LPs
In the Aeroplane over the Sea
10 February 1998 Merge Records MRG136LP / MRG136CD (US) 18 May 1998 Blue Rose Records BRRC 10192 (UK)
On Avery Island
26 March 1996 Merge Records MRG103LP / MRG103CD (US) 9 September 1996 Fire Records FireLP53 / FireCD53 (UK)
The UK version has two additional tracks, "Everything Is" and "Snow Song Pt. 1", added without permission, and all CD copies have a longer version of "Pree-Sisters Swallowing A Donkey's Eye", which is 13 minutes and 50 seconds in length.
This album ranked #35 in the annual Village Voice Jazz & Pop Critics' Poll. Also, Spin proclaimed this album one of the ten best "you didn't hear" of 1996.
Click here for the cover of the UK version.
45s
"Holland, 1945"
1998 7" Blue Rose Records BRRC 10237
View images of the A side and B side. The image above is both the cover for the single and part of a fold-out poster.
The version of "Engine" on this release was recorded in a London Underground station underneath Piccadilly Circus.
"Everything Is"
1994 7" Cher Doll Cher002 (US) 1995 7" Fire Records (UK)
1995 CD Fire Records Blaze79CD (UK)
Click here for the cover of the UK version.
| "Rubby Bulbs" | Those Pre-phylloxera Years | 1993 7" | Box Dog Sound |
| "Bucket" | Periscope - Another Yoyo Compilation | 1994 LP/CD | Yoyo Records YoyoLP3/YoyoCD3 |
| "Up and Over" | Amazing Phantom Third Channel | 1994 7" | Cher Doll Records |
| "Invent Yourself a Shortcake" | Champagne Dancing Party | 1995 7" | Cher Doll Records |
| "Love Me on a Tuesday" | Yoyo A Go Go | 1996 LP/CD | Yoyo Records YoyoLP4/YoyoCD4 |
| "(untitled)" | Ptolemaic Terrascope No. 21 7" | 1996 7" | POT 21 |
| "Glue" | The Basement Tapes, Volume Two: Live Underground | 1997 CD | KSPC 02 |
| "Oh Comely" (live) | Blue Rose Sampler | 1998 CD | Blue Rose BRRC 1001682 |
"Up and Over" is the original version of "The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. Three"
"Invent Yourself a Shortcake" is taken from an improvisation done with members of the Olivia Tremor Control.
"Glue" is Neutral Milk Hotel's version of a song by the Gerbils, Scott Spillane's band.
The live version of "Oh Comely" was recorded at the 1997 Terrastock festival.
Compilations released on Fire, Blue Rose, and Merge feature the previously released recordings "Everything Is," "Oh Comely," and "Engine," respectively.
"In the Aeroplane over the Sea" is included on the Songs for Summer album.
Jeff Mangum was a member of the Olivia Tremor Control for a while, appearing on their debut 7" record California Demise. He still participates in their performances occasionally.
There were three early Neutral Milk Hotel cassettes that were only released via Elephant Six. These are Invent Yourself A Shortcake (1991), which is not related to the song of the same name, Beauty (1992), and Hype City (1993).
Jeff Mangum and Julian Koster recorded a version of "What A Wonderful World" under the moniker Major Organ and the Adding Machine; the song is included on the 1997 Kindercore Records album Christmas in Stereo.
