In the airplane over the sea
| In the airplane over the sea | ||||
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| Studio album by Neutral Milk Hotel | ||||
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Publication |
February 1998 |
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| Label (s) | Merge Records , Blue Rose Records , Domino Records | |||
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Format (s) |
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Title (number) |
11 |
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running time |
about 40 minutes |
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| occupation |
Vocals , guitar : Jeff Mangum Horns : Scott Spillane |
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Studio (s) |
Pet Sounds Studio , Denver , Colorado (July – September 1997) |
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In the Airplane Over the Sea is the second and so far last album by the American indie rock band Neutral Milk Hotel .
The album was on 10 February 1998 in the US on the Independent - label Merge Records released. On May 18, 1998, the album was released in Great Britain on Blue Rose Records and was re-released there on September 5, 2005 on Domino Records .
The only single on the album is the song Holland, 1945 .
The album is still selling well today and was the sixth best-selling vinyl album of 2008.
admission
The album was recorded under the direction of producer Robert Schneider between July and September 1997 at the Pet Sounds Studio in Denver . Both producer Schneider and the four band members and some of the studio musicians were part of the musician collective Elephant Six , which in addition to Neutral Milk Hotel produced numerous other bands, including Apples in Stereo (Schneider's main band), of Montreal , The Olivia Tremor Control , Beulah , Elf Power and The Music Tapes were the most successful.
content
The album is characterized by varied instrumentation and provocative, mostly ambiguous lyrics, the meaning of which is hardly clear at first glance.
A lyrical motif on the record is the transience of youth; that's what it says in the chorus of the title track, for example
"... and one day we will die and our ashes will fly from the airplane over the sea. But for now we are young let us lay in the sun and count every beautiful thing we can see. "
"(... and one day we will die and our ashes will fly from the plane over the sea. But for now we are young, let us lie in the sun and count all the beautiful things we see.)"
The single Holland, 1945 is about the fate of Anne Frank , whose biography Jeff Mangum read shortly before the album was recorded. Similar references to Anne Frank can be found in the songs Communist Daughter , Ghost , Two-Headed Boy Part. 2 and especially Oh Comely , where Mangum sings:
"... I know they buried her body with others, her sister and mother and five-hundred families. And will she remember me? Fifty years later? I wished I could save her in some sort of time machine. "
Track list
- The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. One - 2:00
- The King of Carrot Flowers Pts. Two & Three - 3:06
- In the Airplane Over the Sea - 3:22
- Two-Headed Boy - 4:26
- The Fool - 1:53
- Holland, 1945 - 3:12
- Communist Daughter - 1:57
- Oh Comely - 8:18
- Ghost - 4:08
- - 2:16
- Two-Headed Boy Pt. Two - 5:13
All songs written by Mangum except The Fool (Spillane) and King of Carrot Flowers Pt. Two (Barnes / Koster / Magnum / Mangum / Spillane)
Cover design
The album cover was chosen by bandleader Mangum and Chris Bilheimer (also known for his work with REM ). The basis of the artwork is an old postcard with a picture of people bathing in a holiday resort, which was cut and edited and used as a cover.
reception
When it was released, the album did not attract exceptional attention. The album received good reviews in the College Music Journal and Pitchfork Media (8.7 out of 10 points), the Rolling Stone , however, called it "thin-blooded, woolgathering stuff" ( dünnblütiges, scattered stuff ) and were only 3 out of 5.
On the occasion of the re-release in 2005, the rating of the album looked much better. Rolling Stone increased its rating from 3 to 4 out of 5 points and Pitchfork Media even gave a full 10 points and lists the album on a list of the best 100 albums of the nineties.
PopMatters called the re-release one of the best of 2005 and wrote “Airplane is a manifesto for a different way of making pop. To hear 'Two-Headed Boy' in 2005 is to realize that Mangum's art is simply superb songwriting. " (" Airplane is a manifesto for a different way of writing pop music. Hearing Two-Headed Boy in 2005 can be recognized that it is Mangum's art to write simple, great songs. ")
For Win Butler , front man for the band Arcade Fire , In the Airplane Over the Sea was the main reason to sign with Merge Records.
Jesse Lacey of Brand New album called even "the greatest record ever written" ( The greatest album ever written ). The band also covered the songs Oh Comely and Two Headed Boy Pt. II at their concerts.
People involved
The following information is taken from the credits and has been translated as well as possible.
- Jeff Mangum - guitar, vocals, organ, floor tom , bass guitar, tape, shortwave radio, art direction
- Jeremy Barnes - drums, organ
- Scott Spillane - trumpet, flugelhorn , trombone, euphonium
- Julian Koster - Wandering Genie - Organ, Singing Saw , Banjo, Accordion, White Noise
- Robert Schneider - home organ, fuzz bass, harmony singing, piano
- Laura Carter - electronic MIDI saxophone ( zanzithophone )
- Rick Benjamin - trumpet
- Merisa Bissinger - saxophone, flugelhorn
- Michelle Anderson - Uilleann Pipes
- Chris Bilheimer - Art Direction
- Brian Dewan - Illustrations
Individual evidence
- ^ Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone : Radiohead, Neutral Milk Hotel Help Vinyl Sales Almost Double In 2008 , 2009
- ↑ http://www.neutralmilkhotel.org/disco1-nmh.htm Details about the album at www.neutralmilkhotel.org; last checked on October 4, 2008
- ↑ There is no title on the back cover of the album. However, the track is also known as The Penny Arcade in California .
- ↑ http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/313120/in_the_aeroplane_over_the_sea Review from Rolling Stone; last checked on October 4, 2008
- ↑ http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/36737-top-100-albums-of-the-1990s ( Memento from July 1, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) List of the 100 best albums of the 90s by Pitchfork: last checked on October 4, 2008
- ↑ http://www.popmatters.com/music/best2005/reissues1.shtml/country.shtml Review by PopMatters; last checked on October 4, 2008
- ↑ http://www.neutralmilkhotel.org/disco1-nmh.htm Credits information on www.neutralmilkhotel.org; last checked on October 4, 2008