The Flaming Lips "The Soft Bulletin" [1999]

Being both pretentious and amateurish must be quite a balancing act; otherwise, how this band of pseudo-Floyd creeps continues to be lauded by critics is as mystifying as lead singer Wayne Coyne's remarkably consistent ability to sing off-pitch. Try listening to "The Soft Bulletin" while watching "The Wizard of Oz" and you'll be willing to hurt someone while reaching for the remote to listen to Judy Garland sing instead (if you don't fall into a deep sleep first). Coyne clearly loves Neil Young, but for exactly the wrong reasons: the pinched, nasal vocal style that can curdle milk and the stoned, trite lyrical quality. (Hmm, perhaps he's got ol' Neil pegged after all.) Astoundingly, The Flaming Lips actually turn out to be bigger hacks at electronica than they are as a regular band. Heck, a FINITE number of monkeys with the infinite studio time Coyne & Co. had to make this CD could produce something more listenable than this, and without all the metaphors torturously stretched from end to end. True, "A Spoonful Weighs a Ton" -- I'll even go so far as to say an eyedropper of The Flaming Lips' profound suckitude is enough to crush an entire off-campus house of ecstasy dealers.