Sufjan Stevens: Illinois 2LP Vinyl

Sufjan Stevens: Illinois (2LP) [ASTHMATIC KITTY]

Barcode number: 656605892610

C$34.99

Excl. tax

Sufjan Stevens' sprawling 2005 homage to "the Prairie State," Illinois is the second instalment of a proposed 50-album series that might have been a wee bit of a ruse from the start. On 2LP.

Why you'll love it

Illinois topped countless best-of-the-2000s lists, and "Chicago," "Casimir Pulaski Day" and "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." are among the most beloved songs of the decade. It's on 2LP, with every one of those gloriously long song titles.

This edition

2LP set, 22 tracks
Asthmatic Kitty pressing
Gatefold sleeve

About the album

God knows what goes on in Sufjan Stevens's head, but it's gotta be a frantic, crowded, magical place.

Just look at the song titles on Illinois alone, before we even start to discuss the meticulously researched, ultra-literate contents of the album's lyric sheet or the meticulously composed, arranged and performed (mostly by Stevens himself) baroque-pop soundtracks he seems endlessly able to conjure out of thin air. Case in point: "The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience but You're Going to Have to Leave Now, or, 'I Have Fought the Big Knives and Will Continue to Fight Them Until They Are Off Our Lands!'" That mouthful is the sign of a busy mind. So busy, in fact, that when he touted Illinois in 2005 as the second instalment of a 50-album series honouring every single American state (the first was 2003's Michigan) pretty much everyone bought into the joke because it really wasn't beyond the realm of possibility that he'd actually see the project through.

Anyway, Illinois is arguably the most beloved of Sufjan albums amongst the Stevens faithful, somehow managing to make songs about UFOs, the Black Hawk War and serial killer John Wayne Gacy delicately palatable while making a sonic palette that spans spare, sad-eyed Nick Drake-esque folk, weird electronica and lavish orchestral set pieces that border on show tunes sound entirely cohesive within the record's 74-minute running time. Gotta love a mad genius.

Also at Kops: more Sufjan Stevens on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Side A
1. Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois
2. The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning...
3. Come On! Feel the Illinoise!
4. John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
5. Jacksonville
6. A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, but for Very Good Reasons

Side B
1. Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Step Mother!
2. One Last "Whoo-Hoo!" for the Pullman!!
3. Chicago
4. Casimir Pulaski Day
5. To the Workers of the Rock River Valley Region, I Have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament...

Side C
1. The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts
2. Prairie Fire That Wanders About
3. A Conjunction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens Has an Existential Crisis in the Great Godfrey Maze
4. The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!
5. They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!
6. Let's Hear That String Part Again, Because I Don't Think They Heard It All the Way Out in Bloomington-Normal
7. In This Temple as in the Hearts of Man for Whom He Saved the Earth

Side D
1. The Seer's Tower
2. The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders
3. Riffs and Variations on a Single Note for Jelly Roll, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodds, and the King of Swing, to Name a Few
4. Out of Egypt, into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt from My Sandals as I Run