Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Ranked #88 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s."
7 (out of 10) - "...Mangum's quasi-mystical, Donovan impulses distance him from the Apples [In Stereo's] Starburst melodies and Olivia [Tremor Control's] psychedelic lollipops. He wants to be the Sundown Superman, the cross-legged troubador of the low-fi set..."
"...blends buzzing indie-rock guitars, beautifully arranged horns, and oddball instrumentation....But, hey, anyone can make off-the-wall sounds; it's Milk-man Jeff Mangum's bouncy pop melodies...that make AEROPLANE take off..." - Rating: B+
4 stars out of 5 - "[W]ith unhinged evangelical urgency and ambitiously ramshackle arrangements..."
"...With its intensely personal lyrics and diverse, carnival-esque instrumentation, the celebratory and mournful AEROPLANE is unlike any other recording released in 1998..."
4 stars out of 5 - "Its opaque, surrealistic narratives about wartime Europe and two-headed children proceed in a breathless, mellifluous torrent across a lo-fi landscape of thrumming acoustics, soaring brass and, on the title track, massed bowed saws."
6 (out of 10) - "...Magnum's voice [is]....A sort of stylistic mumble that runs up and down the scale and seems all over the place...perfectly suited to Neutral Milk Hotel's see-sawing electrified acoustic folk..."