Atlas shrugged

The Soft Bulletin - The Flaming Lips (1999)

This album is the Amazon rainforest of beautiful sounds. The orchestration is deep, the melodies lush. It's a rich ecosystem of symphony, synths and sound effects, but nothing is overdone.

Thus it is not imposing staring ahead into endless and viny foliage and mud or the possibility of lurking predators. The sense of the unknown gives this album a feeling of fresh excitement and discovery even eleven years later. The warmth of the music somehow defuses its own density, making it not just intriguing, but moreover, inviting.

While not completely abandoning the punk absurdity of previous efforts, the ideas presented by the Lips on Soft are smoother, the lyrics grander in scope. Facing tasks bigger than one's self is a recurring theme on the record, perhaps mirrored by the band's own efforts in creating it.

Like the band, then, the scientists in "Race For The Prize", (87/100), are willing to take risks. They go to great lengths, giving up everything important to them, their families, their lives, to benefit humanity. That they do so even in the face of getting stiffed with the box of Cracker Jacks that comes with no prize inside lends the track its subtitle: "Sacrifice Of The New Scientists". The US version of Soft features a remix of this track, while the original mix which kicks off the UK edition, is included as a bonus track. The remix puts a little more shine on the song, making it a touch more piano-based. It also sadly puts a bit of a mute on the raw power of Steven Drozd's trademark drum sound.

The melodic intro to "A Spoonful Weighs A Ton", (85), belies the bizarre tone that synths announce more clearly at 1:23. In "giving more than they had," the people in this song execute an impossible plan of rescue. They achieve their great accomplishment of "lift(ing) up the sun" with grit and determination as wonderfully strained as Wayne Coyne's voice. Opposition is silenced by love and a peculiar call-and-answer between the synths and guitars at 1:23 and again at 2:22.

"The Spark That Bled", (84), chronicles what happens after being hit by "the softest bullet ever shot". There is a defiant strength in the face of the existential crisis of this song. It actually produces such a triumphant feeling that by the time he sings, "I stood up and I said 'Hey Yeah!'", I totally want to join him. The confident momentum keeps growing, changing the song at 3:52, until of course reality rears its ugly head at the end.

There is more adversity to be overcome in "The Spiderbite Song", (85). Whether threatened by insect poison or horrific car accidents, destruction is only averted through connection with others. The track features drum fills sucked through a black hole, likely the very one that love "leaves in its absence," the greatest tragedy of all. The UK edition trades "Spiderbite" for "Slow Motion", (84), a seemingly lighter track, what with its "drifting" and "floating".

By the time "Buggin'", (98), (http://www.mediafire.com/?196ltmg8m2o9lwb), comes around, this album has really settled in nicely. Simply put, this track is outstanding. "Does love buzz because that's what it does?" Brilliant. Multi-tracked and phased vocal harmonies are just one layer of sonic sugar to feast upon. The version that appears on the US album, and on the UK edition only as a bonus track, is actually another remix. The original mix, equally appealing, though less glossy and with a slightly extended sound effect coda, has the subtitle, "The Buzz Of Love Is Busy Buggin' You".

"What Is The Light?", (95), is asked with the urgency required of the most important inquiry ever. Subtitled "An Untested Hypothesis Suggesting That The Chemical (In Our Brains) By Which We Are Able To Experience The Sensation Of Being In Love Is The Same Chemical That Caused The "Big Bang" That Was The Birth Of The Accelerating Universe", its piano is pensive and haunting. Yet when the drums kick in at :56, the song becomes a celebration of its own potential and the longing for love. "The Observer", (82), extrapolates on it impartially and instrumentally.

When carrying around all that life becomes too overwhelming, we get a song like "Waitin' For A Superman", (95), (http://www.mediafire.com/?8k1987uc0s28p6r), or "Is It Gettin' Heavy?". Paced by Drozd's weighty beat and the intermittent tolling of a bell, the track wonders what burden can be reasonably bared when even a figure like Superman eventually tires out. By the time the trumpets roll at 3:03, the hair on my arms is straight up. Both the US and UK versions also include a bonus remix of this track, which is again more polished. The bassline gets more emphasis, the bell diminished while the trumpets are absent.

The ennui of everyday is placed in context when reminiscing about the past in "Suddenly Everything Has Changed", (80), aptly subtitled "Death Anxiety Caused By Moments Of Boredom". Even change in a modern song like this is temporary: bridges always lead back to repetitive verse and chorus structure. Perhaps routine and ritual are silent culprits behind many problems in a world where history repeats itself and nothing really changes.

While everyone on this planet stands neck deep in the same exhausting war for survival, some might use "The Gash", (97), (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I_4N0fTCSQ), as an excuse to throw in the towel. While some have "lost all the will to battle on", others, bloodied and broken, still find the resolve to continue the fight. The drums drive this call-to-arms juggernaut, subtitled "Battle Hymn For The Wounded Mathematician", maintaining their heavy otherdimensional sound. In its true spirit, the beats on this album always sound on the verge of utter collapse, but of course, never do. Side three of the vinyl presentation of Soft (which includes all the original Lips mixes) concludes with "The Gash". Side four starts up with "Slow Motion".

The CD, however, continues with "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate", (94). Amidst a "brap-bap-bap", it measures the ultimate necessity of love and even death to make life worth living. "Love in our life," it rightly asserts, "is just too valuable to feel for even a second without it." The song itself traverses a dulcet landscape, into which a listener can effortlessly dissolve, before casually coming apart itself.

Finally, "Sleeping On The Roof", (84), or "Excerpt From 'Should We Keep The Severed Head Awake??'", ushers the epic journey to a close. An instrumental that brings to mind the mood of the Roy Harper-narrated hidden track on The Tea Party's The Edges Of Twilight (1995), it is the embrace of a well-deserved rest before one's inevitable return to the trenches of their life.

The Soft Bulletin 5.1 (2006) features the original mixes of the songs and a slightly amended track order, apparently in keeping more with the Lips' original intentions. It, as well a recent vinyl reissue, includes a three-track bonus disc called The Soft Bulletin Outtakes. The songs, "1000 ft. Hand", "The Captain Is A Cold-Hearted And Egotistical Fool" and "Satellite Of You", are all aurally interesting, with "The Captain" being the standout. Dealing with time, labs and love, the songs are not completely thematically incompatible with the album proper, but do work better on their own here.

Those outtakes, along with several other rarities, mixes and live performances, also turn up on The Soft Bulletin - The Companion CD (1999) and The Soft Bulletin Companion 2 (2000) promos.

When I first bought The Soft Bulletin, after seeing the Lips' manic performance at the Toronto Rocks benefit in 2003, the artwork and the presentation of the credits made me wonder if I was buying a soundtrack to some obscure indie film. Indeed, The Soft Bulletin is a widescreen album. It is cinematic music for a mind movie.

The Soft Bulletin (album): 89/100.