Jeff Mangum
's
Live at Jittery Joe's
sees the
Neutral Milk Hotel
mastermind performing alone on an Athens, GA, stage, his voice accompanied only by his acoustic guitar and a mostly indifferent live audience. Recorded between the release of
On Avery Island
and
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
, the album features
Mangum
's "greatest hits" from the debut album, blueprints for the sophomore album, and a touching, fragile cover of
Phil Spector
"I Love How You Love Me."
For the most part,
's voice is strikingly captured, sounding remarkably similar to its sonic counterpart on
's studio albums. Stripped of the bombastic, genius fuzz of the
albums,
sounds eerily similar to
the Mountain Goats
'
John Darnielle
here. Like
Darnielle
,
attacks his guitar with wrenching abandon and affects a vocal delivery of significant emotion, his voice frequently cracking from strain. Though the album is fascinating listening for fans of
and somewhat revelatory in the emotional recreation of
's best songs, the performance and its hiss-encumbered recording suffer from a certain lack of focus.
performs with no set list, instead allowing a small audience of friends to choose the songs, making for frequent extended segments of silence and tedious asides. It's also evident that a large portion of the audience is simply chatting away, which adds to the live flavor, but detracts from the performance. The
Quicktime
video data track of the concert is somewhat haunting, especially when it focuses on a small child sitting on the stage. Strangely,
Magnum
is almost entirely obscured by shadows for the duration of the performance.
is a compelling, interesting, and somewhat frustrating glimpse into the mind and art of one of
indie rock
's greatest artists. ~ Tim DiGravina