Neutral Milk Hotel - On Avery Island
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Free Music Notes for On Avery Island
Free Music Review: Buy It!
Hit: 4 Stars
I'm only giving this one four stars because it isn't "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea," but you still need to own this album. Absolutely phenomenal. Jeff Mangum is amazing.Free Music Review: more "indie" than its successor
Hit: 3 Stars
This album has a much starker, lower-fi, more "indie rock" (as opposed to "surrealist folk-punk"?) approach than "Aeroplane." It's also not as good, which put me in a dilemma: I gave "Aeroplane" 3 stars cause it wasn't as good as The Olivia Tremor Control's "Black Foliage", which I gave 4 stars because of the infamous track 19. But "Avery Island" is definitely more than a 2-star album. So let's give Black Foliage 4.5 stars, Aeroplane 3 and 2/3, and this 3.Anyway, what I find most impressive about this album is how much it is more than the sum of its parts. Few individual songs are particularly amazing (Gardenhead and Three Peaches to the contrary), but the album as a whole is a very enjoyable listen. It doesn't have the depth of emotion or musical creativity as its successor, but what it does have is an incredible feeling of unity; more than any other supposed 'concept album,' this one really feels like one long song that happens to be divided into many parts. This is one of the few albums I've heard where a 12-minute long minimalist track could actually be effective.
By the way, I disagree with "a music fan from St. Paul" that accessible music is always bad. I fell in love with "Black Foliage" on first listen, and I still love it. Same with the Beatles song "Strawberry Fields Forever", Kukl's "Holidays in Europe", Bach's "The Well-Tempered Clavier", Schoenberg's "Pierrot Lunaire", etc. etc.
Free Music Review: Interesting
Hit: 3 Stars
The first thing I noticed about 'On Avery Island' was the fact that almost all the songs are buried under a thick layer of noise. However, once (if) one gets past that, there are some good songs beneath. The entire album has a strange, somewhat surreal feel to it; previous reviewers have described it quite well as 'carnivalesque'. Jeff Mangum, regardless of what one may think of him as a songwriter, is NOT a good singer. His voice takes a bit of getting used to. I don't mind it now, but at first it seemed rather jarring. (note to previous reviewer: just because one doesn't think Mangum is a good singer doesn't mean they're a mindless pop music drone.)
In short form, 'On Avery Island' is a decent but not brilliant album. The production will (understandably) be unlistenably abrasive to many.
Highlights:
Where You'll Find Me Now
Naomi
Free Music Review: A prelude to "In the Aeroplane"
Hit: 3 Stars
If you are coming to this album after discovering Neutral Milk Hotel through "In the Aeroplane" don't expect the same level of music or lyrics, and DO expect some overdone, boring electronic interludes. But there are some gems here- "Naomi" is one of my favorite NMH songs, and so is "Song Against Sex". There are some NMH classics here, so if you like "In the Aeroplane" you won't be dissapointed, but I can't reccomend it to someone who hasn't tried their 2nd album yet.Free Music Review: Stands out but doesn't accomplish enough
Hit: 3 Stars
Limited but passionate debut from the alt-folksters might not have all the cathartic power and indie-might their acclaimed follow up possessed, but was a good start indicating the abrasive acoustic direction to expect. Too many songs just seem to embellish a simple chord progression to make the songwriting noteworthy, but these are one of those bands that thrive off of making simple transitions sound far more urgent and truthful then they ought.