BadAmb, I tend to agree with most of your assessments, but would have to take issue with this. Sure, Illinois was long and perhaps could have benefitted from some judicious pruning, but it was intended to be a sprawling album about a massive chunk of the American midwest, weaving together personal stories, history, geography, memories - no easy task in 45 minutes. Some pieces of it I enjoy more than others, to be sure, but there's something refreshing about his ambition, energy and willingness to find music in just about everything. I suspect that he will develop a better ability to edit his ideas over time, but for now I'm happy to have the main course as well as the table scraps. That being said, I think it's still an album that I admire more than I love, which is why I put Hawley's Coles Corner ahead of it last year.Bad Ambassador wrote:It's funny you should mention Sufjan, as that album is one that was raved about that I didn't really click with. To me that record represented a great deal of artifice and ambition but with absolutely no regard for quality control. None of it's terrible, but good grief he could have chopped out a huge chunk of that record and made it far more enjoyable. I rarely go back to it because it feels like an endurance task - 'so, I've put in these little tracks as well, because I can'. There's no denying he's a very talented chap, but he needs to get into his head that some of us don't want to hear every musical fart his body produces. The recent release of 'The Avalanche' only served to confirm my suspicions. 'Illinois' has everything, plus the kitchen sink and a bloke from Focus DIY giving a quote on how he could fit another one in the living room.
BTW, I am very happy to see Shack's "..On The Corner of Miles & Gil" as one of the choices on your Best of 2006 So Far Poll. It got my vote.
(the song - not my singing).
