Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (33 1/3) (33 1/3) by Kim Cooper Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $5.46 You Save: $5.49 (50%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $5.40 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (33 1/3) (33 1/3)
Book Review: A Perfect Companion to the Album
Summary: 5 Stars
Hey, check this out: a smart, competent writer with a passion for a wonderful album actually got enough inside access to write something meaningful about it! I think this is the way the 33 1/3 series should work - the book complements the album, and made me go back and listen to it with fresh ears. Strongly recommended for fans of E6 or Aeroplane.Book Review: For those of us that want more
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a amazing little book about one of my most personal and favorite albums. NMH were such an emotive, passionate band and I am so pleased that Kim Cooper equals that same level of feeling.
What's even better is that Cooper doesn't just deal with the making of the album, but rather gives a mini-history of the band and somehow in only 104 pages she pulls this off and goes into detail about the making of the album, the following tours and eventual decline into obscurity.
Truly wonderful!
Book Review: Required Reading For Any Fan Of Indy Music
Summary: 5 Stars
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!
Book Review: NMH from the inside...
Summary: 5 Stars
this is yet another great book in an awesome series (33 1/3). I found it insightful and well written with unique perspectives on the roots of Neutral Milk from the sources save for Jeff Magum... The breadth of the work of NMH and its influences and inspirations was awesome to learn about. I learned a great deal from this little book and recommend it to anyone who has interest in one of the greatest albums of the 90's.
Book Review: Just clearing one error
Summary: 5 Stars
I just wanted to mention, people have been saying Jeff Mangum has done nothing since. This isn't true, Jeff has contributed to a few different friends albums since and has released Orange Twin's Field Recordings Volume 1. Which is a field recording of a large outdoor folk venue.
To say that Jeff has dropped off the planet is a slight exagerration, he just hasn't released music of his own since Aeroplane.