They’re just humans with wives and children.” ‘A Spoonful Weighs a Ton’ presents a common theme of juxtaposing the seemingly small with large matters. ‘Race for the Prize’ tells the story of two scientists who are tasked with saving the world (akin to ‘Cloud Taste’s Metallic’s’ ‘Guy who got a Headache and Accidentally Saved the World’), but brings it back to earth with the line “Theirs is to win if it kills them. Songs such as ‘Spark that Bled’ and ‘Suddenly Everything has Changed’ mix the mundane and routine, with the unexpected and irreversible change. This is exemplified in the song ‘Feeling Yourself Disintegrate’ which contains the message “Life without death is just impossible,” the song that embodies the album’s deepest ideals. One of the primary themes of ‘The Soft Bulletin’ is the juxtaposing of love and death together, arguing that love is the most powerful force binding us together. These grand orchestral production brought comparisons to The Beach Boys’ ‘Pet Sounds’ and Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’. The arrangements on the album are rich and detailed, which creates large symphonic songs such as ‘Race for the Prize’ and ‘The Spark that Bled’. The band took the mantra that ‘The Soft Bulletin’ would be a no guitar album, instead ‘The Soft Bulletin’ features a vast array of instrumentation and explores the potential of the studio much more than previous albums. Recording for ‘The Soft Bulletin’ took place immediately after ‘Zaireeka’ between April 1997 and February 1999. ‘The Soft Bulletin’ was first released in the UK on 17th May 1999 and released in the US a month later. ‘Zaireeka’ also showed an increased role in band member Steven Drozd. ‘Zaireeka’ was the first album recorded in what would become a mainstay for the band Tarbox Road studios. The critical feedback to Zaireeka was mixed and was infamously given a 0.0 rating by Pitchfork, due to the practical issues of the album. They also agreed to budget of $200,000 which would be used not just for ‘Zaireeka’ but also for their next ‘traditional’ studio album. The Flaming Lips manager (Scott Brooker) managed to convince Waner Bros. A 6 hour song (‘I Found this Star on the Ground’) which was followed up by a 24 hour song (‘7 Skies H3’) which was then released physically in a hard-drive encased in a real human skull. Future strange release such as the ‘blood vinyl’ release of the album ‘The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends’, life sized gummy skulls contain a usb of songs in 2011. Experimenting with strange releases would go on to become a feature of The Flaming Lips discography. These experiments led to the 1997 album ‘Zaireeka’ which was an album spread across 4 discs meant to be played across multiple cd speakers. In which Wayne Coyne created 40 cassette tapes to be played in synchronisation.
#THE FLAMING LIPS SOFT BULLETIN SERIES#
‘The Parking Lot Experiments’ and Zaireeka’īetween 19 The Flaming Lips performed a series of experimental events known as ‘The Parking Lot Experiments’. The album, however, floundered and then guitarist Ronald Jones left the band leaving just band members Wayne Coyne (vocals and guitar), Steven Drozd (drums) and Michael Ivins (bass). The follow up album ‘Clouds Taste Metallic’ was touted to drive on this success following on the style of ‘She Don’t use Jelly’. The album sold 300,000 worldwide and spawned the single ‘She Don’t Use Jelly’ which reached 55 in the US Billboard chart (to date their only single to do so), earning the band an infamous slot on Beverly 90210. It wasn’t till their 1993 album ‘Transmission from the Satellite Heart’ that The Lips got their first commercial break. Records in 1991 (as part of a burgeoning trend of rock band being signed post Nivana’s ‘Nevermind’) releasing their first album on the label ‘Hit to Death in the Future Head’ in 1992. The band were them signed to Warner Bros. What came next was a period of experimentation and rediscovery unlike many other bands and by 1999 The Lips’ were releasing their quintessential masterpiece ‘The Soft Bulletin’.įormed in 1983 The Flaming Lips would release a steady stream of psychedelic alt-rock albums through the 80s and early 90s. Guitarist Ronald Jones had left the band, and the label they were signed to (Warner Bros.) were becoming very trigger happy at firing bands. In late 1996 The Flaming Lips were at a crossroads, they had achieved their 15 minutes of fame through the single ‘She Don’t Use Jelly’, but the follow up album ‘Clouds Taste Metallic’ had flopped.
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