The Fat Angel Sings

The Beach Boys have announced a series of releases to celebrate the 60th anniversary of their landmark album “Pet Sounds“, due in May.

The sets include the vinyl debut of tracks previously available on 1997’s Pet Sounds Sessions box set; two vinyl releases aimed at audiophiles and a single-disc zoetrope vinyl pressing.

Pet Sounds – 60th anniversary releases:

• Pet Sounds Sessions Highlights (2CD or 2LP) – 25 alternate takes, a cappellas, and tracking sessions previously released on “The Pet Sounds Sessions“. The 2LP set is available on either black or white/green splatter vinyl. All formats include new liner notes by Howie Edelson and a detailed sessionography
• Vinylphyle Edition (2LP) – Disc one features “Pet Sounds” in mono, cut from the original 1966 assembled master reel. Disc two features Mark Linett’s 1996 stereo mix, overseen by Brian Wilson. Gatefold tip-on jacket and four-panel insert including Howie Edelson’s liner notes. Initial pressing of 3,000 copies, pressed at RTI on 180g black vinyl
• Definitive Sound Series edition (LP) – Pressed at RTI on Neotech VR900 D2 180g vinyl, cut by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering from “rarely used” circa-1972 original analogue tapes. Limited to 6,000 individually numbered copies. Each copy includes a certificate of authenticity documenting the mastering, plating, and pressing process
• Zoetrope vinyl (LP) – Original album, unconfirmed whether it’s in mono or stereo. Textured sleeve.

Though completists will feel duty-bound to collect the new editions, anybody who already has either The Pet Sounds Sessions or the 40th/50th anniversary editions will probably feel underwhelmed by the announcement. While the vaults are presumably empty, the decision to duplicate a track on both discs of the sessions set (the a cappella ‘I’m Waiting For The Day’) is baffling. Meanwhile, considering the Giles Martin Dolby Atmos Mix is out there, many might have felt its inclusion on a Blu-ray was an open goal. There will also be a digital release of the full 90-track Pet Sounds Sessions box set.

The Pet Sounds anniversary editions will be released on 15th May via Capitol/UMe.

“I figure no one is educated musically ‘til they’ve heard “Pet Sounds”,” Paul McCartney once said of The Beach Boys’ classic, released nearly 60 years ago on May 16th, 1966. George Martin concurred: “Without “Pet Sounds”, Sgt. Pepper wouldn’t have happened.” Brian Wilson poured his musical heart into the album’s thirteen tracks; in less than thirty-five minutes, the composer-arranger-singer-producer and his bandmates Mike Love, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Al Jardine, and Bruce Johnston delivered an entire spectrum of emotions in a song cycle of striking beauty and sensitivity. 

“Pet Sounds” may initially have been conceived by Wilson as an answer to The Beatles’ Rubber Soul, but it functions as an elegy to lost innocence (“Caroline, No”), a hope for the promise of brighter days ahead (“Wouldn’t It Be Nice”), and an expression of one young man’s innermost soul laid bare (“I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times,” “That’s Not Me,” “You Still Believe in Me”) in such a way that it was universal. Not to mention that it just might have the greatest pop love song ever written (“God Only Knows”) which begins with a shocking lyrical conceit: “I may not always love you…” Wilson and lyricist Tony Asher captured the zeitgeist on “Pet Sounds“, and every few years has brought another reissue of the album which initially was ahead of its time. 

Naturally, Pet Sounds’ 60th isn’t going unnoticed by the team at Capitol Records and UMe.  On Friday, May 15th, 2026 – nearly 60 years to the day the album first reached stores in 1966 – the labels will celebrate Pet Sounds with a variety of new titles.  The original album will see two new reissues:

• A new 2LP entry to UMe’s Vinylphyle series is pressed at RTI on 180-gram black vinyl and cut from original mono (1966) and stereo (1996) tapes by Joe Nino-Hernes at Sterling Sound. The two LPs are housed in protective poly sleeves within a tip-on jacket; a four-panel insert contains Howie Edelson’s new liner notes.
• A new 1LP mono edition in Interscope-Capitol’s Definitive Sound Series (DSS) using the One Step process. This version is pressed at RTI on Neotech VR900 D2 180-gram vinyl, with AAA [All Analog Mastering] cut by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering from rarely used circa-1972 analog tapes from the notable Brother Records pressing. This version is limited to 6,000 individually numbered copies, and each copy includes a certificate of authenticity documenting the mastering, plating, and pressing process.
• A “Zoetrope” vinyl edition of the original 1966 mono album.

In addition, Capitol/UMe will revisit the landmark 1997 box set The Pet Sounds Sessions in new “highlights” editions, available on both 2 CDs and 2 LPs.  The original 4CD box set included the new, first-time stereo mix of the album; the original mono mix; session material; Stack-o-Vocals a cappella mixes; and alternate versions of the album’s songs.  The new “highlights” version samples 25 tracks from the original box (all new to vinyl) and adds Howie Edelson’s new liner notes.  (Note that the vocals-only track of “I’m Waiting for the Day” is included on both CDs and LPs.)  The vinyl version is pressed on white and green splatter LP.  Note that all of the material on this new collection is reprised from the original box set, which will arrive in full on digital platforms on May 15th.

All of these formats are due May 15th.

Everything But The Girl have announced expanded CD editions of two of their key albums – their 1984 debut “Eden” and the million-selling “Amplified Heart” (1994) – for release this April.

Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt met while studying at the University of Hull in 1981. Thorn had already formed the DIY post-punk group Marine Girls and recorded their beloved debut album “Beach Party“. Meanwhile, experimental singer-songwriter Watt’s debut single – ‘Cant’, produced by Kevin Coyne – was released that year on Cherry Red. The pair started a side project, Everything But The Girl, and released their first EP, ‘Night And Day’ (led by a cover of the Cole Porter standard) in 1982.

After a couple of years pursuing their respective solo projects, Thorn and Watt came together again in 1984 for their debut full-length, “Eden“, a timeless set of plaintive bossa nova (No 28 single ‘Each And Every One’), shimmering indie-pop (‘Another Bridge’), wee-small-hours jazz (‘Crabwalk’) and more.

Fast-forward a decade and the pair’s seventh album, “Amplified Heart“, documented the aftermath of Watt’s near-death experience with the rare autoimmune disease Churg-Strauss syndrome.

The album’s frank and raw explorations of love and relationships were set to a stripped-back, folk-rock sound (Danny Thompson was on bass; Richard Thompson guested on lead guitar on ‘25th December’), flecked with subtle electronic flourishes. On release, “Amplified Heart” struggled to make an impact and EBTG looked set to be dropped by their label. But when the album’s second single, ‘Missing’ was remixed by house producer Todd Terry, it became a worldwide hit (No 3 in the UK, No 2 in the US), giving “Amplified Heart” a new lease of life and the band belated mainstream success.

For these new reissues, “Eden” and “Amplified Heart” have not been remastered they use the same Miles Showell mastering from the previous reissues. In terms of bonus tracks, the contents are similar to the increasingly pricey reissues from the early 2010s Edsel campaign, with slight differences.

The new-look, single CD “Eden” includes all of the B-sides and home demos from its 2012 reissue but omits the four BBC session tracks and adds their 1983 version of The Jam’s ‘English Rose’, originally recorded for the NME’s Racket Packet cassette.

Meanwhile, “Amplified Heart” is a 2CD set which, again, includes the B-sides and demos from its previous expanded reissue. It also includes two live tracks which appeared on that 2013 set – ‘Walking To You’ and ‘25th December’, both recorded at a 1994 Toronto gig – but appears to feature a further three previously unreleased live tracks. And while the 2013 set added four remixes of ‘Missing’, the new set only includes two but adds a ‘Rollercoaster’ remix.

Both reissues will come in six-panel digisleeve packaging and will include a 20-page booklet and are released on 3rd April 2026 via Chrysalis.

Jethro Tull’s “Under Wraps: The Unwrapped Edition” brings together the band’s 1984 album and Ian Anderson’s 1983 debut solo album, “Walk Into Light”. they will release Under Wraps: The Unwrapped Edition on May 15 through Chrysalis Records. The new six-disc set .

The 5CD and Blu-Ray set has been overseen by Ian Anderson and includes both original albums, which have been extensively remixed twice by The Pineapple Thief’s Bruce Soord in 2026 Drums and Original Drums remixes. The discs also include associated recordings from that period, while the fifth CD is a live recording from a BBC Radio 1 concert at The Hammersmith Odeon in 1984 and the Blu-Ray contains stereo and DOLBY ATMOS mixes, along with promo videos from the era. The set comes complete with a 100-page book offering an extensive article on the making of the records.

Both albums saw Anderson embracoing cutting edge (for the time) technology, with increased use of synthesisers and drum machines, a musical move that had begun with 1980’s “A” and 1982’s “The Broadsword And The Beast“, a move that didn’t always sit well with Tull’s fanbase.

“We wanted to do something completely different with “Under Wraps,” Anderson explains. “It was about exploring the technology of the time and seeing how far we could push our sound into new territories. It was an experiment, and not everyone was ready for that kind of change from Jethro Tull.”

“Under Wraps” threw Tull fans a curveball on release with its embrace of the electronic sounds of the day and synthetic production. It was also the first Tull album since “This Was” that wasn’t mostly written by Anderson alone, with keyboardist Peter-John Vettese credited on seven of the songs. But for fans who’d heard Anderson’s first solo album, “Walk Into Light (which featured five Vettese co-writes), the synth textures of “Under Wraps” felt like a natural progression. Meanwhile, Ian Anderson’s lyrics reflected his fascination with Cold war spy novels, rooting the songs firmly in the early ’80s.

Jethro Tull’s latest tour of the UK starts later this month sees the band touring throughout April and May.

In a note to fans, Bono says that this second surprise EP is not going to delay the arrival of the band’s album.

“We are in the studio, still working towards a noisy, messy, ‘unreasonably colourful’ album to play LIVE… which is where U2 lives. We still look to vivid rock n roll as an act of resistance against all this awfulness on our small screens. These are for sure ‘wilderness years’ for so many of us looking at the mayhem out there in the world.”

‘It’s a time that has our band digging deeper into our lives to find a wellspring of songs to try meet the moment… With “Easter Lily” we ended up asking very personal questions like: Are our own relationships up to these challenging times? How hard do you fight for friendship? Can our faith survive the mangling of meaning that those algorithms love to reward? Is all religion rubbish and still ripping us apart…? Or are there answers to find in its crevices? Are there ceremonies, rituals, dances that we might be missing in our lives? From the rite of Spring to Easter and its promise of rebirth and renewal… Patti Smith’s album Easter gave me so much hope when it was released in 1978. I wasn’t yet 18. The title is a nod to her.

‘We will attempt hoopla and fanfare at a later date to remind the rest of the world we exist but in the meantime… this is between you and us.’

While the ‘Days of Ash’ EP was a response to chaotic times in the outside world, the ‘Easter Lily’ EP is a more reflective set of songs emerging from a more personal, private place that some may retreat to in such times – exploring themes of friendship, loss, hope, and ultimately, renewal.

‘Song for Hal’ is a COVID-19 lockdown lament, with The Edge on lead vocals, written for the band’s friend, the music-maker, Hal Willner, who would have turned 70 on Easter Monday and passed away almost 6 years ago to the day. ‘In a Life’ is a song celebrating friendship. ‘Scars’ is a song of encouragement and acceptance; scars and all, with a twist. ‘Resurrection Song’ is about pilgrimage, a road trip into the unknown with a lover or friend. ‘Easter Parade’ is a devotional song, a celebration of new life, rebirth and resurrection. ‘COEXIST (I Will Bless The Lord At All Times?)’ is a lullaby for parents of children caught up in war, featuring a soundscape by Brian Eno.

The ‘Easter Lily’ EP is accompanied by another special digital e-zine edition of ‘Propaganda’. 

Titled ‘U2 – Propaganda – Easter Lily’, this edition features contributions from all four band members including sleeve notes from The Edge; Adam Clayton on art and the journey of recovery; a conversation between Bono and Franciscan friar Richard Rohr; and in-the-studio photographs shot by Larry Mullen Jr. 

The e-zine also features song lyrics along with an interview with the band’s producer, Jacknife Lee and a piece on Hal Willner by his friend Gavin Friday.

Forty years ago, in February 1986, the first issue of ‘Propaganda’ dropped through the letterboxes of U2 fans around the world. Aspiring to match other fan magazines at that time, ‘Propaganda’ was born out of the punk-era D.I.Y. zine culture that embraced attitude, ideas and dialogue.

The tracklisting for ‘U2 – Easter Lily’ EP is:
1. Song for Hal
2. In a Life
3. Scars
4. Resurrection Song
5. Easter Parade
6. COEXIST (I Will Bless The Lord At All Times?)

“Horrorful Heights” marks a formidable new chapter in The Bevis Frond’s deep and storied catalogue, showcasing the enduring creativity of songwriter, guitarist and frontman Nick Saloman as he moves into yet another decade of recording. Long established as one of the most distinctive voices in British underground rock, Saloman continues to refine the band’s signature blend of melodic psychedelia, wiry guitar epics and sharp, emotionally attuned songwriting. “Horrorful Heights” offers one of the most approachable entry points to the band’s world in years: a record that gathers their core strengths into a cohesive, vivid set.

Recorded with long-time drummer Dave Pearce and guitarist Paul Simmons, alongside new bassist Louis Wiggett, the album moves fluidly between jangling psych-pop, heavy-lit guitar workouts and pastoral comedown reveries. Wiggett also brings a surprising new colour to the Frond palette, contributing pedal steel to “Best Laid Plans” and “Momma Bear,” recalling early-70s country-tinged British rock from Bronco or Cochise.

The album’s range is wide but sharply defined. “Draining The Bad Blood” channels the classic Bevis Frond mode of melodic guitar pop—cut from the same cloth as longtime fan favourites later covered by Teenage Fanclub and The Lemonheads. “Space Age Eyes,” a concise nine-minute odyssey, nods toward the transcendental explorations of ’70s electric Miles Davis, complete with a blistering solo from Simmons and rhythmic elasticity from Pearce.

The sitar-laden title track, written off-the-cuff while Saloman half-watched a football match, drifts through incense-hazed psychedelia with layered vocals and tumbling tablas—an affectionate echo of the head-shop mysticism he has toyed with throughout the band’s history. Elsewhere, “Mossback’s Dream” splices lysergic leads with the propulsive energy of ’80s American hardcore, forging a hybrid that feels both timeless and entirely its own.

Additional highlights include the Byrds-tinged “Buffaloed,” the swirling narrative freeze-frame of “Silver Insects,” and “That’s Your Lot,” a rapid-moving burst of melancholic euphoria and one of the record’s most immediate songs.

Though unmistakably eclectic, “Horrorful Heights” presents a focused portrait of The Bevis Frond in 2025 – vital, tuneful and unburdened by nostalgia. Saloman describes the collection simply: the best songs he’d written in recent years, arriving unforced and instinctive. The result is a late-period peak from one of Britain’s most quietly influential underground bands. 

released April 3, 2026

The opening of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band’s newest American tour had a familiar ring. He debuted the Land of Hope and Dreams banner on last year’s European dates, and this new leg continues in that spirit, again opening with a “call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock ’n’ roll in dangerous times.” But the ICE invasion of Minnesota, as well as President Trump’s illegal war against Iran — among much else — has amped Springsteen’s indignation, not to mention that of the 20,000 people hanging on every word at the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis on opening night of the tour’s newest leg.

Three days earlier, at the No Kings Rally in St. Paul, just over the Mississippi River, Springsteen had already performed an acoustic version of his new single, “Streets Of Minneapolis”. It wasn’t the first outing for the song, either: he’d debuted it at an anti-ICE benefit put together by Morello at First Avenue in late January — literally across the street from Target Center. But this night’s full-band version made those sound tentative; the sheer fury with which Springsteen delivered the third verse – “they killed and roamed / in the winter of ‘26” – was bone-rattling. Accordingly, the guitar solos during “Murder Incorporated” and especially a towering “Ghost Of Tom Joad” were suitably bloody. Guitarists Morello, Springsteen, Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren took turns stepping out — and making unfettered, noise much of the time.

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band perform the first two songs from their set for the opening night of the Springsteen & E Street Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour live in Minneapolis, Minnesota on March 31st, 2026.

In the Steve Van Zandt documentary Believer, Springsteen noted that in the ‘80s, his confrere had “gone from no politics to allpolitics.” Bruce didn’t quite do that here — crowd-pleasers like “Dancing In The Dark” and “Because The Night” helped to effectively leaven things. But the first song set the tone. Edwin Starr’s “War” — short, sharp, and surging, with guest guitarist Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine shredding-not-soloing over the arrangement — followed hard by “Born In the USA”, with Bruce hitting a piercing falsetto in the second verse and drummer Max Weinberg’s drum rolls even more commanding.

Nevertheless, there was still real playfulness on offer — the third time (of four) that he led the crowd in a chant of “ICE out now!” during “Streets Of Minneapolis”, Bruce offered a cheerful, “Almost!” During “Out In The Street,” someone in the front handed him their NO KINGS sign, which he held up for a verse before handing it back to its owner: what a gentleman. Played a dozen songs apart, “Death To My Hometown” and “Wrecking Ball” had a lighter cast to them, closer to the folky Seeger Sessions than E Street crunch, a welcome change of musical pace. “Born To Run” was scheduled as an encore — only there really wasn’t one, because the band just stayed on stage and kept playing without a break.

But the underlying seriousness of the night wasn’t lost on anyone. When “American Skin (41 Shots)” began, the crowd went rapt. This quarter-century-old song, written about the murder of Ghanaian immigrant New Yorker Amadou Diallo, by police, didn’t need to call attention to itself; the resonances were horribly plain for all to hear. It was an elegy, not a war cry, and the audience listened intensely. For all the volume the band (and audience) dealt, that relative quiet also made a statement.

“This tour was not planned,” Springsteen said near the finale, a grandiose “Chime Of Freedom”. (The Dylan song followed a number from another Minnesota songwriter: “Purple Rain”, the fourth time the E Street Band has covered it.) “We needed to feel your hope and strength, and I hope we offered some hope and strength to you in return.” There was no question — the energy had gone both ways, in a manner that nobody who was in the room is likely to forget.

With their third album, “Inanimate Objects of the 21st Century”, Newcastle’s The Pale White prove once again that there’s no slowing them down. Following the success of their introspective sophomore album “The Big Sad“, brothers Adam (vocals/guitar) and Jack Hope (drums) return louder, sharper, and more defiant than ever.

This third full-length is their most expansive yet: a record that blends the anthemic punch of classic rock with the urgency and edge of modern alternative.The title, “Inanimate Objects of the 21st Century“, is a nudge to the uncomfortable irony of our time – as technology accelerates, humanity feels increasingly frozen in place. Lead singer Adam Hope says: “Technology is moving, but we are not. Human civilization entered the 21st century wide-eyed and niave with mobile phones that would barely fit in our pockets. Fast forward a few decades and we’re so far from where we were that it almost looks like a bad 80’s sci-fi movie. Back then, that film would be watched in packed-out cinemas after an eagerly anticipated release, but now they stand emptier than they once were, attended mainly as a nostalgic experience in the age of Netflix and doom scrolling.

The birth of AI, algorithms, cryptocurrency, drones, holographic concerts, autonomous cars… we’re living in a strange transitional period which is both fascinating and terrifying in equal measure. We humans have now in fact become the inanimate objects – mannequins.

After our softer, melancholic second album ‘The Big Sad’, we felt it was only right to move as fast as our world is moving and release our next within the year. ‘Inanimate Objects of the 21st Century’ is the evil twin, the Yin to The Big Sad’s Yang.”

Like his pal Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart isn’t an easy listen. His initial recordings with the rotating Magic Band were basically garage-blues stompers highlighted by the frontman’s raspy, Howlin’ Wolf-like voice. But by the time of their first album, 1967’s “Safe as Milk“, they had taken a turn toward more experimental territory. By 1969’s career peak “Trout Mask Replica”, they were engaging the avant-garde like few other bands of the era. The band made more than a dozen albums before Beefheart, born Don Van Vliet, retired in 1982 to focus on painting.

“Lick My Decals Off, Baby” is the fourth studio albumfrom American musician Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) and the Magic Band, released in December 1970 by Straight and Reprise Records. T

he follow-up to “Trout Mask Replic”a (1969), it is regarded by some critics and listeners as superior, and was Van Vliet’s own favourite of his albums. In his words, the title credo of the album was an encouragement to “get rid of the labels”, and to evaluate things according to their merits.

Their catalogue includes some of the wildest and most boundary-pushing rock ‘n’ roll ever made, serving as a template for generations of forward-thinking artists.

Deluxe edition of the classic 1970 album from Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band. This limited edition 2LP vinyl set features the original album, recut from the original master tapes at Bernie Grundman Mastering, plus an additional LP with previously unreleased instrumental versions and alternate takes from the original album sessions.

FORMAT: 2xLP

Oklahoma psych kings the Flaming Lips have been around since 1983 — a mind-boggling fact, given they’ve been shedding members and tweaking their sound for most of that time. They formed around the eccentric vision of frontman and chief instigator Wayne Coyne, who guided the group’s early voyages through harsh, experimental noise (Telepathic Surgery) and warped pop melodies (In a Priest Driven Ambulance).

Back in the early ’90s heyday of true alternative rock, they even managed to sign with a major label, Warner Bros., who’ve bankrolled the Lips’ cosmic creations ever since. But there was one other chief addition: Multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd joined for their 1993 breakout LP, “Transmissions From the Satellite Heart“, which spawned the fuzzy earworm “She Don’t Use Jelly.” And the Coyne-Drozd partnership has anchored the band ever since, through grand art-pop explorations (1999’s “The Soft Bulletin“, electronic dream-pop (2002’s “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” and stately psychedelia (2020’s “American Head“.

If the average listener had had the four CD players playing simultaneously required to listen to Oklahoma psych-rock band The Flaming Lips‘ 1997 album “Zaireeka”, we might have seen it coming, but for most of us “The Soft Bulletin” was a beautiful sucker punch, a smack upside the head with a rainbow. What happened to the band that sang “This Here Giraffe,” “The Magician vs. the Headache,” and “She Don’t Use Jelly”?

This was an album of deep thoughts, boundless empathy and the weight of the world on its shoulders, all set to wonderful melodies and inventive widescreen sonics. Sixteen years into their career, on their ninth album, and as frontman Wayne Coyne was nearing 40, The Flaming Lips delivered their masterpiece.

“We were a not very successful weirdo rock group about to get dropped from our label,” Coyne said in a documentary about the album, setting the scene in 1996. A lot of things happened simultaneously to the group that led to their near total transformation. Guitarist Ronald Jones, who had been a big part of the Lips’ sound in the first half of the ’90s, quit the band, making room for Steven Drozd to fully assume the role as musical director. He was the drummer, but also a polymath multi-instrumentalist genius. Meanwhile, Coyne became more interested in non-band musical ideas. He hit on an idea where The Flaming Lips would take different elements of a song and put them separately on dozens of cassettes to be played at the same time on dozens of car stereos while he orchestrated the whole thing like a conductor at a symphony. The “Parking Lot Experiments” became cult events which then led to the bigger and more portable “Boombox Experiments,” which led to Coyne wondering “Can we make an album this way?” and then “Will they let us make an album this way?”

The band, along with producer/collaborator David Fridmann and manager Scott Booker, talked Warner Brothers into letting them do it on the condition that simultaneously and on the same budget they would make a “normal” album that only required one CD player / tape deck to listen to it.

To facilitate this, Fridmann built his own studio, Tarbox Road, in Cassadaga, NY, and The Flaming Lips would be the first to use it. Free of hourly studio rates, they had unlimited time to test out what the studio could do while working on songs. Coyne set down some rules for the recordings, namely no distorted guitar. He hoped to find a new way to bring about the same effect that loud-quiet-loud had served. To achieve it, Drozd, Fridmann and bassist Michael Ivins turned to synthesizers, new digital technology, and a lot of creative inspiration. “Though we were using the most modern synthesizers and digital junk that you could get at the time, we were trying to make it sound like it wasn’t a band any more,” Coyne said in 2019. “We wanted it to be more of an emotional sound than a band.”

On that emotional front, a lot was happening personally to the members of The Flaming Lips. Coyne’s father was dying of cancer and passed during the making of the albums. Drozd confronted his heroin addiction after he almost had his hand amputated from what he thought was a spider bite that turned out to be an infection from intravenous drug use. Ivins nearly died in a freak auto accident. (Many of these real life occurrences turn up in The Soft Bulletin’s “The Spiderbite Song.”) Things were getting heavy and Coyne stopped writing about absurdist, weirdo ideas (like Giraffes) and began writing from the heart. It was still from his psychedelic mind, but pondering the mysteries of the universe by way of his own experiences with death, grief, and despair led to wonderfully off-kilter yet highly relatable songs with real staying power.

“Theirs is to win, if it kills them,” he sings on the album’s first single and opening track, “Race for the Prize,” a song which also introduces us to the new sonic world of The Flaming Lips that is closer to Phil Spector and Brian Wilson than to Nirvana or Dinosaur Jr. “They’re just humans with wives and children” is an unlikely shout-along anthemic chorus, but there’s no denying it works.

The album’s other single, “Waitin’ for a Superman,” is as much a moving rumination on grief against seemingly insurmountable odds as R.E.M.’s “Everybody Hurts” is, but without being so obvious about it. “Tell everybody waitin’ for Superman, that they should try to hold on as best they can / He hasn’t dropped them, forgot them, or anything / It’s just too heavy for Superman to lift.”

The rest of the album is just as wonderful. “A Spoonful Weighs a Ton” covers similar thematic territory as “Superman,” but plays as Disney music by way of John Bonham. Drozd’s drumming is the most awesomely bashed, impactful playing of the ’90s that wasn’t recorded by Steve Albini. Those drums really bring the album to life, juxtaposed against the orchestra of warbly synths and layers of harmonies that may at times fool you — like on “The Spark That Bled” — into thinking there was an actual orchestra involved. No violins were harmed during the making of this record, but many drum heads died so that these songs may live.

“The Spark That Bled” and many others on “The Soft Bulletin” take surprising zigs and zags that would seem insane on paper and sound like they were just born that way. “What is the Light,” one of the album’s sunniest pop songs, transitions into pensive instrumental “The Observer” which you could imagine sound tracking an arthouse sci-fi film or an episode of Cosmos. Need some Grand Guignol honky-tonk loneliness? “Suddenly Everything Has Changed” is there for you. Gospel? “The Gash” makes room for that alongside phantasmagoric Morricone-style bombast and ’80s orchestra hit samples in a song that asks “Will the fight for our sanity be the fight of our lives lives / now that we’ve lost all the reasons that we thought we had?”

“Suddenly Everything Has Changed” was a pivotal moment in the making of the album. Reflecting on the song recently, Coyne said he had the verses figured out but suggested to Drozd that the song could, after the refrain, could go into “an expansive emotional, cinematic moment,” but “we didn’t really consider how unexpected this interlude is…but for us it fit perfectly with the idea of suddenly everything changes. And it kind of felt like we were doing our own thing, like no other group would wanna do something like this .. we were making our own world.”

The album closes as brilliantly as it opens with “Feeling Yourself Disintegrate,” arguably “The Soft Bulletin‘s” best song, where Coyne ponders all the Big Questions (life, death, the universe, everything) in just four lines that are both entirely psychedelic and entirely grounded: “Love in our life is just too valuable / Oh, to feel for even a second without it / But life without death is just impossible / Oh, to realize something is ending within us.” It finishes with a repeated refrain of the title against a galaxy of “ahhs,” and a very groovy bassline from Ivins and Drozd’s slide guitar. “Feeling Yourself Disintegrate” then segues into another instrumental, “Sleeping on the Roof,” that sounds like looking at the stars on the hottest day of the summer as you drift off into slumber.

“The Soft Bulletin” when I hear it now it really is about despair, but there’s no despair in it,” Coyne said in 2019. “It’s not singing about despair, it’s being in despair and singing.” And finding beauty and hope in all of it.