In my opinion, one of the best albums in the entire world is Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Therefore, it is with some chagrin that I confess that I have never heard their previous album, On Avery Island. I have come close a number of times (it has been in my Amazon shopping cart at least twice, and once it was in my hands as I walked toward the register in a record store), but have never been able to commit.
Luckily, my laziness is being rewarded. Pitchfork reports that On Avery Island is being re-released with bonus tracks by Fire Records. Best of all, the band requested the reissue.
In other Neutral Milk Hotel news (of which there is not a lot, considering their last album was released in 1998 and their lead singer, Jeff Magnum, has become a recluse), there is a book coming out on the band and In the Aeroplane... coming out later this year. Written by Kim Cooper, it should be out around the end of the year (it would make an excellent Christmas present for yours truly).