On Avery Island

Neutral Milk Hotel

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 26, 1996)
• Original Release Date: March 26, 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Merge Records
• ASIN: B0000019OD
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,456 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #5 in	Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > Indie & Lo Fi
  #23 in	Music > Alternative Rock > Indie & Lo-Fi > Lo-Fi
  #34 in	Music > Alternative Rock > Alternative Styles > Rock > Neo-Psychedelia

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eerie, January 12, 2004

By	Eric A. Nilsen (Santa Clara, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Here's the deal. If you like your lo-fi indie folk-rock with a psychedelic twist, horns and uncanny melodies underlining gorgeous, surreal lyrics, then you might be into NMH.

While not a technically great singer, Jeff Mangum has one of the most honest voices I've ever heard. He's got Perry Ferrel's crack, Bob Dylan's drift and David Byrne's nasal tone all wrapped up nicely within his own unique style.

The guitar is really interesting. Sometimes it gets heavy, but retains a basic, bouncy sound. Not punk. Not folk. I almost want to say it reminds me of my kindergarten teacher... but in an accomplished, majestic way.

Now, the lyrics. Wow. I mean WOW. Stunning imagery, insightful, intensely personal, poetic, stream of consciousness, mostly verse with rarely a touch of chorus, a dream being narrated. Like snippets of Proust on acid. They meld perfectly with the melody flowing from Mangum's voice. I haven't been this into lyrics since I was a brooding teenager! I'm sorry, I can't help it, I have to give you a little taste...

"Follow me through
A city of frost covered angels
I swear I have nothing to prove
I just want to dance in your tangles
To give me some reason to move
But to take on the world at all angles
Requires a strength I can't use
So I'll meet you up high in your anger
Of all that is hoping and waiting for you"

I gotta leave it at that. Try it.

81 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mr. Mangum's wild ride, July 26, 1999

By	M. E Mattson (Uva Ursi) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Hearing this album for the first time, I didn't know where I stood. For one thing, there were horns--wasn't that the domain of 80's overproduction? For another, there's a lot of plaintive singing and strumming--folkies? But something hooked me, the carnivalesque atmosphere, the raw emotion which is either completely absent from today's music or guised as acceptable radio "angst," the shortwave radio-as-instrument. Because the horns are not blues-faking saxes but rather Salvation Army rag-tag meets the Moroccan Jajouka pipers. The strumming is naked, intimate, vulnerable, angry. The bass is fuzzy, propellant. The drumming seems to explode. And the lyrics, seemingly convoluted, are really words standing in for dreams. Hey, this was the record I never knew I was waiting for!

I've argued with friends over which is the better NMH record--this one or their follow-up, "Aeroplane." It's unfair to compare this with the more somber and perfect "In the Aeroplane over the Sea," but this record does make a great antidote because it's more like a carnival ride. The band is not quite as tight and the experimentalism is a little wilder. It is as good as any other Elephant 6 record out there. From the buoyant opening of "Song Against Sex" you know it's time to grip the harness tight and hold on, because by the time "Pree" morphs into the "Marching Theme," Kansas will be just a vague memory for you and your little dog, too. By the time the achingly beautiful "Naomi" begins, you will have conversed with angels and gardenheads will know your name. And for those of you who don't care for the sweet keening of Jeff Mangum's voice, may I suggest Michael Bolton and Mariah Carey. We who like singers that don't come in a neat package know better.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just as good as "Aeroplane", August 24, 2002

By	Selim Sivad (Saturn) - See all my reviews

Although this is a very good CD, it's very different than "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea." For one, there's much more musical experimentation. While "Aeroplane" had songs like "Oh Comely" and both incarnations of "Two-Headed Boy" that were mostly Jeff Magnum's voice and an acoustic guitar, every song on this CD is a distinct soundscape. The lyrics are wilder and more paranoid, if there are lyrics, depicting roller coasters drowning their riders in the ocean, the apocolypse being triggered by a dead guy in a painting. a girl being stalked and having her dresses stolen, and other simillarly bizzare scenarios. "Someone is Waiting," "Marching Theme," and "Pree-Sisters Swallowing A Donkey's Eye" are outright feedback jam sessions, focusing on complete and utter distortion. The recording quality is purposely bad, making everything sound even more contorted than it would normally sound. If you aren't repulsed by all this (as 99.9% of the world's population should be), then buy this album. You'll love it. It's the next Sergent Pepper's. If you're scared, then maybe you'd like "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea." But whatever the case, Neutral Milk Hotel is one of my favorite bands, and I like them despite their weirdness.