In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Just from the opening seconds of Neutral Milk Hotel's second album, you know it's going to be special: the acoustic guitar strum is catchy beyond belief, and Jeff Magnum's intonation lends credibility even to a line like "When you were young, you were the King of Carrot Flowers." Listening to In the Aeroplane is like stepping through Alice's looking glass; you enter a fantastic new universe that, while it doesn't always make sense logically, feels like the home you never had. --Randy Silver
Led by Jeff Magnum, In the Aeroplane over the Sea finds the Neutral Milk Hotel assemblage loosely performing a series of narratives backed by folksy acoustic guitar. But from that springboard, a quiver of instruments (horns, organs, accordions, saws, banjo, zanzithophone, etc.) are layered into a sometimes rootsy, sometimes lo-fi, and often psychedelic mix. Contrary to most pop experimentalists, NMH songs stretch way past the two-minute mark: "Two Headed Boy" transforms from a Guided by Voices-ish romp into a New Orleans big band funeral march, "The Fool" is as catchy as anything Poi Dog Pondering ever produced, and "Holland" builds up to a crescendo of saw, Uillean pipes, a chorus of voices, and fuzzed-out guitar. Simply irresistible. --Jason Verlinde
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea Accessories
 On Avery Island
Funeral
The Crane Wife
Vampire Weekend
Boxer
In Rainbows
Fleet Foxes
Wincing the Night Away
Castaways and Cutouts
The Shepherd's Dog
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea Reviews
But for those who understand, this is one of the best albums of all time, hands down. Hell yes I am. Am I comparing Mangum to Dylan. A lot of people hate Bob Dylan's voice too, but in so doing, they miss one of the greatest artists of the rock era. For those who don't get it, just move on to something more accessible to you.
Some people seem to get caught up on the lead singer's voice; so he's not Paul McCartney, but I don't have a problem with it. A simply beautiful album if you have the capacity to listen to it (yes, musical snobbery. CSNY didn't want to let Neil Young sing at first either, but he's had one of the longest and most successful musical careers in memory. The lyrics are poignant, the meaning behind them uplifting, the instrumentation frantic and the vocals strained and real. Egads).
I have listened to it once a week for a few years now and don't plan on stopping. this album is simply the best album I've ever listened to. Greatest Album of All TIME.
A quintessential lo-fi masterwork of acoustic power and unrestrained vocal, this highly influential album helped pave the way for the broken-boy aesthetics of Bright Eyes and literate ballads of Decemberists to be the prominent independent music it is today. Sure, some of the production should have been tuned up a bit even if the overall quality of hearing the performance right in front of you is partly why this album still shines bright, but mostly it is because the sincerity and simplicity coupled with thematic ambitions preserved this track listing better then it ought.
It's as simple as that. Not for everyone, and you'll be hard-pressed to find hit single potential in any of these early 90's noise pop-rock confections, but the lyrics are strong, with a strong Anne Frank theme throughout. If you enjoy this kind of music, you will fall in love with this album. As far as lo-fi goes, this took the sub-genre in a whole new direction.
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