So why is Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
I could spend forever trying to describe In the Aeroplane Over the Sea and still not match Jason Ankeny’s description on All Music:
Perhaps best likened to a marching band on an acid trip, Neutral Milk Hotel’s second album is another quixotic sonic parade; lo-fi yet lush, impenetrable yet wholly accessible, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is either the work of a genius or an utter crackpot, with the truth probably falling somewhere in between.
The first track, “King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1” (followed immediately by “King of Carrot Flowers Pts. 2 & 3,” making it a compressed epic trilogy of sorts), kicks off with a jangly acoustic chord and mellow, emotive vocals from Jeff Mangum. It evolves into something like a sea shanty or dirge, thanks to an accordion. It’s the kind of song and album that is odd without being off-putting in the slightest, and unique yet strangely comforting all at once.
“Holland, 1945” is probably my favorite song on In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. It’s got an exhilarating, boot-stomping energy that eventually meshes with horns that evoke a Mariachi band.
The lyrics are largely impenetrable – as is the album as a whole in some respects – which frustrated me at first but soon became strangely pleasing.
The song title imagines that it’s something about Holland at the end of World War II, of course. And that reminds me that I re-watched Band of Brothers recently (as I do every 18-24 months), the HBO miniseries that follows a company of American paratroopers (Easy Company of the 506th Infantry Regiment) from training through the D-Day invasion and all the way through to the war’s end. It’s based on the compelling history book by Stephen E. Ambrose, and it’s still one of the best things television has ever produced.
The fourth episode, “Replacements,” focuses on Easy Company’s participation in Operation Market Garden, an audacious but ultimately unsuccessful plan that involved dropping paratroopers behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied Holland.
One of its more fascinating scenes involves the American forces entering a Dutch town, where the local populace believes that they have been liberated. The locals spilled into the streets in throngs, celebrating wildly, only to find themselves back under German siege soon after.
Anyway, there’s something about In the Aeroplane Over the Sea that makes me think about circuitous routes, meandering paths.
The title track, “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea,” begins as a straight-ahead singer-songwriter tune with just acoustic guitar and vocals, and a pretty one at that. Then comes the unmistakable sound of a singing saw, plus other oddball instrumentation.
Over timeIn the Aeroplane Over the Sea has become a cult classic, the kind of album that lives on in dorm rooms and Pitchfork lists, one you can revisit endlessly, puzzle over, and keep finding new meaning in.
It’s all good, strange fun. I think?
Some stats & info about Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock, Rock Music, Pop, Pop Music, Alternative Pop, Indie Rock, Neo-Psychedelia
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – #376
- All Music’s rating – 5 out of 5 stars
- When was In the Aeroplane Over the Sea released? 1998
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #725 out of 1,000
Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
And from above you, how I sank into your soul, into that secret place where no one dares to go.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.