This is an album of its time, sure вЂ“ but one with a reach that continues to feel its way around the modern musical landscape. Just as previous releases had influenced the likes of Grandaddy and Mercury Rev, The Soft Bulletin and its successor Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots have informed acts including MGMT and Empire of the Sun. Ultimately, this record paved the way not only for The Flaming Lips to enjoy commercial success far beyond their homes, but also opened the doors for younger acts with a spirit of adventure in their blood to breach the pop charts. Race for the Prize and WaitinвЂ™ for a Superman вЂ“ these are anthems built for mass celebration, and while the crowd isnвЂ™t wholly won over yet, fast-forward a few years and the reverence for these tracks is clear wherever The Flaming Lips pitch up with their travelling freak(ishly brilliant) show. In the presence of Wayne Coyne and company, with hand puppets in place of crowd-surfing bubbles and multiple dancers dressed up as aliens, everythingвЂ™s exactly as it should be though. That stage, after 17 years: the New Bands tent. Seventeen years and nine albums since their formation, The Flaming Lips are headlining at Glastonbury, playing to a packed tent. ItвЂ™s proggy, itвЂ™s rocky вЂ“ but itвЂ™s not prog-rock, really nothing that the average man on the street canвЂ™t lean an ear towards and be immediately rewarded. Experimentation has been tempered the groupвЂ™s out-there tendencies reined right in for a collection that sings with the same warmth and composure that characterised The Beach BoysвЂ™ Pet Sounds. The Flaming Lips, Oklahoma oddballs responsible for the four-discs-at-once headache of 1997вЂ™s Zaireeka, have crossed into the mainstream courtesy of The Soft Bulletin, NMEвЂ™s album of 1999. But this is something I only witness in passing, as another band has had an equally brilliant year. The crowd for them goes back, back, and back some more, fires flickering up the hillside. Travis have had an amazing 12 months, their second studio album The Man Who earning the Scottish outfit the Best Album and Best Newcomers awards at the Brits in March. And SaturdayвЂ™s Pyramid Stage headliners could well be described similarly. Glastonbury Festival, in the summer of 2000.

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