Sufjan Stevens: Come On Feel The Illinoise

Wow, has it really been (nearly) 20 years? Sufjan Stevens' 2005 epic Come On Feel The Illinoise felt like an event at the time, and while it's not the sort of record I play more than every once in a long while, I pulled it out this weekend and it's still... well, rather remarkable. Somewhere between the gentle balladry of Elliott Smith and a way-over-the-top cocaine-frazzled 80s Broadway production (where it's apparently ended up!), it's an unabashedly proggy concept album, tales of the state's (my birthplace, yes) locales and denizens, big cities and small towns, gangsters and serial killers. The range is tremendous, from the shockingly intimate "John Wayne Gacy Jr." and gorgeous "Casimir Pulaski Day," to tracks built for dancers and fireworks, like the fully orchestrated, sweeping title track and like-minded "Chicago."

The delirious bombast was exacerbated by the album's mythology, purportedly the second part in Stevens' promised 50-state series (following 2003's nearly as great Greetings From Michigan)--yet the series sadly ended here. (Though Stevens followed it with 2006's The Avalanche, an overpacked disc of Illinoise leftovers--and, good lord, it's still pretty decent.)

The album (like Michigan and Avalanche) remains, a few songs aside, best saved for special occasions, not really designed for regular listening. Still, it's hard to call the album dated, as it was so outside its time even upon its release. Just a wondrously weird record that sounds like nothing else.

"Chicago" live:

"John Wayne Gacy, Jr." live: