The flaming lips soft bulletin5/22/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() Prior to the release of The Soft Bulletin, The Flaming Lips were viewed as primarily a guitar driven punk band, albeit with quirky lyrics, and the band’s previous album, Zaireeka, was an experimental effort on four discs intended to be played simultaneously on four different stereos. While the Lips’ have released several live concert DVDs (my favorite being 2007’s U.F.O.S at the Zoo because it captures the same show that I got to take my 9-old-son to where we wore Santa suits and danced and jumped around on stage beside the band, and had a laser flashlight battle with the alien vixens from space on the other side of the band at a key moment in the show), and have full concerts available to view on youtube, until now they’ve never released a live concert audio album. Beneath it all, however, one will ultimately find an honest portrait of a hardworking, unbelievably talented and imaginative band on the cusp of momentous success, soon to perform in large plastic balls, rolling atop crowds of adoring fans.Fire Note Says: The Flaming Lips join together with the Colorado Symphony to recreate their 1999 masterpiece “The Soft Bulletin” at the landmark Red Rocks Amphitheatre.Īlbum Review: Back in 2016, somebody had the smarts to imagine a 20th anniversary celebration of Oklahoma City’s Flaming Lips’ breakout 1999 release, The Soft Bulletin, complete with a live album recorded at the picturesque Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and Chorus filling in for the synthesizer generated orchestrations on the original recording. For fans, it will be a fun listen, as the group’s signature air of psychedelic madness and melodic mysticism still permeates the album. If anything, Companion should become a catalyst for mass revisitations of their 37-year discography, which happens to have produced several of the greatest albums released within the past three decades.Īs an intriguing piece of music history, the new Soft Bulletin Companion release is worth owning. The genuine purpose of Companion, however, is to remind longtime fans just how great The Flaming Lips are. Frontman Wayne Coyne directs the band on the rough mix of “Little Hands,” which may be worth exploring for diehard fans, while the Zaireeka tracks will sound great to admirers of that album. The early mix of “Slow Motion” is also quite impressive, showcasing the group’s knack for stirring string arrangements. Overall, the more noteworthy tracks include the aforementioned “The Captain,” which, underneath the fuzz and throbbing percussion, is an astoundingly moving composition. Elsewhere, “Buggin’ (Lips mix) ” and “The Spiderbite Song (early mix)” prove intriguing, but fall short of the familiar versions featured on The Soft Bulletin. Of Companion’s 13 tracks, few are likely to affect the casual listener, as this is most definitely one for the fans, many of whom will be pleased to see longtime favorite “The Captain” available on vinyl at long last. It goes without saying that Companion cannot be compared with 1999’s The Soft Bulletin, the group’s fabled achievement in intricately layered sonic bliss which earned the previously understated Oklahoma alt rockers widespread acclaim, some critics going as far as to declare it the “ Pet Sounds of the ’90s.” However, Companion most certainly serves its purpose as a supplementary collection of B-sides, rarities, unreleased recordings, and early mixes from The Soft Bulletin era, as well as stereo versions of several songs from the group’s 1997 experimental release Zaireeka (which was designed to be listened to via four separate CDs playing at once on different sound systems). Initially compiled as an intended promo-only CD to complement The Flaming Lips’ breakthrough ninth album, The Soft Bulletin Companion has persevered across the span of two decades while remaining of interest to fans of the band, finally earning itself a limited double vinyl release for Record Store Day.
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