“The Soft Bulletin” turns 25 — Celebrating with a Zoetrope Vinyl Edition
The Flaming Lips will celebrate 25 years of their seminal 1999 album, The Soft Bulletin, with the brand new The Soft Bulletin 25th Anniversary Vinyl out September 6. It will be available in limited-edition 2LP Vinyl with stunning Zoetrope designs notably co-created by Drew Tetz and band frontman Wayne Coyne. Plus, it boasts brand new sleeve artwork in addition to an insert with text penned by Wayne.
Recently, Wayne took to Instagram in order to quietly tease this moment and share candid memories of The Soft Bulletin. Specifically, he reminisced about the finale Sleeping On The Roof. He revealed, “this little piece of music encapsulates the theme of The Soft Bulletin.. It’s bleak and resigned but also comforting.. it somehow is hopeless and hopeful at the same time..”
The Flaming Lips first unveiled The Soft Bulletin on May 17, 1999. Anchored by staples such as Race for the Prize, Waitin’ for a Superman, and Feeling Yourself Disintegrate, it earned some of the highest critical praise of the band’s career. Pitchfork placed it at #3 among “The Top 100 Albums of the 1990s,” hailing it as “godlike music” and professing, “Remarkably, the band’s music maintains a general air of feel-goodness while their lyrics concern sobering subjects as bleeding, bites, and mortality.” Moreover, Entertainment Weekly bestowed an “A” rating upon the record, Spin scored it “9-out-of-10,” NME applauded it with a “9-out-of-10,” and Pitchfork delivered a rare perfect “10.0” score.
The band will continue to tour throughout 2024. These shows once again see the band deliver a full performance of their 2002 groundbreaking, Gold-certified Warner Records album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots in its entirety, continuing to honor over two decades of this creative and critical career high watermark.
On August 30 and 31, the band will host their “Summer Freak Out,” playing two nights at Zoo Amphitheatre in their hometown of Oklahoma City. The band will perform Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots in its entirety on night one, with a full performance of The Soft Bulletin to follow on night two.
