Sufjan Stevens album track-listing, or McSweeney's list?

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Seriously:

01 Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, IL
02 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!"
03 Come on! Feel the Illinoise!
-Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition
-Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream
04 John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
05 Jacksonville
06 A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, But for Very Good Reasons
07 Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Step Mother!
08 One Last "Woo-hoo!" for the Pullman
09 Chicago
10 Casimir Pulaski Day
11 To the Workers of the Rockford River Valley Region, I have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament, and it involves shoe string, a lavender garland, and twelve strong women
12 The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts
13 Prairie Fire That Wanders About
14 A Conjunction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens Has an Existential Crisis in the Great Godfrey Maze
15 The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!
16 They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhhhh!
17 Let's Hear That String Part Again, Because I Don't Think They Heard It All the Way Out in Bushnell
18 In This Temple, as in the Hearts of Man, for Whom He Saved the Earth
19 The Seer's Tower
20 The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders
-Part I: The Great Frontier
-Part II: Come to Me Only With Playthings Now
21 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
22 Out of Egypt, into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I shake the dirt from my sandals as I run

― Hurting (Hurting), Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:10 (twenty years ago)

He's going to have to start turning these out quicker than one every other year if he wants to get to all 50.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:13 (twenty years ago)

2 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!"

It's hard to understand how someone with such a gift for musical subtlty has such a glaring lack of it otherwise.

― Hurting (Hurting), Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:15 (twenty years ago)

01 Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, IL

I listened to Michigan 3 or 4 times and eventually sold it back, but I have to admit I'm excited that my modest hometown of 8000 people made it onto this.

― stephen morris (stephen morris), Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:22 (twenty years ago)

It's hard to understand how someone with such a gift for musical subtlty has such a glaring lack of it otherwise.

I'd say sometimes some things just have to be said.

― Lethal Dizzle (djdee2005), Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:23 (twenty years ago)

He's going to have to start turning these out quicker than one every other year if he wants to get to all 50.

I think he's probably placing his bets on the Rapture occuring way before then.

― bill neil (inabillity), Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:23 (twenty years ago)

I'd say sometimes some things just have to be said.

Not three times in a row though.

― Hurting (Hurting), Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:26 (twenty years ago)

I guess what I'm getting at here is that this stuff sounds like Dave Eggers-lite.

― Hurting (Hurting), Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:26 (twenty years ago)

I guess what I'm getting at here is that this stuff sounds like Dave Eggers-lite.

Were you expecting otherwise? Michigan isn't exactly chock full of modest titles, either.

― stephen morris (stephen morris), Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)

Ha. No, I wasn't really.

― Hurting (Hurting), Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)

So this album is going to have as little to do with Illinois as his Michigan one had to do with Michigan, right? Damn that Michigan one pissed me off.

It will probably have some pretty melodies, though. I'll give him that.

― xhuxk, Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:44 (twenty years ago)

ps, not to be snotty, but do people actually get musical recommendations from mcsweeney's? i haven't paid all that much attention, so i could be way off, but all the music i've ever noticed mcsweeney's associating itself with has been boring as all hell....or maybe that's the point? (maybe so: i get the idea it's all stuff that tries hard to flatter listeners with how "literary" it's supposed to be.)

― xhuxk, Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:46 (twenty years ago)

Kids be lovin' postmodernism.

― stephen morris (stephen morris), Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:48 (twenty years ago)

Kids be pretending there's such a thing (just like kids have for several decades.)

― xhuxk, Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:50 (twenty years ago)

I think Believer is associated with McSweeny's and from what I can tell they cover They Might Be Giants, Death Cab For Cutie, and The Decemberists exclusively. Edgy.

― stephen morris (stephen morris), Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:52 (twenty years ago)

I was hoping my hometown would get namechecked, but then again Janet Bean already took care of that I suppose:

http://im.edirectory.co.uk/products/826/i/draggingwonderlake.jpg

The town next to me, Johnsburg IL, got namechecked by Tom Waits and the Handsome Family.

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:52 (twenty years ago)

"next to me" eight years ago that is.

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:52 (twenty years ago)

That Janet Bean album was pretty good.

― Zed Szetlian (Finn MacCool), Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:57 (twenty years ago)

What town were you from, Gear?

― stephen morris (stephen morris), Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:57 (twenty years ago)

Wonder Lake.

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Sunday, 10 April 2005 17:59 (twenty years ago)

Janet Bean's parents apparently met there, hence the title.

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Sunday, 10 April 2005 18:00 (twenty years ago)

So this album is going to have as little to do with Illinois as his Michigan one had to do with Michigan, right? Damn that Michigan one pissed me off.

It will probably have some pretty melodies, though. I'll give him that.

-- xhuxk (xedd...), April 10th, 2005.

Correct, correct, and correct again. McSweeney's does recommend music sometimes on its "things we like" page or whatever it's called, though I think that's more the territory of The Believer, which puts out CDs with its magazines.

I think the music McSweeney's very much fits its ethos: serious fun that takes itself too seriously, or fun seriousness that isn't fun enough, or artsy newness without any daring or sense of being cutting edge.

― Hurting (Hurting), Sunday, 10 April 2005 18:14 (twenty years ago)

I like the titles! Not the biggest Stevens fan, though. Reminiscent of the, um, interesting writings that Bob Dylan included with many of his best albums.

― erklie, Sunday, 10 April 2005 19:00 (twenty years ago)

but to answer the question: Both! I predict Stevens will pop up on a Believer CD this summer.

(slightly OT: didn't one of the TMBG guys have a states project, too?)

― erklie, Sunday, 10 April 2005 19:03 (twenty years ago)

Anyway, I really like Stevens's melodies and arrangements, just can't stand his singing and lyrics. I'll definitely give this one a listen -- there were two or three tracks on Michigan that I thought were awesome.

― Hurting (Hurting), Sunday, 10 April 2005 19:12 (twenty years ago)

I was a little disappointed by Michigan. But Illinois looks like it might be more concrete. Probably not, though, and I can continue to ignore Year of the Rabbit or whatever.
As far as McSweeney's goes, it's lost a lot of energy since the start, adn the Believer is no good (Nick Hornby). But their We Recommend page got me into Destroyer.

― WillSommer, Sunday, 10 April 2005 19:21 (twenty years ago)

10 Casimir Pulaski Day

PLEASE tell me this is a big black cover.

― joseph (joseph), Sunday, 10 April 2005 22:39 (twenty years ago)

sufjan doesn't strike me as having anything to do with dave eggers ilk -- he seems sincere enough to avoid that association. but those titles, the 50 states thing, the UNIFORMS he wore in concert - thats kinda worrisome.

i loved most of michigan and a lot of seven swans. year of the rabbit sucked. i hope this one is good.

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Monday, 11 April 2005 03:26 (twenty years ago)

Support Our Troops, Oh! (Black Angels, Oh!)

― The Scottish Restauranteer (ex machina), Monday, 11 April 2005 03:34 (twenty years ago)

sufjan doesn't strike me as having anything to do with dave eggers ilk -- he seems sincere enough to avoid that association.

Yes, but you just know that Sarah Vowell will be big-upping him all over the place. It's like a history lesson, but kinda fun!

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 11 April 2005 03:38 (twenty years ago)

erklie - the TMBG thing had a song for each state, if i remember correctly. i think i've got a 12" shaped like montana sitting somewhere.

― rajeev (rajeev), Monday, 11 April 2005 03:57 (twenty years ago)

jaymc - in that voice of hers. that voice that screams black rimmed glasses. i hope she leaves him alone. i think sufjan is actually one-of-a-kind.

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Monday, 11 April 2005 04:08 (twenty years ago)

i am really looking forward to this one.

A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, But for Very Good Reasons

I bet this one has some really nice piano chords.. playing time: 1.21

― Ludo (Ludo), Monday, 11 April 2005 08:26 (twenty years ago)

two weeks pass...

More of the same, sounds like, ten tracks in. Maybe a little bit better on accounta slightly more complex arrangements. Still too thin, though. And his voice is predictably spindly.

― Zed Szetlian (Finn MacCool), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 03:15 (twenty years ago)

That's disappointing. "Chicago" worked well live. The cub scout uniforms, less so.

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 04:23 (twenty years ago)

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