Another in this tremendously good series on the making of particular rock albums - this time on Neutral Milk Hotel's 1997 album 'In The Aeroplane Over The Sea', which was a major cult album in the 90s and onwards. The band dispersed after this album was released, but reformed recently, and played an ecstatic show at the King's Arms last year. They clearly still have a faithful and enthusiastic following. This is one of the better books in the series, I think. Cooper doesn't over-analyse, but economically describes how the band formed from a group of friends in the small Louisiana town called Ruston, which apparently had quite a strong alternative music scene at the time. She explains their early chaotic recording methods, and the origins of lead man Jeff Mangum's songwriting methods, their extraordinarily vibrant (some may say violent) early performances, as well as the causes of the bands inability to build on the success which looked inevitable after this second album. The book certainly makes listening to this and their earlier album 'On Avery Island' more interesting - and they were pretty interesting anyway!