In Neutral [Import]

In Neutral [Import]

Track Listings

1. Memory

2. On This Planet

3. In Neutral

4. Log In

5. Shadowland

6. De Bass

7. Lifted Life

8. Ahi

9. Wave

10. Campanula

11. Motion

Tracks:

The King Of Carrot Flowers Part 1
The King Of Carrot Flowers Part 2 & 3
In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
Two - Headed Boy
The Fool
Holland, 1945
Communist Daughter
Oh Comely
Ghost
Untitled
Two - Headed Boy Part 2

Amazon.com's Best of 1998

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

Amazon.com essential recording

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

Customer Reviews:

YUM.......2007-05-11

I cannot help but feel this is the most _indie_ album in my collection. Each song, in general, uses little more than an acoustic guitar and carefully paced vocals, yet each song attains an atmosphere and, in some cases, intensity not easily achieved even with more complex instrumentation. For instance, the first track 'The King of Carrot Flowers' begins with an oh-so simple acouatic guitar strum, yet the tight rhythm and easy flow of the chord progression is immediately enticing. Add to this the somewhat oblique lyrics (which fit the style of music and vocal delivery to a tee), and a brilliant building structure culminating in the second part of the track, and you have a veritable tour de force in the first two songs!

The stark and deliberately simplistic nature of the music could be offputing, but there is actually a fair deal of diversity and the unexpected present here. 'Oh Comely' my favourite track, does begin with the trademark acoustic strum, yet unfolds into so much more over eight minutes, with horns, vocal crescendos and sparse interludes all incorporated. Also, the suprisingly rocking 'Ghost', the excellent untitled instrumental (which revamps certain musical themes from throughout the album) and the dreamy psych of 'Communist Daughter' complement the more conventional 'Two Headed Boy' the title track, and 'Holland, 1945'.

What I want to get across then is the fact that, even though the musiacl approach is almost deliberately simplistic, and the lyrics rambling and nebulous, the sheer weight of songwriting here carries the whole thing through. The record is just unbelievably consistent, the melancholy, slightly deranged atmosphere is unique and interesting, and the songs have an insular, personal quality that ensures they are very endearing. So yes, I think it's a classic.

Best Album Ever........2007-05-09

The previous reviewer implies that when Mangum yells out "I love you Jesus Christ", he is making an ironic joke. This is not a joke for the listener to be in on, it is one of many challenges presented to the listener (the liner notes and other interviews make this clear). That Mangum does love Jesus Christ and is willing to put this on the line is a part of this album's genius. This album is wrought with metaphor, symbolism, surrealist imagery, fear, and compassion. One thing it does not contain in irony. Mangum, unlike some of his peers, is beyond this as a lyricist.
The first several times you may hear this album you may want to dismiss it. Many people dismiss the Diary of Anne Frank as some book you get assigned in [...]. Mangum did not dismiss it as such. The book made him immensely sad. He had many questions about the Holocaust and why it had to happen; why Anne had to die? It was with these questions that he sat down with his guitar to write this album. I think he got some answers...

Meh........2007-04-15

Neutral Milk Hotel's 1998 album seems to have gotten a second wind over the past two or so years. Judging by some of these elitist reviews, the culprit of influence is none other than our good buddies over at[...], every pretentious hipster's favorite website in the whole wide world.

I mean, just LOOK at some of these reviews. You'd think these people found Jesus or something. But, no. It's just a bunch of skinny nimrods with bed-hair collectively tainting whatever reputation this album had with their masturbatory essays. I agree with the reviewer below me: GET OVER IT, PEOPLE.

The truth is, this isn't a great album and it's not a bad album. It's just something good to listen to every once in a while. Hey, at least it's better than the Shins (who outright suck).

The thing is, if this is your favorite album, you desperately need to discover more music.

Mangum's voice.......2007-04-11

I just wanted to nitpick a little... though the reviews for ITAOTS are mostly gushing (as they should be), it surprises me how often people mention that Jeff Mangum "doesn't have a good voice," or somesuch. True, he doesn't have a voice I'd cast an opera around, but his phrasing, warbling (for lack of a better term), and intensity are superb, he's fun as hell to sing along to, and he has the lung capacity of a sperm whale (threw in that sperm reference just for you, Jeff). I just wanted to bring that up and make the point that the vocals are one of the album's greatest strengths, not its only weakness. As the featured review says, they become endearing after awhile.

What that previous review tells you.......2007-03-30

This album ABSOLUTELY BLOWS . . . in the ears of sad, soulless, empty human beings.

I'm sorry for that guy.

He can probably tell you a LOT about notes and chords.

He can probably tell you a LOT about music history.

I doubt he can tell you ANYTHING about the heart.

This album can tell you pretty much everything about it.

Average customer rating:

Acoustic Grunge

Iowa Anvil
The Graze
Manufacturer: J-Shirt Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music

Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Indie Music | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

New Moon
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

ASIN: B0002LSZOU
Release Date: 2004-07-13

Tracks:

Devices
Everything
Rely
Maudlin
I Am the Little Girl
Doubt
Nostalgia
Filler
Busy
Imbecile

Album Description

Ten songs of melodic, hook-laden, lo-fi indie melancholia in sparse guitar-and-vocal arrangements as well as full-on rock, with guitars and vocals reminiscent of Neutral Milk Hotel and Nirvana. Iowa Anvil has also been compared to Elliott Smith, Nick Drake, the Beatles, and Bright Eyes.

Customer Reviews:

Acoustic Grunge.......2005-09-14

The Graze's debut album, Iowa Anvil, is a sort of amalgamation of early Nirvana/Soundgarden style grunge with a touch of Death Cab and a hit of Damien Rice. The lyrics are solid, not necessarily rhyming but simply doing what they want when they want, and the stories they tell are enjoyable.

I have to say, though, the music itself is where this album really shines. It really is a grunge style, but in a flavor that was really uncommon when grunge was popular. I mean, when one thinks of grunge, one generally thinks of distorted, electric guitars - and don't get me wrong, they show up a couple of times, and to great effect. But the guitar's being mainly acoustic lends this album a nice, mellow quality that most grunge doesn't have to offer. Now, that might not be someone's cup of tea; but it happens to be mine.

This is definitely a wonderful debut album, so if you enjoy grunge, and more mellow music, this cd is just about perfect for you.

Very Good Eddie: A Musical Comedy (1975 Broadway Revival Cast)

Average customer rating:

A GEM FROM THE PRINCESS THEATRE . . .
A musical as it used to be
Wonderful version of a charming show

Very Good Eddie: A Musical Comedy (1975 Broadway Revival Cast)
Schuyler Greene
Manufacturer: Drg
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Fugues | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Musical Theater | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Musicals | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

Traditional Vocal Pop | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music

4-for-3 Broadway & Vocalists | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 Pop | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 Soundtracks | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Leave It To Jane (1958 Off-Broadway Revival)
Curtains (2007 Original Broadway Cast)
By the Beautiful Sea (1954 Original Broadway Cast)
Oh Captain! (1958 Original Broadway Cast)
The Drowsy Chaperone (2006 Original Broadway Cast)

ASIN: B000000PG0
Release Date: 1992-04-10

Tracks:

Overture - Orchestra
We're On Our Way - Company
Some Sort Of Somebody - Miss Wells & Mr. Christmas
Thirteen Collar - Mr, Repole
Bungalow In Quogue - Miss Seidel, Miss Fairbank
Isn't It Great To Be Married - Mr. Repole & Mr Wyman
Good Night Boat - Company
Left All Alone Again Blues - Miss Seidel
Hot Dog! - Company
If You're A Freind Of Mine - Miss Seidel, Mr. Repole
Wedding Bells Are Calling Me - Company
Honeymoon Inn - Miss Wells & Company
I've Got To Dance - Mr. Shane (Vocal & Banjo) & Company
Moon Of Love - Miss Hudson & Company
Old Boy Neutral - Miss Wells & Mr. Christmas
Babes In The Wood - Miss Seidel & Mr. Repole
Katy-Did - Miss Hudson
Nodding Roses - Miss Wells & Mr. Christmas
Finale - Company

Customer Reviews:

A GEM FROM THE PRINCESS THEATRE . . . .......2005-09-07

I agree with Mr. Behrens that this recording is a "must" for anyone serious about the American musical theatre, but I found the whole thing a trifle boring. (I would have given it 3 stars, but I was worried about turning people off.) The performances are splendid, and the original orchestrations for 10 pieces are a delight to hear. Upon hearing the overture, you might think you're listening to a superb digital restoration of an early 1900's recording. It's a gas.

Mr. Behrens states that the score contains neither a hit nor a miss and is an "improvement on the bubbleheaded competition," but the operettas of Sigmund Romberg, Rudolph Friml, Victor Herbert, et.al, were overflowing with far better songs than Jerome Kern would write for this or any other Princess Theatre Show. Many of the lyrics for "Eddie" are pretty inane, typical for the time, however. Kern wrote a much better score two years later for "Leave It to Jane" (1917), lyrics provided by long time collaborator P.G. Wodehouse. (A wonderful recording of the 1958 revival of "Jane" is available on AEI Records.) With Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein, II, Jerome Kern wrote "Show Boat" in 1927, giving us the first truly great American musical. He also contributed some of Hollywood's most memorable songs, including "A Fine Romance," "The Way You Look Tonight," and "The Last Time I Saw Paris."

(...)

A musical as it used to be.......1999-10-24

My fellow reviewer from Monterey Mass. hit the nail on the head. Though not as good as some of the "Princess Theater" shows to come ("Oh, Boy," "Oh, Lady, Lady," and the rest--this musical is quite an improvement on the bubbleheaded competition it had not only in its own time but long after it. It is also a relief from the "musical play" that replaced the musical comedy. Not a single hit song and not a single poor one in the whole show that was a pioneer of the great "integrated" shows to come, not the least of which would be Kern's own "Show Boat." This is a must for every serious collection of Broadway shows.

Wonderful version of a charming show.......1998-09-08

This is a 1915 show but it has more snap and charm than the current long melodramas that masquerade as entertainment

Average customer rating:

a failed modern opera
Dizzingly original and powerful

Wolfgang Rihm: Die Eroberung von Mexico

Manufacturer: Cpo Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Complete Works (170 CD Box Set)

ASIN: B000001RVZ
Release Date: 1995-01-25

Tracks:

The Conquest of Mexico: Omens: Beginn. Melodie einer Landschaft, die das Gewitter kommen spurt
The Conquest of Mexico: Omens: 'Schatten von Wildpferden' (Montezuma)
The Conquest of Mexico: Omens: 'Schatten Meteore Blitz' (Cortez)
The Conquest of Mexico: Omens: 'Der Krieg, den ich fuhren will' (Montezuma)
The Conquest of Mexico: Omens: Raiz del hombre - 1. Strophe
The Conquest of Mexico: Declaration: Beginn
The Conquest of Mexico: Declaration: 'Ich ahme einen Krieger nach' (Cortez)
The Conquest of Mexico: Declaration: 'Seraphim? Neutral? Weiblich?' (Cortez)
The Conquest of Mexico: Declaration: Montezuma und Cortez stehen einander gegenuber
The Conquest of Mexico: Declaration: 'Wir sind eure Wohltater!' (Cortez)
The Conquest of Mexico: Declaration: 'Ist das alles?' (Cortez)
The Conquest of Mexico: Declaration: Die Muttergottes-Statue wird neben die Huitzlipochtli-Statue gestellt
The Conquest of Mexico: Declaration: Raiz del hombre - 2. Strophe

Tracks:

The Conquest of Mexico: 'Revolte, Revolte in allen Schichten'
The Conquest of Mexico: '...und dies wird dicht an einem grossen Schrei sein'
The Conquest of Mexico: 'Ich zerschneide den eigentlichen Raum'
The Conquest of Mexico: Stilles Ritual der Azteken. Tierkreis.
The Conquest of Mexico: Spanische Soldaten uberfallen die Azteken. Ein Blutbad.
The Conquest of Mexico: Montezumas Ansprache
The Conquest of Mexico: Raiz del hombre - 3. Strophe
The Conquest of Mexico: 'Lichter, Tone'
The Conquest of Mexico: Montezumas Leichenbegangnis
The Conquest of Mexico: Zerstorung der religiosen Bildwerke (der Azteken und Spanier)
The Conquest of Mexico: Verwustung
The Conquest of Mexico: Raiz del hombre - 4. Strophe

Customer Reviews:

a failed modern opera.......2004-12-21

DIE EROBERUNG VON MEXICO (THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO) is an ambitious attempt to stage Artaud's drama as an opera. The concept is questionable -- Artaud takes the historic narrative of Montezuma and Cortez and overlays it with a metaphysical confrontation between male and female, treated as mutually incomprehensible opposites doomed to a tragic denouement. Rihm adds an Octavio Paz text and tragic 16th century poetry by an anonymous indigenous Mexican writer to create an even more unwieldy edifice. Rihm's opera was first staged in 1992 to coincide with the 500-year anniversary of Colombus's voyage and the Spanish conquest. Artaud's twist, which Rihm follows, is to portray not a conquest but the mutual ruin of the antagonists, a metaphysical view with no basis in material history.

Given the powerful elements of the drama, Rihm's music is strangely subdued, even enervating. The lead roles of Cortez and Montezuma are given periodically moving passages (Montezuma's role is sung by a soprano and an alto, as he embodies the female principle), culminating in the work's best moment at the very end as they sing a tragic duet, but the orchestral accompaniment is uniformly uninvolving.

There are many works by the incredibly prolific Rihm that have not been recorded. His 1977 opera, DIE HAMLETMASCHINE, is available on the German Wergo label from amazon.co.uk. My impression is that his reputation as a leading avant-garde figure is strongest in his native Germany, weaker elsewhere in Europe, and virtually non-existent here in the U.S. On the strength of DIE EROBERUNG VON MEXICO I have to weigh in on the low end. Lachenmann's more recent DAS MADCHEN MIT DEN SCHWEFELHOZERN (see my reviews of both recordings) is even less impressive, leaving me to wonder about the viability of German avant opera as a category.

For an open-eared listener interested in Rihm, I would recommend his CHIFFRE-ZYKLUS (CPO, 2006 -- see my review), or better still, the "4 concertos" disc on Hanssler (RIHM-EDITION VOL. 1. 2007 -- see my review), the latest Rihm releases in the U.S. JAGDEN UND FORMEN (HUNTS AND FORMS) is a fascinating if not entirely convincing piece, released in 2002 in the now discontinued DG 20/21 series (see my review). [this review updated 6/7/07 -- RH]

Dizzingly original and powerful.......1999-01-08

Along with Tan Dun's Marco Polo, Rihm's Conquest of Mexico is flat-our the most amazing opera since Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre. From the opening drum fugue, interspersed with shattering bursts from the chorus, to the beautiful duet at the conclusion, the music is dazzling--incredibly inventive at every step, now piercingly beautiful, now knock your head off powerful. Rihm, I think, has been an uneven composer in his career--a number of his works are so so (though not his 5th String Quartet: that's blistering). But in this work he put it all together and even transcended himself. Intriguing text by Antonin Artaud--really a set of plans for a play rather than actual dialogue. But it doesn't matter--Rihm's most powerful moments are shouts, cries, sighs, all visceral sound-moments. Wow.

Average customer rating:

Over the sea
You must buy this, if you don't own it already!!!

In An Aeroplane Over the Sea

ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000NQPU2O
Release Date: 2007-02-20

Album Description

Rising from the flames of Louisiana's 'crazy psychedelic Christianity' and smouldering bayous, comes the re-release of Neutral Milk Hotel's 'In the Aeroplane Over the Sea'. Originally released in 1996, Domino Records have swept off the ashes covering this musical gem that has been sparking inspiration in its listeners and influencing bands including Arcade Fire, Caribou and even Franz Ferdinand. Neutral Milk Hotel were drawn together as teenage friends to make music, propelled by the imaginary force of Jeff Mangum, making music in bedrooms with a universe of instruments. With members of Olivia Tremor Control and Apples in Stereo they formed the Elephant 6, dispersed, re-arranged and created Neutral Milk Hotel. Shunning the mainstream and performing rarely to the dismay of fans meant that 'Aeroplane.' never received its due exposure. Impossible to define in terms of time or scene its other-worldly music and lyrics could easily have been the soundtrack to the 1900s dreamscape film "A Trip to the Moon" with human-faced moons and rockets. Comparable to being on a Ferris Wheel with an orchestra of trumpets, zanzithiphones, uillean pipes, accordions and shortwave radio fuzz: the result is heady and exhilarating but there is a darkness underlying this exuberant ecstasy, as though you can hear Tom Waits conducting 'The Black Rider' in a far off circus tent.

Customer Reviews:

Over the sea.......2007-03-27

Jeff Mangum is the King of Carrot Flowers. Or at least, the king of his own brand of innocently psychedelic dream-rock. The second full-length album from the endearingly weird Neutral Milk Hotel is not as lo-fi as "From Avery Island," but its beauty and dreaminess are still untouched.

Steady guitar strums start off "The King of Carrot Flowers Part 1," before blossoming into the eerie, spirituality-themed "King of Carrot Flowers Part 2 & 3." Following it up the somehow inspiring "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea," the grim trumpeting of "The Fool," and the rousing folky-carnival bombast of "Holland, 1945."

Crickets, screams and a gentle guitar melody start "Communist Daughter," followed by the wailing "Oh Comely," magnificently fuzzy "Ghost," and the eerie tenth track, which doesn't have a title -- a catchy, indescribable mix of fuzz guitar and funhouse melodies. The album ends on a strong note with "Two Headed Boy Part 2," with its haunted-house opener woven out of horns, which melts away behind Mangum's final ballad.

Neutral Milk Hotel is one of those bands that will steal your heart, or send you howling from the room. There's no middle ground. It's an acid-tinged dream of spirituality, sex, chaos, rebirth and beauty, full of girls with roses in their eyes and ghosts flying over stormy cities.

The music tends to be of two types. On one hand, we have Mangum's laid-back folky ballads; they are sometimes laced with other instruments, but the core is his acoustic guitar and his off-kilter voice. And then there are the swirling panoramas of brass-band, fuzz guitar, accordians, white noise, organ and musical saw, among others. These bizarre melodies are entrancing, almost hypnotic, and the catchier ones sound like the soundtrack of a carnival.

Mangum's voice is a weird one. It isn't very good, and he can't hold the notes (his wail of "I loooove you Jeeesusss Chrrriiiisst" is outrageously funny). But it meshes into the music as if his vocals were tailor-made for it. And the lyrics are full of weird things that somehow strike a chord in the listener, as if Mangum has tapped into your strangest dreams, ranging from the childlike wonder of "King of Carrot Flowers Parts 2 & 3" to the wistful: "Now she's a little boy in Spain/Playing pianos filled with flames/On empty rings around the sun/All sing to say my dream has come..."

Full of psychedelic brass bands and folky songs about children with wings, Neutral Milk Hotel's second album is a rare, magnificent album without a single unworthy song. Beautiful, strange and wondrous.

You must buy this, if you don't own it already!!!.......2007-03-01

This is one of my favorite albums of all time. It's to bad (for us) they didn't put out more albums. "On Avery Island", "Everything Is" EP & "Live at Jittery Joe's" are other great albums of theirs. Also, there are other rare and live recordings floating around that you can find that aren't on any albums. Just search for "Neutral Milk Hotel" "NMH" or "Jeff Mangum" and you should eventually come across some.

Average customer rating:

In Neutral
Gemini
Manufacturer: Distance Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

House | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Dance & DJ | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000007W3Z
Release Date: 1997-12-02

Tracks:

Memory
On This Planet
In Neutral
Log In
Shadowland
De Bass
Lifted Life
Ahi
Wave
Campanula
Motion

Average customer rating:

Never in Neutral
Griffen Alexander
Manufacturer: Red Night Records Inc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Pop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000K144PG
Release Date: 2006-11-07

Tracks:

I Will
One Day
Incapable
One Way Love
Long Distance
The Saddest Song
Homesick
Only Yours
Gibberish
Savior

Product Description

With heartfelt lyrics and a distinctive voice that resonates sincerity and passion, Griffen Alexander pulls out all the stops on his first album with Red Night Records, "Never in Neutral". To the Pop-Rock / Acoustic scene, Griffen Alexander, is the proverbial breath of fresh air with "Never in Neutral". He remains consistent in using his music as an outlet for experiences that everyone can relate to. Experiences in love, loss, friendship, leaving home, and life.

Music Review:

Music Review

music review