Happy Birthday, "The Soft Bulletin"! Eight years later...

June 22, 1999. It was eight years ago today that The Flaming Lips released their most painfully honest, yet full-on pop record yet. An album that went on to become my favorite of all time.

After the perverted mindfuck that was "Zaireeka", perhaps an album this blatantly commercial `n clean was the most radical move the band could make. If you were the Flaming Lips circa 1998, what the hell would you do? The entire equilibrium was in a state of collapse: guitar wizard Ronald Jones had left the band two years prior to pursue a life of seclusion (filled with noisy growing grass), Michael Ivins nearly died in a freak car accident, multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd almost lost his arm due to a spiderbite/heroin needle infection (you decide!). And Wayne? His father passed away as our hero, Wayne, quickly approached the gray-tinged beard that old age brings. Such madness, indeed, and here we have the result.

Precisely how does one describe music of this transcendental caliber? As Wayne says in the band's documentary, "The Fearless Freaks", "Some fans come up to me and say this is our most depressing, sobering album yet, and I totally agree. And some people say it's the most uplifting, beautiful thing we've done, and I agree with that, too." (Paraphrased...) No sir, it's not the "Pet Sounds" of the 90's. Coyne and Drozd also fondly described the group as "Frank Sinatra meets Led Zeppelin", but no, it's not quite that, either.

Orchestral, creative meditations on mortality and perseverance, speaking directly to the subconscious. Because Wayne's been there. He knows what it smells like. The type of music that would make the world a better place had it appeared in random letterboxes that fateful day in 1999. Perhaps the Columbine Massacre wouldn't have occured, had this album appeared a few months earlier. Perhaps Genghus Kahn would become a fan had this album appeared a few centuries earlier.

If I attempted to communicate every joyful "little moment" that means something to me, this review would be years long. Like the watch beep in "What Is The Light?" (is it intentional???) Or the off-setting drum pattern in "The Spiderbite Song", an element that I remember impressing me during my first listen of my first Lips album way back when.

Instead, we can talk about the euphoric rush of adrenaline that the first smash of "Race for the Prize" brings, one of the most wonderful concert openers....well, ever. Or the raw conviction in Wayne's cracking voice when he runs through "A Spoonful Weighs A Ton", a vague story about the "they". God knows who he's referring to - "they rescued everyone", "they lifted up the sun", "the process had begun", "a million came from one". Yet, the basic premise is understood - he's singing about a struggle! Those basic, primal human emotions, the joy of perserverance! Hey, I know that! (Cue awesome drum smashes during instrumental chorus).

"I stood up and I said yeah!" ("But, in reality, there was no reaction...")

Really, every track captures a different aspect of the human experience. And every song is utterly perfect, it's true. "The Spiderbite Song, a playful ode to survival and friendship, explicitly mentioning those aforementioned ridiculous situations that seem to only befall a band this ridiculous. The psychedelic and brilliant "Suddenly Everything Has Changed", which deals with the life-changing situations that seem to come at the most mundane of moments, no doubt inspired by that armed robbery at Long John Silver's. (In the words of Lloyd Christmas, "One minute yer chewing on a burger, next minute you're dead meat.") He sings, "Driving home, the sky accelerates and the clouds all form geometric shapes..." and I dare you not to shiver like a woman. Wait, women shiver?

"What is the Light?" is tuneful and raw, giant and miniscule, questioning the scientific origin of that feeling called love. You know, that place that you're drawn to. Then there's "Waitin` for a Superman", a heart-breaking piano ballad longing for a Superman-like messiah figure to save the day, before concluding that "it's just too heavy for Superman to lift," accented by some bells and two special trumpet notes.

"Is it overwhelming to use a crane to crush a fly?"

"The Gash" is another mini-masterpiece on an album full of them, as described in My Top Ten Flaming Lips Songs Evah. Bizarre harmonies, likened to a church chorus on crack, singing, or perhaps preaching on the subject of persistence despite that "gash in your leg". The song glides effortlessly into "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate", perhaps the most nakedly honest and beautiful song the band's done, stripping away all the giraffe or bleeding vagina metaphors to reveal a rather vulnerable core. Like the culmination of this band's existence comes to the forefront when Wayne finally declares that "Life without death is just impossible." Words cannot describe. It's just too valuable.

ERROR: OVERLOAD "Brah Ppaa paahh Brrrraaa papapapaahhh."

That tuna sandwich might appear a bit mundane in comparison. Don't worry. When the final blissful notes of "Sleeping on the Roof" fade out, you'll know it's real. Klaatu barada nikto.

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(Note: Buy this album today. But your copy won't be as lovely as my worn-down booklet with Wayne Coyne's loving signature with the terrible handwriting and black sharpie. Also, purchase the 5.1 Surround Sound edition as well. And seek out "The Soft Bulletin Companions" on the interwebs. It makes one wonder how such incredible material could possibly be born from one album. The B-sides are every bit as incredible, including "Satellite of You", "The Captain" and "1,000 Foot Hands", ranking as the Lips' most extraordinary songs you haven't heard.)

(Note number two: This'll be my last blog entry for this site for a month or two. Daddy's going away to a land free of internet. Be well. Don't eat the yellow snow.)

Happy Birthday, "The Soft Bulletin!