'In The Aeroplane Over The Sea', a late 90's album inspired by Anne Frank's 'Diary of a Young Girl, is simply the most surreal, most poignant, most brilliant album you are ever likely to hear.
As a regular visitor of Pitchforkmedia.com, I only recently stumbled across this record by a band ... Read review
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
Neutral Milk Hotel's second album is the one that has worked its way under the most skins. "Magnet" magazine named it the best album of the 1990s and "Creative Loafing" recently devoted a cover story to one fan's quest to understand why bandleader Jeff Mangum dropped out of sight soon after "Aeroplane's" release. The record sells steadily to an audience that finds it through word of mouth. Weird beautiful absorbing difficult "In The Aeroplane Over the Sea" is a surrealist text loosely based on the life suffering and reincarnation of Anne Frank with guest appearances from a pair of Siamese twins menaced by the cold and carnivores a two-headed boy bobbing in a jar anthropomorphic vegetables and a variety of immature erotic horrors. Mangum sings his dreamlike narratives with a dreamer's intensity his creaky off key voice occasionally breaking as he struggles to complete each dense couplet. The music is like nothing else in the 90s Indie Underground a psychedelic brass band its members self-taught forging polychromatic washes of mood and tribute.The songs stick to one narrow key the images repeat and circle back and to listen is to be absorbed into a singular heart-rending vision.
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
A review by HenCH-son on In The Aeroplane Over The Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel November 30th, 2007
Author's product rating:
Originality
Groundbreaking
Lyrics
Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks
Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Outstanding
Value for Money
Excellent
Advantages:
There are too many to list, this is as good as it gets .
Disadvantages:
It was Neutral Milk Hotel's last recording .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
'In The Aeroplane Over The Sea', a late 90's album inspired by Anne Frank's 'Diary of a Young Girl, is simply the most surreal, most poignant, most brilliant album you are ever likely to hear.
As a regular visitor of Pitchforkmedia.com, I only recently stumbled across this record by a band I had previously only vaguely heard of. This discovery was due to the reviewer's rating of 10.0, a rating only attributed to the crème de la crème of albums, previously credited to works of similar genius to Radiohead's 'Kid A', with its dystopian beauty, or to Joy Division's ethereal masterpiece 'Closer'. Thus I could not overlook Neutral Milk Hotel's 'In The Aeroplane Over The Sea', and I purchased it at the first opportunity.
On first listen I couldn't prevent a nagging voice from questioning how this record could rank with the best of them, and by the album's uplifting closer, Two Headed Boy Pt. 2, I had stopped listening. However, I persevered, willing a more pleasurable auditory experience, and sure enough Jeff Mangum's initially irritating voice became glorious, swooning, introspective, humbling. From the nostalgic opener 'The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1' to the lovely title track, with its joyous lyrics in the face of human mortality 'When we meet on a cloud / I'll be laughing out loud', 'In The Aeroplane Over The Sea' is an utterly brilliant work of art, lyrically sublime.
Other highlights include the melancholic instrumental track 'The Fool' and 8 minute lament 'Oh Comely', with its heartbreaking lyrics ("I know they buried her body with others / her sister and mother and 500 families / will she remember me 50 years later / I wished I could save her in some sort of time machine) a reference to Anne Frank's death and how death is not the end, a theme that is intrisic to the album, as fragments and images of the holocaust are embedded throughout the 45 minutes.
'In The Aeroplane Over The Sea' is better than I could ever have hoped, it is an album that I will dive into again and again. As said by another reviewer on a different site 'If I won the lottery I would post this album through everybody's letterboxes.'
Advantages: Incredibly moving, truly beautiful in both lyrics and texture. Disadvantages: Could be difficult to get into, not going to be a family favourite.
...songs are musically plain, folk-like in their simplicity. The lyrics are surreal, but touching. The sound is fuzzy and unkempt, with drums and acoustic guitar fleshed out by bass, trumpet and 'musical saw'. But the most outstanding element of this album is the voice. Jeff Mangum has a style that ties these elements together and turns it into a deeply resonant experience.
From the opener "King Of Carrot Flowers, Pt. 1", it becomes obvious that this ... ...tumbling through the trees / In holy rattlesnakes that fell all around your feet", and he means it! In any other hands this might seem pretentious, but believe me, it works, spectacularly. From there it only gets better - from the unstoppable rolling thunder of "Holland, 1945" to the eight minute solo opus "Oh, Comely", Mangum paints timeless pictures of flesh, war and death that will qiute possibly change the way you think about music. At the end ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: set's targets for the next 100 years of music Disadvantages: N/A
...around incredibly abstract lyrics exploding in originality all taped together with the fresh and organic instruments which makes up the enchantment to this magical album.
The more and more you listen to the album, the more and more you are overwhelmed by it's radiance.
If you do not have this album, it is a definite must, must, must buy from me and I'm guessing everyone else who owns this album.
10/10 from me, and the best album in the 1990's, ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Simply Breathtaking, Emotional. Disadvantages: It Ends.
...Anne Frank 'There are lights in the clouds Anna's ghost all around/hear her voice as its rolling and ringing through me'. Mangum seems to be singing right from the heart. The album has other gems in 'Holland 1945', 'Oh Comely' and 'Communist Daughter' each of which are just as inspirational. It is no mistake that so many bands around today list Neutral Milk Hotel as one of their major influences. In terms of simple song and lyric writing, Jeff Mangum ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Superb songwriting, original, very deep Disadvantages: Not the most accessible, not for everyone
...I'll be the first to put my hand up and say that I am incredibly fussy when it comes to music. For me to like a song (in very general terms) it has to be well-written, with lyrics that take time to work out and make me think a little. Originality is a good factor too. Albums can be fantastic if they are produced correctly; that is to say, they have a certain coherence of mood, where each track sounds different but the whole thing feels like a group effort and flows well. I always find that deep, well-thought lyrics can enhance an album's lifespan endlessly. Luckily, all of these factors are present and shining brightly here inNeutralMilkHotel's second (and finest) album - In the AeroplaneOver the Sea, released in 1998. Even now, 9 years later, it's impractical to describe the album's feel and mood through a single word or phrase. One...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: A disjointed masterpiece of dystopian story-telling Disadvantages: See "advantages". It's not the easiest listen, certainly.
...the album ultimately takes in. Lordy, I sound like an idiot. Let me put this simply: this is one of the most complete albums I have ever heard. Along with NeutralMilkHotel's In The AeroplaneOver The Sea and OK Computer, it's one of the three most 'finished', if that makes sense, records ever made.
When I say best, I mean most technically complete and emotionally fulfilling. Sgt Pepper is more important to music, of course it is, but from a personal viewpoint the tingling rhythm of "Under The Weeping Willow" is an audio experience that has never been matched. Everything clicks so thoroughly, that the gentle nature of the music is mesmerising. The vision and scope laid out throughout the album is stunning, with no song more exemplary than the opening "He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot", an eight minute track that fades from a quiet...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
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