If ever there was an album that has all the hallmarks of a wanky, aweful, overwrought, terribly pretentious piece of crap, this be that album.

Sufjan Stevens set himself the task of writing one album for each of the 50 states of the United States of America. In this installment, Sufjan pays homage to Illinois, home of Chicago and, well, research is what Wikipedia is for. Go use it

No one can say with a straight face, not even Sufjan, that that all 50 albums are ever likely to happen. Nor, I would venture, would many people think this was anything but a wanky idea by a pretentious tosser likely to be about as musically valid as most every non-Sargeant Peppers concept album ever released. And it gets worse, as the song titles are amonsgt the longest ever (see song two below), and are often longer than the song they describe.

All of this seems to indicate taht the Gods have aligned all the cards to make this one of the worst releases ever. And yet somehow, God knows how, but somehow, the complete opposite is true, and this is one of my favourite albums of all time.

Sufjan somehow manages to make the external settings play out as an inner dialogue of self questioning in a way that is just so real. Sufjan manages to take places, the river Decatur, and turn it into a stirring, personal song about stepmothers and children; take a serial killing child molesterer like John Wayne Gacy and turn it into a story about the secrets we all hide.

Look, my inner cynic wants to hate this album, with every pretentious hatin’ bone in my body. It wants to not only hate but . But this album is just too good. My God, is it good. It is abso-fucking-lutely awesome, jaw droppingly, hairs standing up good. Highlight after highlight after highlight that just grows with every listen.

This is one album you just have to buy.

Track listings

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, Or, We Apologize For The Inconvenience But You’re Gonna Have To Leave Now, Or, ‘I Have Fought The Big Knives And Will Continue To Fight…
3. Come On! Feel The Illinoise!: Part I: The World’s Columbian Exposition/Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream
4. John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
5. Jacksonville
6. A Short Reprise For Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, But For Very Good Reasons
7. Decatur, Or, Round Of Applause For Your Stepmother!
8. One Last ‘Whoo-Hoo!’ For The Pullman
9. Chicago
10. Casimir Pulaski Day
11. To The Workers Of The Rock River Valley Region, I Have An Idea Concerning Your Predicament
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!! Ahhhh!
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

Like A Version Two

I really loved the first version of Like A Version (try saying THAT ten times quickly), so when the latest copy of J Mail, the JJJ newsletter, hit my inbox, the sucker impulse buyer in me decided to purchase it on the spot and…

I am not sure about this one.

For those that don’t know, Like A Version is a segment on Mel Bmpton’s morning show on JJJ, in which nbands peform covers of other artists songs. Version one was exellent, with some awesome songs and moments. This CD, OTOH, well, hmmmm…

There are some definite highlights. The Herd’s I was Only 19 is fantastic, its commercial success is testament that. I also really loved 67 Special’s rendition of Missy Higgins ubiquitous hit Scar. It took me a bit to work out what the hell it was, and it is certainly a unique and original take on a song we have all heard way too many times.

Other excellent versions include The Mountain Goats Wild World, an old Birthday party Song, and Kate Miller-Heidke Bad Seeds cover, Little Water Song.

But it also has a few lowlights. I relly didn’t like Lior’s version of Neil Diamond’s Needle and the Damage Done. It felt far too sweet fora song about junkies, and was a completely disasterous mismatch.

Like the first version, the real highlight of the CD is simply the curios songs artists chose to cover. The Eels cover Prince, Sarah Blasko does Elon John (a statement unlikely to ever be more than a lucky entendre), and New Buffalo sings a Nina Simone classic.

I guess I am somewhat happy I bought this CD (and especially glad the delivery guy found me, as I mixed up my unit and street numbers, idiot I am), but not half aa glad as I was when I bought the original, and I really can’t recommend it.

Buy It Online @ The ABC Shop

Track Listing

I am so very, very glad I bought this. I ummed, I ah-ed, it took forever to get here (shite customer service by My ABC BTW, as I had to chase THEM, tsk tsk) but when it arrived, it was a good day indeed.

What started as a regular segment on Mel Bampton’s JJJ morning show is now a CD, and thank bloody goodness. There are so many excellent songs on this CD, and so few lowlights.

From Darren Hanlon’s ucalaylee version of Fleetwood Mac’s Don’t Stop to Speedstar’s homage to the Smith’s There is A Light That Never Goes Out and The Cat Empire’s Hotel California, performed in French, most every song is superb.

There are several things that really make an album like this worth listenning to; the odd combinations, the opportunity to find songs one forgot one loved, or never heard before, and the versions of songs one never could have imagined.

From the first category, The Pictures hillarious take on Kellis’s Milkshake is a good laugh, and actually not a bad listen.

In the second category falls the aforementioned Georgeous version of Little Suicides and, for those without a David Bowie obsession, the many Bowie songs covered, the originals of which are excellent.

But the absolute highlight, the hairs standing up on the back of your neck moment, is Big Heavy Stuff’s accoutic, chelo based version of Bjork’s techno classic Hyperballad. I never would have thought, in my wildest dreams, that the first techno song I ever I liked, would work as an accoustic version. Not only was I proven wrong, but this song is truly a standout that is stands on its own feet, even without knowing the original.

The only moments that dissapoints are the songs that too closely resemble their original version, especially Salmonella Dub’s Get Up Stand Up, which sounds like pretty much every party where someone plays guitar, Love Outside Andromeda’s Andy Warhol, essentially identical to Bowie’s, and, though I hate to admit it because it is so F-ing beutiful, Gorgeous cover of the Golden Palaminos Little Suicides.

So, should you buy it? No. Not unless you either spend all your hard earned cash on music or you really love Bjork, because Big Heavy Stuff’s Hyperballad is so good, it alone is reason enough to buy the CD.

Buy It Online @ The ABC Shop

Track Listing