The Flaming Lips - Soft Bulletin DVD-A

[BananaSlug]

Amazon.com and Buy.com are taking pre-orders for $20 and $18 respectively. Release date is 31 Jan 2006

Added: Amazon.co.uk has it listed for 18 pounds sterling - ouch! Hopefully other outlets will have it cheaper at some point.

[dabl]

It's been available for preorder for several weeks from cduniverse at $16.09

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinf...=4124114&BAB=L

[bugdaddy]

thanks for the tips guys. my order is in!

[DennisMabry]

I found it at Tower Records for $14.99!


http://www.towerrecords.com/product.aspx?pfid=3362867

[elmer]

Just picked up my copy at Tower in NYC for $14.99 - not bad considering Virgin has it for $22.99. Really looking forward to hearing it tonite. According to the packaging, the DVD A side is available as 96/24 5.1, 88.2/24 2.0 (both advanced res). The DVD - V layer has "visualizations" with DD 5.1 and DD 2.0.

There is a ton of bonus content on the DVD although only the 13 original album tracks are in 5.1. The rest o the content is DD 2.0 - videos, outakes and radio sessions.

There is a detailed, track by track breakdown of the 5.1 mix in the booklet - same as in the Yoshimi release. Mix was done by the band and the original producer Dave Fridmann - I expect this to be nothing short of spectacular!

[VACamper]

My local Tower received 10 copies of this last night. It is on sale for $14.99 through today (it goes up $3.00 after that). He put one aside for me to pick up tonight. I can't wait to hear this!

[bugdaddy]

My local Tower received 10 copies of this last night. It is on sale for $14.99 through today (it goes up $3.00 after that). He put one aside for me to pick up tonight. I can't wait to hear this!

Just picked mine up at lunchtime!

[narcopolo]

My local Tower received 10 copies of this last night. It is on sale for $14.99 through today (it goes up $3.00 after that). He put one aside for me to pick up tonight. I can't wait to hear this!

$17.99 would be a pretty good everyday price for Tower. Even Best Buy wants $2 more than that for it. Also noticed only some of Best Buy's Utah stores even stock the title. I bought it at a local store (within walking distance... well maybe not in the winter) for $16.99 "on sale", but they will be raising it to 22.97 next week.

[BananaSlug]

Picked up the one copy they had in the Flaming Lips section at Tower today. On sale for $17.99. Who knows what the price may be tomorrow.

[dprokopy]

FYI, this comes from George Salisbury, who worked on the DVD-A. It was posted on a Lips mailing list that I belong to:

The Soft Bulletin shipped with the wrong CD... it should have been the new rockin' re-mastered version (it really does sound awesome!!!!) that matches the playlist on the tray card. Don't take them back to the store.... mail the CD to the FLips PO Box and they'll send you a new disc with a personal apology from Mr. Michael Ivins... sound good? It's going to take a week or so (??) to get the correct discs in before we can send them to you.

PLUS!: The DVDA spec changed at some point and as a result, some models (Pioneer) can't play the DVD... I'll keep digging to find out which ones. The DVD is good... the DVDA consortium is screwy.

Send the CD only to:
Flaming Lips
Soft Bulletin Screw-Up
P.O. Box 3265
Edmond, Oklahoma 73083

Sorry guys,
George

Again, the exchange is for the redbook-only CD, and you only need to send that disc to the address above for the exchange. The replacement disc is a new master of the original 13-track line-up. What was sent out was the revised 14-track US version (which lacks one song, but adds two remixes). If you already have the US version of this CD, the one that came with the DVD-A is the exact same version, so you'll probably want to send it in for the replacement. If you've never owned the album on CD before, you may or may not want to hold onto the one that comes with the DVD-A.

Confusing enough??

[bugdaddy]

Thanks for that post david. For the life of me couldn't figure out why the cd seemed to be exactly the same as the one i already have - - with no explanation in the liner notes. that certainly explains it. on the plus side, i've listened to the dvd-a a couple of times and am quite happy thus far - - definitinely mixed with the same mindset as yoshimi.

[salspalden]

From George Salisbury:

"The DVDA spec changed at some point and as a result, some models (Pioneer) can't play the DVD... I'll keep digging to find out which ones. The DVD is good... the DVDA consortium is screwy."


What does he mean by this? When did the DVD-A specs change? And does anyone have any idea which Pioneer players can't play it? I've read a lot about certain Pioneer players having problems with dual discs, particularly the Talking Heads discs.
I've had no problem with these but perhaps they preceeded this change he speaks of.
Can anyone enlighten me? ( I have the DV-45A )

Sals

[veedub]

A friend stopped by earlier today with Soft B. 5.1, and we could not get into the "extras" (only) on the disc. This is on my POST-firmware-upgrade Pio 563A. After setting the machine to ignore DVD-A (using DVD-V setting), the extras were accessible, but then just in Dolby, of course.

Hi-rez 2.0 and 5.1 of the album proper played just fine.

[veedub]

I should add that I was unable to play a few DVD-A titles until having the firmware upgrade done last year, which allowed for playing everything. Not sure what is going on with Bulletin.

[bugdaddy]

I had problems with the dvd-v extras portion on my 563a too and posted this yesterday in a different thread on the same Soft Bulletin issue. Hopefully this will work for others who have the problem. (note: My 563a also had the firmware upgrade).

I had problems on my Pioneer 563, but was able to get around them. Whenever i tried to go the dvd-video portions (videos and extra audio tracks), my machine would freeze up. The only way to unfreeze it was to unplug it. After troubleshooting the disc on a regular dvd player with no problems, i went back into my 563 and tried setting it to the "dvd-video" option instead of "dvd-audio".

After i did that i was able to access everything ok. I believe the only downside to using that setting is when punching play for a new disc. It will go the main menu instead of playing the first track directly.

[Cai Campbell]

Again, the exchange is for the redbook-only CD, and you only need to send that disc to the address above for the exchange. The replacement disc is a new master of the original 13-track line-up. What was sent out was the revised 14-track US version (which lacks one song, but adds two remixes). If you already have the US version of this CD, the one that came with the DVD-A is the exact same version, so you'll probably want to send it in for the replacement. If you've never owned the album on CD before, you may or may not want to hold onto the one that comes with the DVD-A.

Confusing enough??

Just to add a bit more to this, it is not sufficient to rely on the information printed on the CD to determine if you need a replacement. I just bought this set and the catalog number and credits on the CD were the same as that on the DVD. I initially assumed that I had the correct CD. However, after listening to the CD I quickly realized I had the mistake.

These "misprinted" CDs might become collectors items... but with so many of them already issued, I doubt it. Since I already have the 1999 version of this CD (same one as the misprint) I decided to send it in to get the correct version.

Also, a quick check to see if you have the misprint: listen to track 5 and if you hear the song "Buggin'" then you'll know you have the misprint. Even if you are not familiar with the disc you'll know right away if you are listening to "Buggin'".

Anyway, thanks David for bringing this to our attention!

[zakyfarms]

I have contacted Pioneer regarding the problems various models are having with this disc, and I have requested a firmware upgrade. They said they'd get back to me in a few days. I'll keep you all posted.

[analogdemon]

So I have thought about returning my screw-up CD for a correct one but have decided not to. This could become a sought-after collector's item in the future.

Instead what I did was rip the Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track from the DVD-V into .WAV files then burned them as an audio CD. So now I have the remastered 2.0 stereo audio on a CD-R that I can listen to in the car, and I still have the original screwed up CD. Best of both worlds.

[Cai Campbell]

Hey all, I just received my "Soft Bulletin" replacement CD today, so for those who were wondering whether or not the replacement offer was legitimate or not, rest assured that it is. I verified that the replacement disc has the corrected track listing.

I received a hand-written note from someone at Hellfire Enterprises (The Lips' marketing partner) but I cannot decipher the signature (gads, and I thought my handwriting was bad!) The note reads:

Thank you for buying The Soft Bulletin surround sound package. Sorry about the confusion. As you may know, due to circumstances beyond our control, the original American release of the CD shipped with your copy.

This was not our intent. Please accept this new "remastered" version of The Soft Bulletin as we heard it at Tarbox Road Studios and an apology for any inconvenience.

Thank you for your support, time and patience.

Enjoy

[scribbled signature]

[dr. simple]

I thought I'd chime in to say that I, too, received my replacement CD from the Flaming Lips today. I can't remember when I mailed the original, but I'd guess it was a few weeks ago. Here's the letter I received with it:
They seem like a fine bunch of guys, don't they? And oh yeah - their surround mixes ROCK!

Hey, while I'm at it, I've got to tell you all about the little gathering at my house a couple weeks ago. I discovered that some friends of mine were already big fans of the stereo version of "Yoshimi", so I had them over to hear it in 5.1. Three out of six of them crammed into the sweet spot. If you didn't know any better, by their reactions you'd swear they were watching a movie. I was so proud to know people who haven't lost the art of sitting and listening to music.

Paul

[analogdemon]

Hey all, I just received my "Soft Bulletin" replacement CD today, so for those who were wondering whether or not the replacement offer was legitimate or not, rest assured that it is. I verified that the replacement disc has the corrected track listing.

After more thought, I decided to send my CD back just so I'll have what I'm supposed to have. I got the correct CD back on Friday and here's something cool...That hand-written note is not from someone at the management company. That note was hand-written and signed by Michael Ivins, who is a member of the band. The Lips are a class act.

[JohnG]

One thing that is true about the 5.1 mix....it is very loud.

To listen to this disc I turned down my Denon to -30 (I usually listen at -16 to -20) and I still sounded loud.

Can't say I was very impressed (I like the Yoshimi mix better). The album seems to lack that one definitive hit or song.

[analogdemon]

The album seems to lack that one definitive hit or song.

You say that like it's a bad thing. I personally have never been a singles kind of guy. I like when all the songs work together to form a cohesive whole. An album shouldn't be a collection of individual pieces. It should be one work and judged as such methinks.

[Chris Gerhard]

One thing that is true about the 5.1 mix....it is very loud.

To listen to this disc I turned down my Denon to -30 (I usually listen at -16 to -20) and I still sounded loud.

Can't say I was very impressed (I like the Yoshimi mix better). The album seems to lack that one definitive hit or song.

Of course music like this album and Yoshimi could not have a single hit of any kind, there is no chance this music could have such widespread appeal. I do agree with you, and find there are no songs on this album that are even remotely memorable but overall it is something I can listen to in its entirety on rare ocassion. Yoshimi is a little better overall to me.

Chris

[elmer]

The great thing about the Lips is that depite the lack of a "hit single," and a real outsider approach to all things music biz, "Yoshimi" has sold over 400,000 copies - not U2 numbers but I think it qualifies as widespread acceptance. Both Yoshimi and Soft Bulletin were conceived as set pieces - imagine that - cohesive, complete albums of music without compromise that are successful as both art and commerce - and they're not 35 year old recordings!