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"Much of the Neutral Milk story has been pieced together over the years, but never as comprehensively as in Kim Cooper's Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over the Sea." — Real Detroit Weekly, December 7, 2005
"In her new book 33 1/3: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea... Kim Cooper... unravels the rumors and demystifies much of the legend that has wound itself around songwriter Jeff Mangum since the Athens band's 1998 breakup... Cooper effectively reminds the reader that Neutral Milk Hotel was a band of real people-dear friends- playing instruments, but reinforces the idea that Aerpolane and its songs are a unique document of a time, place and creative community. After only six weeks, the book has gone back to press for a second printing..."- Chris Hassiotis, Flagpole Magazine
"There is a treasure-trove of trivia for the NMH aficionado, and a contextual introduction and passionate advertisement for the newcomer. Also, with [Cooper's] detailed account of the NMH community, Cooper gives us a sort of normative sociology of the kind of scene that can produce great art." -Ukula Magazine, Spring 2006
"Cooper delves into the band's roots, setting up the relationships between all of the musicians that made up the Elephant 6 collective and banks like Apples In Stereo and the Olivia Tremor Control. With her easygoing narrative, Cooper achieves one of the hardest things to do when introducing readers to perfect strangers: she infuses each of the main players with a personality. When finishing In The Aeroplane Over The Sea the reader not only has a sense of who Jess Mangrum and friends are, but also what they were trying to accomplish with their music. Cooper explains why the album's audience and importance grow with each passing year while doing a fine job of also relating the music's immense charm and ...dare I say...magic." -Alt.Culture.Guide
“Much of the Neutral Milk story has been pieced together over the years, but never as comprehensively as in Kim Cooper’s Neutral Milk Hotel’s In The Aeroplane Over the Sea.” – Real Detroit Weekly, December 7, 2005
“In her new book 33 1/3: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea… Kim Cooper… unravels the rumors and demystifies much of the legend that has wound itself around songwriter Jeff Mangum since the Athens band’s 1998 breakup… Cooper effectively reminds the reader that Neutral Milk Hotel was a band of real people-dear friends- playing instruments, but reinforces the idea that Aerpolane and its songs are a unique document of a time, place and creative community. After only six weeks, the book has gone back to press for a second printing…”- Chris Hassiotis, Flagpole Magazine
“There is a treasure-trove of trivia for the NMH aficionado, and a contextual introduction and passionate advertisement for the newcomer. Also, with [Cooper’s] detailed account of the NMH community, Cooper gives us a sort of normative sociology of the kind of scene that can produce great art.” -Ukula Magazine, Spring 2006
“Cooper delves into the band’s roots, setting up the relationships between all of the musicians that made up the Elephant 6 collective and banks like Apples In Stereo and the Olivia Tremor Control. With her easygoing narrative, Cooper achieves one of the hardest things to do when introducing readers to perfect strangers: she infuses each of the main players with a personality. When finishing In The Aeroplane Over The Sea the reader not only has a sense of who Jess Mangrum and friends are, but also what they were trying to accomplish with their music. Cooper explains why the album’s audience and importance grow with each passing year while doing a fine job of also relating the music’s immense charm and …dare I say…magic.” -Alt.Culture.Guide
Kim Cooper is the editrix of Scram, an occasional journal of unpopular culture dedicated to celebrating unjustly neglected artists in the worlds of music, literature, film/TV, comics and bohemia. With fellow 33 1/3 scribe David Smay, she is co-editor of the anthologies Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth and Lost in the Grooves: Scram's Capricious Guide to the Music You Missed. A third generation Angeleno, Kim offers offbeat bus tours of the city's crimes, literature and architectural gems through Esotouric, and blogs at the crime-a-day 1947project.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An incredible book.,
This review is from: Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (33 1/3) (Paperback)
Let me first say this: I am incredibly biased. ITAOTS is one of my all-time favorite albums, and I have many memories inextricably tied to it. I would argue, however, that appreciation of the album is not even a prerequisite to enjoy the book. Kim Cooper has compiled a beautiful account of a group of friends who, through good fortune, a wealth of talent, and most of all an undying belief in the power of music, created one of the most powerful records ever set to tape.
Obsessively detailing recording techniques, the origins of the songs, and the background of all involved, Cooper interviews all principles (except for elusive singer/songwriter Jeff Mangum, though I maintain that this only adds to the power of the book), creating a complete and fascinating story. She has a novelist's eye for the necessary detail and for plot development, and we become incredibly attached to the hugely intelligent and friendly Elephant 6 clique that helped the album to fruition. This book is obviously a must-read for all interested in the Elephant 6 Collective or Neutral Milk Hotel, but at the same time it is too good to remain within those crowds. That would be like preaching to the choir. We have here an inspirational document of the continuing power of music, something that should be on required reading lists in every music program in every school. This here is proof that all outcasts and misfits who have found solace in the healing properties of music can succeed beyond their wildest dreams. Jeff Mangum may or may not produce an album again, but ITAOTS is good enough for now. This book is not only a worthy tribute, but an accomplishment in and of itself. Congratulations, Ms. Cooper, you have written a masterpiece.
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic Overview of a Legendary Band,
By
This review is from: Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (33 1/3) (Paperback)
I dreaded this book so much. I assumed it would be another convoluted attempt to interpret Netural Milk Hotel's surrealistic lyrics and connect them into a narrative that exists only in one person's imagination, offering no insight into the band itself, not to mention its ringleader and savant singer/songwriter, Jeff Mangum--the sort of thing that generally keeps me away from Neutral Milk Hotel messageboards and fellow fans. But Kim Cooper devotes only one very brief chapter to that hopeless task, and spends the rest of the book chronicling the history of the creative musical collective that surrounds Neutral Milk, "Elephant 6," and showing how Mangum was always at the center, until, after his sophomore album's unexpected success, he suddenly retreated from the spotlight, which caused some to unfairly (and inaccurately) label him the indie rock equivalent of the mentally ill Syd Barrett.
Cooper interviews Robert Schneider (Apples in Stereo), Bryan Poole (Elf Power), Ben Crum (Great Lakes), and Laura Carter, Scott Spillane, and Julian Koster (all of NMH), as well as others connected to Elephant 6, for a pretty complete history that follows this constructed family of musicians from Ruston, Louisiana to Athens, Georgia, with stops in Denver and New York City. (Jeff Mangum declined to be interviewed, which gives the narrative the odd feeling that its central character is deceased.) There are some vivid and funny anecdotes about life lived in uncomfortably close communal quarters with little food and money, with Mangum sleeping in a haunted closet (which informed the song "Ghost"), or working out songs in the bathroom, of life on the road, and Spillane almost losing thousands of dollars in tour money at a Pizza Hut. I've been an Elephant 6 fan for a long time, hung out at concerts, obsessively collected limited edition vinyl singles, et cetera., so I devoured this all in a sitting, but I was surprised to find how deeply moved I was. I felt stunned. Kind of like listening to a Neutral Milk Hotel album.
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Required Reading For Any Fan Of Indy Music,
By Andy French "Crotchety Music Fan" (Mission Hill) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (33 1/3) (Paperback)
The 33 1/3 series of music books has to be one of the most entertaining, inspired and informative sets of music and cultural writing ever to come out. And Neutral Milk Hotel was perhaps one of the best indy bands ever to record. So it only makes sense that a 33 1/3 book about NMH would be an amazing experience.
And it is. The mastermind behind NMH, Jeff Mangum, is famously elusive and his lyrics are beautifully mysterious. So if ever an album cried out for an explanatory book to be written about it, it's "In The Aeroplane Over the Sea". Yet, at the same time, I was slightly hesitant to read this book - I'm always afraid that learning about a song's lyrics (even sometimes learning exactly what the words are) might ruin my deeply personal enjoyment of the music itself. But you needn't worry about that with this book. I came away from it appreciating NMH all the more. Kim Cooper does an excellent job of describing the unique coming together of people, places and ideas that created one of the most unusual and inspired albums of all time. I especially enjoyed learning about the other members of NMH - something that's not often talked about because of the deification of Jeff Mangum, however well-deserved. And this book does what the best books about cultural phenomena do - it demystifies its subject without ruining the wonder and beauty of the music itself. Thanks, Kim Cooper!
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