On Avery Island
This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2013) |
On Avery Island | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | March 26, 1996 | |||
Recorded | June 1994 ("Marching Theme"); February–May 1995 | |||
Studio | The Elephant 6 Recording Co. (Athens, Georgia, US) Dane Terry and Marisa Bissinger's House | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 47:58 | |||
Label | Merge (original US release) NMH (2014 US reissue) Fire (UK) | |||
Producer | Robert Schneider | |||
Neutral Milk Hotel chronology | ||||
| ||||
Alternative cover | ||||
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
The Guardian | [2] |
Houston Chronicle | [3] |
Mojo | [4] |
NME | 8/10[5] |
Pitchfork | 8.8/10[6] |
Q | [7] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [8] |
The Skinny | [9] |
Uncut | [10] |
Wikiquote has quotations related to: On Avery Island |
On Avery Island is the debut studio album by American indie rock band Neutral Milk Hotel. It was released on March 26, 1996 by Merge Records.
Background and recording[]
Neutral Milk Hotel was formed in Ruston, Louisiana in the late 1980s, as one of the many home recording projects of musician Jeff Mangum.[11] The simple home recordings Mangum made with his friends Robert Schneider, Bill Doss, and Will Cullen Hart led to the formation of the Elephant 6 musical collective.[12] After graduating from high school, Mangum moved to Seattle, and released the single "Everything Is" on Cher Doll Records, under the alias Neutral Milk Hotel.[13] The single's exposure convinced Mangum to record more music under this name.[14] He moved to Denver, and began working with Schneider to record his first album On Avery Island.[15]
On Avery Island was recorded from February to May 1995, and was produced by Schneider. It was recorded at two different locations: about half of the album was recorded at the house of musicians Dane Terry and Marisa Bissinger, and the other half was recorded at Pet Sounds Studio.[16]
Additional information[]
The title refers to Avery Island, a salt dome island best known as the source of Tabasco sauce in southern Louisiana, the band's home state.
The UK version of this CD has two more tracks: "Everything Is" and "Snow Song Pt. 1," both of which are taken from the "Everything Is" single, reportedly without Jeff Mangum's permission.[16] On the vinyl LP, "Pree-Sisters Swallowing a Donkey's Eye" is 3:28 long, as opposed to the significantly longer digital and CD version at 13:49. The UK version also has a different cover, with artwork by Jill Carnes of Thimble Circus.
Track listing[]
All tracks are written by Jeff Mangum, except where noted. Horn arrangements composed by Robert Schneider.
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Song Against Sex" | 3:40 |
2. | "You've Passed" | 2:54 |
3. | "Someone Is Waiting" | 2:31 |
4. | "A Baby for Pree" | 1:21 |
5. | "Marching Theme" | 2:58 |
6. | "Where You'll Find Me Now" | 4:04 |
7. | "Avery Island / April 1st" (Jeff Mangum, Robert Schneider) | 1:48 |
8. | "Gardenhead / Leave Me Alone" | 3:14 |
9. | "Three Peaches" | 4:01 |
10. | "Naomi" | 4:53 |
11. | "April 8th" | 2:47 |
12. | "Pree-Sisters Swallowing a Donkey's Eye" | 13:49 |
Total length: | 47:58 |
Personnel[]
- Jeff Mangum – guitar, drums, vocals, bells, xylophone, air organ, keyboards, tapes, cover design
- Robert Schneider – air organs, home organs, fuzz bass, xylophone, horn arrangements
- Lisa Janssen – fuzz bass on tracks 2 and 8, cover design
- Rick Benjamin – trombone on tracks 1, 7, 8
Track 12 features Marisa Bissinger, Hilarie Sidney, Zachary DeMichele, Dane Terry, Lisa Janssen, Aaron Reedy, and Jeff Mangum performing various Indonesian instruments.
Footnotes[]
- ^ Ankeny, Jason. "On Avery Island – Neutral Milk Hotel". AllMusic. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
- ^ Hann, Michael (January 4, 2008). "Neutral Milk Hotel, On Avery Island". The Guardian. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
- ^ Wolff, Kurt (May 5, 1996). "Neutral Milk Hotel a Nice Place to Visit". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
- ^ "Neutral Milk Hotel: On Avery Island". Mojo: 122.
Opener 'Song Against Sex' is a folk rock protest played with riotous gusto on buzzing acoustics, Mangum's gift for enigmatic lyrical intrigue and his impassioned holler played to the fore.
- ^ Goldsmith, Mike (September 14, 1996). "Neutral Milk Hotel – On Avery Island". NME. Archived from the original on May 2, 1999. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
- ^ Geffen, Sasha (June 22, 2019). "Neutral Milk Hotel: On Avery Island Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
- ^ "Neutral Milk Hotel: On Avery Island". Q (123): 140. December 1996.
- ^ Sarig, Roni (2004). "Neutral Milk Hotel". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 579–80. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- ^ Bermingham, Finbarr (January 6, 2008). "Neutral Milk Hotel – On Avery Island". The Skinny. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
- ^ "Neutral Milk Hotel: On Avery Island". Uncut: 85.
NMH here plough a sweet yet decidedly experimental furrow of psychpop, art/drone rock and leftfield electronica ...
- ^ Cooper 2005, p. 17.
- ^ Ballance, Cook & McCaughan 2009, p. 93.
- ^ Cooper 2005, p. 30.
- ^ McMullen 1996.
- ^ Ballance, Cook & McCaughan 2009, p. 97.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Neutral Milk Hotel releases
References[]
- Ballance, Laura; Cook, John; McCaughan, Mac (2009). Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, the Indie Label That Got Big and Stayed Small. Algonquin Books. ISBN 978-1-5651-2968-9.
- Cooper, Kim (2005). In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. 33⅓. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8264-1690-X.
- McMullen, Phil (September 1996). "Neutral Milk Hotel". Ptolemaic Terrascope.
- 1996 debut albums
- Fire Records (UK) albums
- Merge Records albums
- Neutral Milk Hotel albums