Misplaced Pages

The Avalanche (Sufjan Stevens album)

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Koavf (talk | contribs) at 23:38, 20 August 2006. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 23:38, 20 August 2006 by Koavf (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Untitled

The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album is an album by indie rock singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens, consisting of outtakes and other recordings from the sessions for his album Illinois. It has been released on the iTunes Music Store, and copies are available on the website for Asthmatic Kitty, Stevens' record label. The title song "The Avalanche" was also a bonus track on the Illinois vinyl and iTunes release.

The cover features a cartoon depiction of Stevens wearing a cape and costume held aloft by strings, a likely reference to the image of Superman from the cover of early editions of Illinois He wears a shirt with the "Block I", the symbol of varsity athletics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The Block I appears several times in the album art.

A press release on the Asthmatic Kitty website reported that the Illinois album was supposed to be a double record (with somewhere near 50 songs), but the idea was eventually scrapped. After the success of the album, Stevens returned to his analog 8-track recorder in late 2005 and began the process of finishing 21 of the previously abandoned songs, which would eventually become The Avalanche.

Stevens has stated during interviews that although he doesn't like The Avalanche as much as Illinois, he felt it was important to release the songs in light of the success of his most recent album. He has also said that he decided to release the album in order to buy time until his next "50 States Project" release. The album cover jokingly makes reference to the partially commercial reasons for the album's release, declaring that its contents were "shamelessly compiled by Sufjan Stevens"

In May 2006, Pitchfork Media was given permission to leak the second track from The Avalanche, titled "Dear Mr. Supercomputer", on their website in MP3 format. The whole album was leaked to the Internet on May 9, 2006.

The album debuted at #71 on the Billboard Top 200, making it the highest charting Sufjan Stevens release to date .

Tracklisting

  1. "The Avalanche" – 3:14
  2. "Dear Mr. Supercomputer" – 4:20
  3. "Adlai Stevenson" – 2:34
  4. "The Vivian Girls Are Visited in the Night by Saint Dargarius and His Squadron of Benevolent Butterflies" – 1:49
  5. "Chicago" (Acoustic Version) – 4:40
  6. "The Henney Buggy Band" – 3:16
  7. "Saul Bellow" – 2:53
  8. "Carlyle Lake" – 3:15
  9. "Springfield, or Bobby Got a Shadfly Caught in His Hair" – 4:17
  10. "The Mistress Witch from McClure (Or, the Mind that Knows Itself)" – 3:24
  11. "Kaskaskia River" – 2:14
  12. "Chicago" (Adult Contemporary Easy Listening Version) – 6:06
  13. "Inaugural Pop Music for Jane Margaret Byrne" – 1:25
  14. "No Man's Land" – 4:45
  15. "The Palm Sunday Tornado Hits Crystal Lake" – 1:38
  16. "The Pick-Up" – 3:23
  17. "The Perpetual Self, or What Would Saul Alinsky Do?" – 2:24
  18. "For Clyde Tombaugh" – 3:43
  19. "Chicago" (Multiple Personality Disorder Version) – 4:34
  20. "Pittsfield" – 6:51
  21. "The Undivided Self (For Eppie and Popo)" – 4:59

Thematic elements

As a pseudo-sequel to Illinois, this album follows the theme of Stevens' fifty states project: one album for each constituent state of the United States of America. Explicit and implicit references are made to Illinois persons, places, and institutions throughout the songs. Note that the song Chicago originally appeared on the Illinois album. The following list may not be complete:

  1. "The Avalanche"
  2. "Dear Mr. Supercomputer"
  3. "Adlai Stevenson"
  4. "The Vivian Girls Are Visited in the Night by Saint Dargarius and His Squadron of Benevolent Butterflies"
  5. "Chicago" (Acoustic Version)
  6. "The Henney Buggy Band"
  7. "Saul Bellow"
  8. "Carlyle Lake"
  9. "Springfield, or Bobby Got a Shadfly Caught in His Hair"
  10. "The Mistress Witch from McClure (Or, the Mind that Knows Itself)"
  11. "Kaskaskia River"
  12. "Chicago" (Adult Contemporary Easy Listening Version)
  13. "Inaugural Pop Music for Jane Margaret Byrne"
  14. "No Man's Land"
  15. "The Palm Sunday Tornado Hits Crystal Lake"
  16. "The Pick-Up"
  17. "The Perpetual Self, or What Would Saul Alinsky Do?"
  18. "For Clyde Tombaugh"
  19. "Chicago" (Multiple Personality Disorder Version)
  20. "Pittsfield"
  21. "The Undivided Self (For Eppie and Popo)"

Although less explicitly religious than other albums, Stevens' Christian faith is evident in The Avalanche, with explicit references to God in the title track, "The Perpetual Self, or What Would Paul Alinsky Do?," and "The Mistress Witch from McClure (Or, the Mind that Knows Itself)." "Dear Mr. Supercomputer" is apparently about a crisis of faith about the shortcomings of atheistic humanism, and the inability of science to give meaning to human life. "Father John" is a character in "The Henny Buggy Band."

U. S. chart history

"The Avalanche" - The Billboard 200
Week 01 02
Position
71
138
Sales
13,625
6,044
Total
14,322
20,366
Sufjan Stevens
Solo studio albums
Collaborative studio albums
Compilation albums
Soundtrack albums
Mixtapes
EPs
Singles
Other songs
Tours
Related articles
Categories: