Saturday, April 25, 2009

The Soft Bulletin by The Flaming Lips

I'll be the first to admit that I don't exactly have my finger on the pulse of contemporary music, but it always kind of astonished me that the band that did the song "She Don't Use Jelly" ended up being an incredible musical force just a few years later. The Soft Bulletin, while not being as amazing as Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, is a very complex album, both in instrumentation and structure. Don't worry, though, this ain't Washing Machine; it doesn't sacrifice any enjoyability for art (disclaimer: I like Washing Machine). My only regret is that the lyrics are terrible, for example "When you got that spider bite on your hand/I was worried we might have to break up the band." Oh well, one chicken bone doesn't ruin the delicious apple pie I guess.

RATING: 73%

PS - Sorry no Flaming Lips videos are on Youtube for some reason.

10 comments:

John said...

I thought that line was decent--goofy sincere and autobiographical. How often do you hear lyrics in second person from one band member to another?

And it rhymes.

McT's Girlfriend said...

Yeah, lyrics like “I know a girl who reminds me of Cher/She’s always changing the color of her hair” are dippy to the extreme. But maybe that’s why they stick with you long after you’ve forgotten the title of the song that they’re from.

laurie said...

How is it that I don't have this album?

Jacqui said...

I beg to differ. "She Don't Use Jelly" should have given you every evidence that The Flaming Lips would end up being "an incredible force just a few years later."

LoCo said...

Ooh, ooh! Someone incorrectly identified the second person and I missed it!

John said...

Yeah, it's first person. But it's still lyrically unusual.

Is your grammar dick hard right now?

LoCo said...

It was. I lost it.

Anonymous said...

I totally support that! Continue that way!

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Internet John said...

I know this is spam, but it's so weird I approved it anyway. Also, that spider bite line is the best on the whole album.