Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
Label: |
Asthmatic Kitty Records – AKR 014 |
|---|---|
Format: |
|
Country: |
US |
Released: |
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Genre: |
Rock |
Style: |
Folk Rock |
Tracklist
| A1 | Concerning The UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois | 2:08 | |
| A2 | 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!" | 2:17 | |
| A3 | Come On! Feel The Illinoise! Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream | 6:49 | |
| A4 | John Wayne Gacy, Jr. | 3:22 | |
| A5 | Jacksonville | 5:29 | |
| A6 | A Short Reprise For Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, But For Very Good Reasons | 0:48 | |
| B1 | Decatur, Or, Round Of Applause For Your Stepmother! | 3:07 | |
| B2 | One Last "Whoo-Hoo!" For The Pullman | 0:06 | |
| B3 | Chicago | 6:09 | |
| B4 | Casimir Pulaski Day | 5:57 | |
| B5 | To The Workers Of The Rock River Valley Region, I Have An Idea Concerning Your Predicament | 1:43 | |
| C1 | The Man Of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts | 6:26 | |
| C2 | Prairie Fire That Wanders About | 2:14 | |
| C3 | A Conjunction Of Drones Simulating The Way In Which Sufjan Stevens Has An Existential Crisis In The Great Godfrey Maze | 0:20 | |
| C4 | The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us! | 5:30 | |
| C5 | They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From The Dead!! Ahhhh! | 5:17 | |
| C6 | Let's Hear That String Part Again, Because I Don't Think They Heard It All The Way Out In Bushnell | 0:41 | |
| C7 | In This Temple As In The Hearts Of Man For Whom He Saved The Earth | 0:35 | |
| D1 | The Seer's Tower | 4:10 | |
| D2 | The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders Part I: The Great Frontier Part II: Come To Me Only With Playthings Now | 7:13 | |
| D3 | 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 | 0:47 | |
| D4 | Out Of Egypt, Into The Great Laugh Of Mankind, And I Shake The Dirt From My Sandals As I Run | 4:28 | |
| D5 | The Avalanche | 3:26 |
Companies, etc.
- Copyright © – Asthmatic Kitty Records
- Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Asthmatic Kitty Records
- Published By – New Jerusalem Music
- Recorded At – The Buddy Project
- Recorded At – St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Brooklyn
- Recorded At – The New Jerusalem Recreational Room, Clarksboro, NJ
- Recorded At – Carroll Music Studios, NY
- Lacquer Cut At – Cohearent Audio
- Pressed By – Record Technology Incorporated – 14855
Credits
- Acoustic Guitar, Piano, Electric Piano [Wurlitzer], Electric Bass, Drums, Electric Guitar, Oboe, Alto Saxophone, Flute, Banjo, Glockenspiel, Accordion, Vibraphone, Recorder [Various Recorders], Keyboards [Casiotone MT-70], Bells [Sleigh Bells], Shaker, Tambourine, Triangle, Organ [Baldwin Electric Church Organ], Vocals – Sufjan Stevens
- Arranged By – Sufjan Stevens
- Artwork – Divya Srinivasan
- Backing Vocals – Shara Worden (tracks: A1, A3, A4, B4, C4, D1, D2)
- Cello – Maria Bella Jeffers (tracks: A3, A5, A6, B3, C5, D2)
- Choir [The Illinoisemaker Choir] – Tom Eaton (tracks: A2, B1, B3, C1, C5, D2)
- Drums – James McAlister
- Handclaps – Elin Smith* (tracks: B1)
- Lacquer Cut By – KPG*
- Layout, Design – Sufjan Stevens
- Recorded By, Engineer, Producer – Sufjan Stevens
- Songwriter – Sufjan Stevens
- Technician [Set Up Drum Microphones] – James McAlister
- Trumpet – Craig Montoro
- Viola – Marla Hansen (tracks: A3, A5, A6, B3, C5, D2)
- Violin – Rob Moose (tracks: A3, A5, A6, B3, C5, D2)
- Vocals – Craig Montoro (tracks: C5)
- Vocals, Handclaps – The Illinoisemaker Choir (tracks: A2, B1, B3, C1, C5, D2)
Notes
This version shows KPG@CA in deadwax, indicating this pressing was mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio.
Double gatefold sleeve.
Includes printed insert with lyrics on one side and a photo of "Sufjan Stevens and the Illinoisemakers" on the other.
Digital card offers 10% discount on a future purchase from the Asthmatic Kitty label.
© ℗ 2005 Asthmatic Kitty Records
All songs © 2005 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP
All songs recorded/engineered/produced Fall 2004 - Winter 2005.
Most of the songs were recorded at The Buddy Project (Astoria, Queens).
Many of the quiet parts were recorded at Sufjan's apartment in Brooklyn.
The piano was recorded in the dead of night at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.
The string quartet was recorded at Marla's apartment in Washington Heights.
Matt Morgan's vocals were recorded in Redhook, brooklyn.
The electric organ was recorded at the New Jerusalem Recreational Room in Clarksboro, NJ.
The vibraphone was recorded at Carroll Music Studios, New York City.
Track lengths not listed on release and were sourced by recording into audacity and analyzing the track lengths in the audio file.
Double gatefold sleeve.
Includes printed insert with lyrics on one side and a photo of "Sufjan Stevens and the Illinoisemakers" on the other.
Digital card offers 10% discount on a future purchase from the Asthmatic Kitty label.
© ℗ 2005 Asthmatic Kitty Records
All songs © 2005 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP
All songs recorded/engineered/produced Fall 2004 - Winter 2005.
Most of the songs were recorded at The Buddy Project (Astoria, Queens).
Many of the quiet parts were recorded at Sufjan's apartment in Brooklyn.
The piano was recorded in the dead of night at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.
The string quartet was recorded at Marla's apartment in Washington Heights.
Matt Morgan's vocals were recorded in Redhook, brooklyn.
The electric organ was recorded at the New Jerusalem Recreational Room in Clarksboro, NJ.
The vibraphone was recorded at Carroll Music Studios, New York City.
Track lengths not listed on release and were sourced by recording into audacity and analyzing the track lengths in the audio file.
Barcode and Other Identifiers
- Barcode: 656605892610
- Matrix / Runout (Side A runout, etched): AKR-014-A KPG@CA 14855.1(2)
- Matrix / Runout (Side B runout, etched): AKR-014-B KPG@CA 14855.2(2)
- Matrix / Runout (Side C runout, etched): AKR-014-C KPG@CA 14855.3(2)
- Matrix / Runout (Side D runout, etched): AKR-014-D KPG@CA 14855.4(2)
- Rights Society: ASCAP
Other Versions (5 of 37)
View All| Title (Format) | Label | Cat# | Country | Year | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois (CD, Album, Superman Cover) | Rough Trade | RTRADCD250 | Europe | 2005 | |||
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Recently Edited
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Illinois (2×LP, Album) | Rough Trade | RTRADLP250 | Europe | 2005 | ||
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Recently Edited
|
Illinois (CD, Album) | Cycle (2) | CYCLE 027 | Benelux | 2005 | ||
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New Submission
|
Illinois (CD, Album) | Sinnamon Records | SINCD105 | Spain | 2005 | ||
|
Recently Edited
|
Illinois (CD, Album, Superman Cover) | Sounds Familyre | AKR 014, none | US | 2005 |
Recommendations
Reviews
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Terrible inner sleeves which left marks of paper on the records. They also had PVC offgassing, possibly from the cellophane but I doubt that. Vinyl is a bit noisy but nothing egregious. Great sound quality. A good sounding pressing, although the quality control could be a bit better.
Pressing: 7/10
Music: 10/10 -
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My copy is pretty scuffed up from the paper sleeves, but actually sounds pretty good. There’s a decent amount of crackle in some parts, but those could come out with a clean. I can totally see why people have trouble with this pressing though, I’m just happy that I lucked out with my copy. -
I feel inclined to defend this pressing. I put it through a spin clean and then spun it on a Technics 1210 m5g... and aside from a stray pop here or there, this thing is near perfect. This hot wax is worth picking up.
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the bonus track at the end must come from the Avalanche album; on my copy, you can faintly hear the first two seconds of Dear Mr. Supercomputer (Avalanche track 2) after it ends.
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In the beginning, when I had started down the path to all music, I hated Sufjan because I thought he made sad music. But after having experience as a discoverer of music, I realized that it is not like that, that he made great music and that he showed me in this album.
This album is a great concept about Illinois and tells us everything that happened in this state, such as crimes, politics, culture in general, etc ...
Without a doubt, I have to it that Sufjan is now one of my best singer-songwriters ever (IMO). Long live Sufjan!
Cover Art: 10/10
Sound Quality: 10/10 (though was packaged in paper sleeves but replaced with MoFi ones)
Packaging: 10/10 (trifold w/b insert)
Total: 10/10, Recommended Masterpiece. -
Sounds good to me. There are a couple low fi sections of the record which compound against the medium of vinyl, but overall good. I will say it comes in the worst paper sleeves that get paper dust all over the records which will definitely need cleaning immediately before play. Throw those away. -
Don't know if they ironed out the kinks, but listening to a newly purchased copy (still 2005 on back) and it sound wayyyy better/cleaner/less surface noise and distortion free compared to the anniversary coloured vinyl set.
It's never going to be AJA, but it's a damn fine sounding record with exceptional mastering from a rough source, so for cheap-ish this seems the one to get.
Release
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