread. But I always though "Telepathic Surgery" was their finest moment. "U.F.O. Story!", "Drug Machine In Heaven", "Right Now", and that 23+ minute "Hell's Angels Cracker Factory" is amazing.

― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 23 January 2004 00:46 (twenty-two years ago)

MAybe a little overblown? I still listen to Transmissions... and Clouds Taste Metallic way more.

― Will (will), Friday, 23 January 2004 00:51 (twenty-two years ago)

jim is otm re: "talkin bout the smiling deathporn immortality blues". one of few great early flips tracks.

"Early"?

"few"?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Friday, 23 January 2004 00:56 (twenty-two years ago)

'Soft Bulletin' is absolutely brilliant. To this day I can play it and be enthralled. 'The Gash' is one of the most astonishing rawk mutations I have ever heard. It reminds me of ELO with Led Zeppelin's rhythm section getting drunk, doing 'shrooms, and jammin' on a Syd Barrett composition. It is certainly in the running for my all-time fave rekkid.

― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Friday, 23 January 2004 02:45 (twenty-two years ago)

I used to love it but I don't anymore but I still really like The Gash.

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Friday, 23 January 2004 02:47 (twenty-two years ago)

It occurred to me one day that it's really funny that they called a song "The Gash" and that it's actually about a flesh wound

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Friday, 23 January 2004 02:47 (twenty-two years ago)

One of my last favorite albums before online music discussion entered my life...which was sort of a blessing. I just loved it by myself for a long time & really had no idea what anyone else thought of it outside a few friends. It still works for me but I skip some songs now.

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 23 January 2004 02:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Well really The Soft Bulletin is tied with Hit To Death... For My Favorite Lips Album. How Did They Get Signed To WB Anyway?. It Just Seems Odd That WB Would Sign The Flaming Lips. And Also I Picked Up Finally The Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid A Few Weeks Ago. It's The First EP and The First 3 Akbums on 3 CD's. Pretty Damn Awesome. I Really Like Oh My Gawd... and theres some pretty good bonus tracks on it too. like covers of Thank You by Led Zeppelin and Death Valley 69' by Sonic Youth.

― Dude (The Yellow Dart), Friday, 23 January 2004 03:24 (twenty-two years ago)

I never really understood the incredible raves that this album got. From the bits of it I've heard, it sounds like defiantly old-fashioned Brian Wilsonesque orchestrated pop with the drums perhaps a bit higher in the mix. Overall it's kind of a bland rehash of tired styles, isn't it? I guess the lyrics must be genius - I haven't listened to it enough to know - because otherwise I'm really quite baffled.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 23 January 2004 03:28 (twenty-two years ago)

I mean I guess it's pleasant enough in a shoegazery kind of way, but I was never a big fan of shoegazer either.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 23 January 2004 03:29 (twenty-two years ago)

i think the album has an excellent flow. it's like a whole story is being told. that two of the tracks are repeated adds to the whole vibe..

― the surface noise (electricsound), Friday, 23 January 2004 03:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't doubt that it's well-sequenced. But that isn't really enough to distract me from what it is that's being sequenced. And if all it is is Brian Wilson doing shoegazer, then I'm kind of bored.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 23 January 2004 03:33 (twenty-two years ago)

yes and they really like bugs and being bitten.
i don't know how this makes it good but trust me it does.
and just for the record i really don't like pet sounds.

― Dude (The Yellow Dart), Friday, 23 January 2004 03:33 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't think it really sounds that much like Pet Sounds. I mean Pet Sounds has a little more emotion, a little more kick, you know, actual hooks. Compared to Pet Sounds, The Soft Bulletin is like the return of the sleepwalker.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 23 January 2004 03:40 (twenty-two years ago)

The Brian Wilson reference point is for the orchestration. The songs are pure shoegazer, if you ask me (and you didn't, but anyway).

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 23 January 2004 03:41 (twenty-two years ago)

four months pass...

Yoshimi is SO much better than this stuff, especially if you get annoyed by the Lips' vocals. The Soft Bulletin certainly doesn't hold up to the critical praise it received at the time, but its a nice album. I'm really enjoying "Buggin'" right now -- the orchestration, the awesome drumming, the vocals, but most of all THE HEAVY BASS IN MELODIC POP! YEAH@!!!!@!@

― Be sure to Loop! Loop, Loop, Loop. (ex machina), Monday, 24 May 2004 12:18 (twenty-two years ago)

PS: The Spiderbite Song sux0rz

― Be sure to Loop! Loop, Loop, Loop. (ex machina), Monday, 24 May 2004 12:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I like that moment in "A Spoonful Weighs A Ton" where the bass just comes in like "BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW", it's like a laser firing off or something.

― Hayden Nicholls (Pop the Weasel), Monday, 24 May 2004 13:28 (twenty-two years ago)

three years pass...

The vocals are such garbage on this record. Transmissions from the Satellite Heart is sooooooo good compared to this!

― Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Friday, 22 February 2008 20:21 (eighteen years ago)

Transmissions = my last favorite FLips record :.(

― contenderizer, Friday, 22 February 2008 20:41 (eighteen years ago)

Other contenders:

Hit to Death = loved it for a month or so; mostly boring now
In a Priest Driven Ambulance = personal top 10 c. 1990; now I just like the noize & the EP w/ "Lucifer Rising"
Telepathic Surgury = AWESOME, UNBEATABLE, CANNOT BE FUCKED WITH
Oh My Gawd... = 2/3 of the best album ever, plus some useless crap
Hear It Is = production sucks, but the best batch of songs they ever wrote

― contenderizer, Friday, 22 February 2008 20:48 (eighteen years ago)

re The Soft Bulletin

the vocals emphasize the worst parts of them; if the arrangement & recording aesthetic was like Jandek or Royal Trux but with the same vocals it would be AWES!!!

― Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Friday, 22 February 2008 21:13 (eighteen years ago)

i bought the 5.1 version of this when it came out, cause it had the remastered version of the album, plus the song that was only on the import version. then i was dissapointed, cause only the dvd had that track on it, and the cd was just the normal us version i've had for years. i just recently learned that there was a mix when they pressed them and that i can send my cd to them for the remastered version. i guess i should do that sometime.

oh and, this album rules. it's you guys who drool.

― Creeztophair, Friday, 22 February 2008 22:01 (eighteen years ago)

... the awesome drumming ...

the drumming was exactly that one (and actually, only) thing that started to nastily nag me 'bout *bullein* from the, er, very off.

― t**t, Friday, 22 February 2008 22:09 (eighteen years ago)

five years pass...

"The Flaming Lips offer an oral history of The Soft Bulletin, with intimate interviews examining the stories behind this modern classic."

http://youtu.be/widmy3lqT_w

― kafkaesque (c21m50nh3x460n), Saturday, 9 March 2013 04:17 (thirteen years ago)

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