LogFAQs > #976608294

Illinois track ranking

16. To the Workers of the Rock River Valley Region (Track #11)
Score: 20 (Average Rank: 13.14/16)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs, MaxGalactica (#9)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic, Johnbobb (#16)

FoolFantastic: A pretty interlude, but not much else.

15. The Black Hawk War (Track #2)
Score: 21 (Average Rank: 13/16)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#8)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica, Seanchan (#16)

FoolFantastic: One of the longer intermediary tracks and a great one-two punch with the opener; this is where the albums builds into its grandiose style. Doubtful to be among anyone's favorite tracks, but absolutely vital in the flow of the album.

14. Prairie Fire That Wanders About (Track #13)
Score: 26 (Average Rank: 12.29/16)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#15)

FoolFantastic: Essentially an interlude track, but the construction is interesting. Instead of being instrumental, it pairs two choruses against one another. Like a haunted Christmas carol.

13. Out of Egypt (Track #22)
Score: 28 (Average Rank: 12/16)
Biggest Fan(s): MaxGalactica (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#16)

FoolFantastic: The final two tracks feel like a coda to the album as a whole. Not much on their own, but they instill a final sense of hope despite everything that happens in the back half.

MaxGalactica: The most clearly Reichian piece. One of those pieces you can close your eyes to and feel while reflecting on the album you've just experienced. Perfect closer.

12. The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts (Track #12)
Score: 42 (Average Rank: 10/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan (#5)
Biggest Detractor(s): Sheep007 (#15)

FoolFantastic: Is this song about Superman, Jesus, a gay lover, or all three? This is the magic of Sufjan, baby. To me, the weakest full track on the album; with the electric guitar, its the most rock-styled track, and I think that is one of his rare weak points.

MaxGalactica: Very tonally different from the rest of the album with the e-guitar focus, but I quite like it. The strong main motif and the backing vocals contribute a lot to that for me.

11. The Seer's Tower (Track #19)
Score: 43 (Average Rank: 10.14/16)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Sheep007 (#16)

FoolFantastic: The quietest song on the album, and the apparent despair side to the hope of Chicago. Haunting, though not as powerful as other tracks (perhaps because it is the most explicitly religious).

MaxGalactica: Somber and poignant.

10. The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders (Track #20)
Score: 50 (Average Rank: 8.86/16)
Biggest Fan(s): MaxGalactica (#5)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#14)

FoolFantastic: In several ways feels like a mirror of Come On! Feel the Illinoise! The big epic to close out the album (and, in reverse from the beginning, followed by two comparatively simple pieces).

MaxGalactica: The response to Come On! Feel the Illinoise!, but it's far more dissonant. Gorgeous piece.

9. Decatur (Track #7)
Score: 53 (Average Rank: 9/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#16)

FoolFantastic: A song about my hometown. Its a little difficult to suspend my belief enough to think anyone would have a big revelation while visiting that shithole, but you do you, Sufjan. Even if I think this is one of the lesser tracks, the rhyme scheme blows me away. And, as I said, the amount of detail he manages to squeeze in while committing to that pattern is jaw-dropping. Cant believe he goes out of his way to diss Krekels, the local ice cream shop (Chickenmobile with your rooster tail/I had my fill and I know how bad it feels).

Fluttershy_Pony: Perhaps the song that best illustrates my point, as I have a very strong reaction to it which I need more time to reflect on. On a surface level, I find this to be probably the catchiest song on the album. Lyrically, I can barely even start to get all of the references to Decatur, but it seems impressively detailed. Emotionally, this song is stirring up some very strong flashbacks and feelings about my own mother--while the song is about a stepmother and our circumstances are not remotely similar, I feel a very strong resonance here and I need a lot more time to come to terms with how I feel. Which is great, but it limits my ability to focus on any of the other tracks. It's a 10/10 song that I needed to hear, but it takes basically all of my mental energy and I have nothing left for the rest of the album.

8. They Are Night Zombies!! (Track #16)
Score: 53 (Average Rank: 8.43/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#13)

FoolFantastic: Dont have much to say on the thematic level, but this song is straight up cool. The perfect lead into the apocalyptic section of the album. Cheerleader chants over exclusively minor chords. Sufjan Stevens has recorded like a dozen Christmas albums at this point, but I bet he could make an excellent Halloween album too.

Fluttershy_Pony: I typically dislike songs with lyrics that spell out words and this track is no exception. While I do like the verses, the choir gets the song off on the wrong foot and it never fully recovers for me.

7. Jacksonville (Track #5)
Score: 54 (Average Rank: 8.29/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica (#12)

FoolFantastic: But fear not, worshipper, for you can be forgiven for your sins! On a purely literal level, the juxtaposition between a serial killer song and one about the Underground Railroad seems thin, but it comes with a sense of relief on the symbolic level; there is goodness in this world, too. This is also great in how Sufjan captures the good side of a small town; not just an Underground Railroad stop but also a town with schools for the deaf and blind.

6. Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois (Track #1)
Score: 55 (Average Rank: 8.29/16)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb, MaxGalactica (#13)

FoolFantastic: A perfect opener in the sense of how little it prepares you for what follows. A quiet piano piece pondering the sky with little touches of flute. Sufjan is great at these short, intimate pieces, and also a great example where he is most likely but not directly talking about God. Also, the time signature here is absolutely wild.

5. Come On! Feel the Illinoise! (Track #3)
Score: 72 (Average Rank: 6.29/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#13)

FoolFantastic: One of Sufjan's epics, weaving from ecstatic wonder through a Cure-inspired middle section to the questioning of his own purpose as an artist. It's rare to get popular music this intricately designed.

MaxGalactica: Love the Cure reference in this one. The first epic of the album, and it does a great job establishing what kind of album this will be.