Soft Bulletin 20th Anniversary LP Flaming Lips

It looks like there will be a 20th anniversary LP re-cut by Ryan Smith at Sterling for Vinyl Me, Please next month. I am hoping this gets a separate release — my 2012 LP that came in the box set sounds good, but is a noisy pressing. Since this was cut from digital, it may not be a sonic upgrade, but I would like to give it a whirl and hopefully get quieter surfaces.

have there been any VMP titles that didn’t become available at retail at some point (minus the exclusive color variations, etc.)?

The Sound They Made Was Love: 20 Years of ‘The Soft Bulletin’ — Vinyl Me, Please

 

I am really wondering if I need this one or not. I have the first pressing from 2002, which is great. I wonder if the tracklisting will be the same, no remixes and the addition of “Slow Motion”. No mention on the “everything you need to know page” and obviously, it wasn’t everything I needed to know.
Was thinking I’d swap for Mystics which I don’t have on vinyl, but haven’t pulled the trigger yet.

 

I read somewhere else that it will maintain the original vinyl running order. I like my pressing from the box set so I don’t find this too essential, although maybe the new mastering will be revealing. I’ll wait for reviews

 

I'm a huge Lips fan, but have multiple copies of this album, so think I'll be passing on this.

Don't keep too much track of VMP releases, so not sure how long "Fiona Apple - Tida"l is exclusive to VMP, but that still hasn't been released to retail AFAIK.

 

This is one I neeeeed on vinyl. I noticed it went out of print and assumed they’d do something for the 20th. May finally drive me to VMP but mustard is one hell of an ugly vinyl choice.

 

Ah hell I signed up. Looking forward to this. In future months for a swap, can I swap for anything comparable priced? Or just previous albums of the month? For example could I swap for Spoon Ga Ga Ga or Let it Bleed?

 

When you click the button to swap it brings up a list of albums, so you can’t just choose anything from their store that you want, unfortunately. Many of them (perhaps all; I didn’t pay close attention the two times I’ve swapped) are previous records of the month from the subscription services (Essentials, Classics, Hip Hop).

 

I swapped this out for MF Doom - MM..Food since I already have the 2009 reissue pressed at Pallas and the Heady Nuggs box set, but that was before I knew it was pressed from brand new lacquers cut by Ryan Smith. I’m hoping someone can comment on how this VMP reissue compares to those.

 

Would love to see a multi-disc CD deluxe edition (like the one they did for Clouds...).

 

I used have a bootleg called The Soft Bulletin Companion that had a lot of additional tracks and fragments as well as Zaireeka tracks — since both of those albums were recorded together in the same marathon sessions. I don’t remember there being a lot of “alternate takes” of songs, but quite a few additional pieces of music.

 

My VMP arrived. I only have the old cd to compare to, I used to have the 5.1 but my copy had the old cd and not the unmix cd. Sounding good so far. I’ll be interested to see how those of you with other versions think about this version.

 

Best I can tell this has the non-remix of buggin, and the remix of Race for the prize and Superman

 

Amazon and Rough Trade have a black vinyl pressing up for preorder with release date of 18/10.

 

November is QOTSA Songs For The Deaf.
That’ll be a nice one to have on vinyl as well!

 

The companion was not really a bootleg, but a bonafide promo CD that was then widely distributed online and amongst fans. It’s essential as far as I’m concerned!

In other news, The Soft Bulletin Live at Red Rocks has just been announced.

 

Apparently it was reissued in the UK today (according to Rough Trade) but Amazon doesn’t have it listed. Has anyone else seen anything about a UK reissue?

 

I had hoped they might do something with the "Companion" material this year, but alas. A Super Deluxe would've been especially nice:

- complete album (US + UK tracks/remixes)
- all of the "Soft Bulletin Companion" tracks
- "White Christmas" single (maybe "Okie Noodling," too?)
- DVD/Blu-Ray of a 1999/2000 show (I have a WB in-house VHS of a show from early in this era, and always enjoyed it)
- anything else they have lying around (including my personal white whale: the unreleased Mercury Rev remix of "Race for the Prize")

 

I loved that tour, but a big part of that experience were the video projections. They used tons of copyrighted material, and they had to replace a lot of it when they started playing bigger venues. It would be great if they could actually license a lot of that video, but I doubt they could clear the rights for everything.

 

Good point...at the Music Against Brain Degeneration show I saw, off the top of my head I know they had the Teletubbies, Wizard of Oz, the Leonard Bernstein stuff, either the Jon Stewart or David Letterman intro, maybe an old French film?

 

Yes, plus some scene from 2001. And I recall later they used something from Cool Hand Luke, but that could have been the Yoshimi tour. I saw them so many times back then, it’s all a blur!

 

I have the 2019 VMP remaster and 2009 Reissue pressed at Pallas. There is some slight improvement in the detail of the highs but overall very similar in sound to me.

 

Thanks for that information. I'll stick with the Pallas in that case and not waste my next pick on a duplicate.

 

Clean pressing, though? My copy from the box set is pretty noisy.

 

My VMP copy is clean and flat no issues. Happy with it

 

I picked up the new pressing hoping for Ryan Smith mastering, but it is simply a repress of the Don Crossinger Masterdisk version I already have. Sleeves are updated from 'Warner Bros.' to 'Warner Records'. Non-gatefold like the 2011 pressing, with labels like the 2009 pressing.