The Soft Bulletin

For 15 years, the Lips have churned out modest masterpieces in psychedelic whimsy, but aside from a fluke '93 hit (''She Don't Use Jelly''), only cultists have benefited. All that should change with this ambitious epic, a vertiginous rainbow swirl that crams so many ideas into so many tight spaces that each track is like a perfectly rendered Joseph Cornell box. Frontman Wayne Coyne is a natural fabulist, weaving trippy tall tales within the folds of tricky, heartbreakingly frail arrangements.