In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

This album is, in a word, "perfect." Not only is it a classic indie-rock gateway drug, but it sucessfully evokes the familiarity, as well as the uniqueness, of a truly great album. Jeff Magnum's lyrics are superb, weaving in and out of innuendos and blashpemies, while also creating the love-lorn world of characterization that you can dive right in to. The melodies and vocals are haunting, almost bordering on creepy, and the sounds dance around and crank like the gears and servos in a finely tuned machine. There is not one song I skip on this album, which I've absorbed many, many times. The tracks never get old. Comparatively, my number one album, "If You're Feeling Sinister" by Belle and Sebastian, has certain tracks that I do skip because I've heard them way too many times. The only reason it eeks out this one is because, like all good personalized selections, that album "spoke" to me a bit more. But that is not to say that "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" is not a masterpiece. It certainly is. In fact, I would venture to say it is one of the most imaginative, creative, haunting, memorable, and distinctive albums of the past twenty years. It's that damn good. Check it out, you won't regret it.

A masterpiece.

Jeff Mangum sings the things most of us don't dare say aloud. And beautifully. And tragically. This album is one of the few in my collection that I can throw own no matter what mood I'm in. It's almost flawless. It may not appeal to everyone's tastes, but everyone I know who likes it LOVES IT.

Standing as one of the pinnacles of indie rock and 90's music in general, Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is a triumph. Using the similar aesthetic he used with On Avery Island (marching band horn parts, stream-of-consciousness lyrics, lo-fi production), Jeff Mangum fouses up a little bit here musically. The songs run continually into each other but instead the songs are more focused on textured sounds which give the songs more depth than ever before. Mangum also sings with much more power causing songs like "Ghost" to burst at the seams with catharsis. It is truly a masterpiece.

Clearly, this is a near frozen distillation of the artists ego and pride.sure, we all have secret songs that we keep wrapped in boxes so tight sounding only at night as we sleep, but these songs will take the listener on a journey so unexpected it is difficult to explain. Enjoy NMH for as long as you can and remember they will be there when you need them. Hailing all who are exiled.

a deeply emotional, top-to-bottom classic. inventive instrumentation and beautifully evocative lyrics. this will shake your soul.

If you have a brain you'll like this album. It's amazing. The songs are in perfect order... everything is great.

this is not an album for those with narrow attention spans. if you enjoy something a little more anthemic, try the 'everything is' EP

The 3rd song "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" is one of the best songs of the 1990s.

best band that you've never herd of. if i could i'd do nothing but listen to this all day long. but i cant cause then i'd die of starviasion.

A really terrific person turned me on to these guys and while I love On Avery Island, I agree that Aeroplane is the better album. I think I'm in love, well, at least I should be after listening to such beauty filled angst.

there's such an odd complexity to this album. a certain sense of innosence and wide-eyed wonder. the feeling that your far far away in another place. a soft undercurrent of magnificence to every song. such creativity and precious lyrics!

This is a voice from the ground. Neutral Milk Hotel is a rare find that is often beautiful in sound and word. Jeff Mangum's lyrics construct an alternate existance of emaciated logic and impressionistic images that draws the listener closer without ever providing a complete explaination. They can seem pleasantly child-like and disturbing at once. The songs can be like a dream that you certainly don't want to be awoken from.

clashing. I wondered about his voice and if those horns really went that song at all? After my first time with the record I did not listen to it for several weeks until I stumbled across the CD again I once again gave it a try and it just clicked. The sounds started to come togeather and it was just pure joy to listen to the CD all the way through. I personally believe that the King of Carrot Flowers Pt 1., In the Aeroplande over the sea, Holland 1945, and Communist Daughter are the true High lights of the CD. If you give the Cd some time and just listen it will just be an amazing experinece I havent really felt since poping in OK computer.

I didn't like any of the songs.