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In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by: Neutral Milk Hotel

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Rating: - Surprising pre- Beirut discovery

Only by chance I came accross this album with wonderful songs of a fantastic songwriter. Lucky me. At the same level as Beirut's sensational Flying Cup album.

Rating: - The Greatest American Indie Album Ever Made

I won't bother with a long detailed review, there's plenty of those already.

All I can really do is reinforce what other music fans that love this album have already said. It is, in my opinion, the finest American indie album of all time. One listen and you like it, two and you love it, three and you adore it, and from four listens on, your life almost doesn't need another record.

From start to finish, this album is the pinnacle of happiness. The songs are played with simple chords, yet all sound so original and fresh. And Jeff Magnum's surreal, yet charming lyrics are just beautiful and poetic.

It is now recognised as a cult classic, but is still unknown to all too many people. Don't be one of them. This album will soundtrack some wonderful moments in your life for many years to come.

Rating: - Great album, if a tad overrated.

I saw all the reviews from major publications (Allmusic, Pitchfork, Tiny Mix Tapes) proclaiming this to be a folk masterpiece and a standard for indie music. I bought it with high hopes and I'll admit I was far from disappointed, "Holland, 1945", "Two-Headed Boy" and the title track are all amazingly well written pieces of music with intense performance from the band, however I don't think I would go with calling this album "the greatest record ever written" or "a manifesto for a different way of making pop."

I think the problem lies in the second half of the record with the songs "Communist Daughter" and "Oh Comely" being the real let downs of the album; the first is too short and doesn't really take off as a song and the second is too long and overwrought, not to mention "Two-Headed Boy Pt. 2" which although being nice enough, doesn't really live up to the first part.

For me for an album to warrant five stars every track needs to standout and be worth listening to over and over again, ITAOTS just doesn't manage that, but It is worth buying and listening to even if you are not normally attracted to indie rock, and it certainly deserves to be a part of your record collection.

Rating: - Falls at the last curdle

'In the Aeroplane over the Sea' has sold an awful lot of copies and not all the five star reviews here can be 'plants'. The lyrics are authentically surreal, the instrumentalism is engaging and often inventive, and the artwork is delightfully kitsch. But Jeff Mangum chops his guitar strings like a busker whose main concern is to keep warm; while his voice is strained at best and, well... surely... EXECRABLE at worst. He pulls off the title song: a jolly ditty that could be cherished as a mini-classic. But there are other tracks on this album where he simply debouches into a shout. An open-throated, uncontrolled bawl. And it's awful. After a while you feel as if every note beyond his half-octave range is being chased with the optimism of a man playing 'battleships'. And okay, if this doesn't worry you - that's fine. In a way, you're lucky. But it's only fair to warn any prospective buyer who has the kind of musical ear that winces when a note is split, or which writhes in agony when a missed register is sustained, that they ought to hang around in the departure lounge and take another flight.

Rating: - And they'll be placing fingers through the notches in your spine

It is entirely possible that you will hate this album, I wouldn't question you if you did and you'd probably have your reasons. The music can be a catastrophe of angular sounds and jangling notes, the singing can be out of tune and raw and the lyrics are nothing short of baffling without serious investigation into the albums ideas.

But I don't know what it is about all of these things coming together that immobilises me from start to finish, unable to think outside the sounds presented to me. Upon first listening I left this album exhausted and with tears in my eyes. It's simply an overwhelmingly significant piece of music, every song being distinct and memorable with enough worthwhile content to write a review ten times the length of this for each one. If by and chance you could like this album then you owe it to yourself to buy it and make sure, because you may be missing out on something that could be very special to you.

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