Artist – Album: The Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin
Released: 17th
May 1999
Sounds Like: It can’t help but put a smile on your
face
I don’t think anyone has ever asked me what the best gig I
ever want to was – I guess I’m just not that interesting to you people – but,
you know what, I’m going to tell you all anyway. So there. It was these guys,
the Flaming Lips. The first gig I saw was good – James at the M.E.N – and at 14,
when I took a girl to a gig for the first time, it was curiously to see Simon
& Garfunkel, a couple of septuagenarians. R.E.M were a fantastic arena band,
as were Oasis, whilst Jens Lekman was stunning in one of the most intimate
venues in Manchester. At the same place my mind was blown by local nutters
Livestock Jihad, complete with pig-mask wearing dancers and crowd-surfing, fat
and bald frontman, a few weeks ago. Also worthy of mention were Sigur Rós,
Arcade Fire and even OK Go. But none of these could compare to the Flaming Lips
at Jodrell Bank observatory last summer.
It was an incredible experience, with scores of giant
multi-coloured balloons bouncing through the crowd, whilst costumed dancers
cavorted on the stage and videos were projected straight on to the satellite
dish. Wayne Coyne did everything in his powers to whip us into a frenzy,
singing through a microphone and surfing the crowd in a Zorb ball.
But, of course, all that would mean nothing if the songs
weren’t any good. The Flaming Lips specialise in joyous anthems of universal
topics, songs that speak to the soul and bring everyone together. And the
collection of tunes on this album are arguably the most all-encompassing of
their entire thirty year career. ‘Race
for the Prize’ kicks things off in typical bombastic fashion, telling the
tale of two scientists who sought to save the world whatever the cost – “Theirs
is to win, If it kills them, They're just human, With wives and children.” At times, the record slows to walking pace,
but the likes of ‘Waitin’ for a Superman’
and ‘Feeling Yourself Disintegrate’ are
the album’s secret weapons – deeply soulful tracks of transcendental beauty and
emotion. It is quite simply one of the finest records ever set down, and one of
few that could follow comfortably in the footsteps of yesterday’s Pet Sounds.
Albumaday... rating:
10/10
1. Race
for the Prize – 4:18
2. A
Spoonful Weighs a Ton – 3:32
3. The
Spark That Bled – 5:55
4. Slow
Motion – 3:53
5. What
Is the Light? – 4:05
6. The
Observer – 4:10
7. Waitin’
for a Superman – 4:17
8. Suddenly
Everything Has Changed – 3:54
9. The
Gash – 4:02
10. Feeling
Yourself Disintegrate – 5:17
11. Sleeping
on the Roof – 3:09
12. Race
for the Prize (Mokran Remix) – 4:09
13. Waitin’
for a Superman (Mokran Remix) – 4:19
14. Buggin’
(Mokran Remix) – 3:16
Listen to ‘Feeling
Yourself Disintegrate’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8IP3S8dxU8
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Also released on the 17th May:
2010: LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening
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