To end another wonderful decade of great music, I’m going to write about ten albums from each of the last ten years, that are either great, or hold some sort of personal significance. A musical kiss off to 00s.
2005 – #8. Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
(Asthmatic Kitty)
Ah. Sufjan Stevens. Now, this record has TOPPED several best of the decade lists. So not sure what else needs to be said about Illinois. So here’s some quickfire points/questions/thoughts/flotsam/jetsam.
– So, have we all decided this is called Illinois and not Illinoise? Not that Illnoise is not brilliant, although I doubt he came up with it.
– So, it took me years but I finally worked out Superman. It’s because there is a very small town in Illinois called Metropolis. Which makes it funny. Apparently people used to steal the local yellow pages out of the phone boxes.
– I remember one night, I was drinking with a friend. Not a close friend, but a good one. One I looked forward to seeing and joke around with. And downstairs at the Town Hall Hotel, we were talking about this album, and Casmir Polanski Day. The song mentions cancer of the bone, and I discovered this friend once fought cancer and how much that song meant to him. I love when people talk about what songs mean to them.
– I really don’t think Sufjan will ever make another pop album. If he does, it will be like those Violent Femmes albums that came after the first. Nothing against Sufjan’s abilities. I just think he missed his chance to follow this up, and his career, at least this part of it, has broken off and fallen away.
– That said, the stature of this album is kind of set. This album will never fall out of print. I think it will be a classic as long as I live. You can just sense that history will be on it’s side.
– I never saw him live. But my friend Craig did and I’m always secretly jealous when he wears it. But that’s what buying a cool t-shirt is all about. It’s a great shirt too.
– Can there really be no videos made for this album??