TS: "On Avery Island" v. "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea"

although they're both excellent, it would surprise me greatly

I heard the first album first and I disagree with you, so there.

YSI plz

Mary had a little semen-stained lamb,
And she would place her fingers through the notches in its spine,
And then they buried her alive...

Is not Aeroplane the very definition of cracked exuberance?!?

On Avery Island has its merits, I guess, but it's always seemed a bit too nebulous, too drifty in comparison to the lightning-strike brilliance and coherence of Aeroplane. It relies on those trancy smears of distortion, which I'm sure really does it for some people, but not me... It just doesn't resonate with me like Aeroplane does.

I belong to the larger camp of people who heard Aeroplane first, but I still think quality of songwriting and production both lie overwhelmingly in favor of Aeroplane.

Recent of Montreal trounces it. I think an album like Elf Power's The Winter Is Coming is stronger, too. (Haven't heard other Elf Power LPs.)

Yoshimi, Aeroplane is too coherent to be as exuberant as On Avery Island.

And people need to hear "Big Bad Ogre Had a Farm," "The Eensy Weensy Wivern," and "This Old Troll" pronto.

-- Yoshinorimike (Yoshinorimik...), December 6th, 2005.

Yoshinorimike is saying its like a sedated or sleepwalking Aeroplane is pretty close to why I like it.

-- Glading the Wanderer (michaelgladin...), December 8th, 2005.

There are a few NMH "albums" out there, but Mangum (= much of NMH) is not making rock albums now, so basically it comes down to the fact that he produced some art a few of us really love. Well, I really love Avery Island, in fact it's my favorite album, and consequently, I would be surprised if there weren't a bunch of people out there who say they love his "more produced" album. I have to tell you, though, that IMO, Aeroplane is shit compared to Avery Island, which is not to say that it Aeroplane is shit, per say, but try enjoying Avery on its own terms, then try listening to Aeroplane right after and perhaps you'll see what I mean. Aeroplane is like what could have happened Butch Vig got his hands on Nirvana's Nevermind (a favorite) by the time he produced Garbage (not my favorite) and was no longer making pop radio beauty, having succumbed to the pop radio trends of the time. Apparently whoever was at fault for Aeroplane cared less for expression than for quality, a big mistake when dealing with a person (and people) for whom the quality was in the expression. In The Aeroplane Over The Sea leaves me cold, and whether or not he was primarily responsible for its quality, apparently it left Mangum cold enough to leave the biz for good.

Somehow, nothing about On Avery Island strikes me as lazy and nothing I've heard from E6 comes close to this album, inc. Elf Power, Of Montreal or whatever else you're comparing. Have any of you people ever listened to rock music? It's all about repeated chord progressions. Of course, OAI is *not* repetitious, but constantly growing through its reinforcement of particular emotive guitar/organ/fx/vocal sounds, not unlike or really in any substantial way separate from great poetry.