Holy shit! And there are still quite a few of these floating around Houston.

http://search.ebay.com/sufjan-stevens-i ... 40QQsojsZ1

So, is it called 'Illinoise' or 'Illinois'?

I've never heard this guy's music. Is it really worth looking into?

Maybe.

It's Illinoise. On the Cd cover anyway. The actual state is spelled Illinois.

But then you look at the side of the CD, and it says "Illinois." So, I don't know what he is trying to do. And his song titles are long as fuck.

Got my rare copy a month ago, though I think it's got a press punch on the back label and is likely worthless.
Still, some good tunes on there.

why's it banned?

superman

Criminal Records was selling them anyway. I bought one a few hours ago.

Not so much because of the cover thing, but that was definitely added incentive to go ahead and buy it.

Ever been to the city of Metropolis, Il? There's this huge statue of Superman, along with museum of everything related to Superman. Makes for a decent pitstop with the kids, well it's at least better than the world's second largest hand dug well.

jc

I'm supposed to be buying this today. I should have got my lazy ass out on Monday!

Got mine on Monday. w00t!

Official title = Illinois. Come on feel the Illinoise... is a joke, ya see. I also think the long titles are just a result of him wanting to have some fun with it. I'm having fun with it anyway.

DMB04: Yes. Check him out. The two states release are VERY similar musically, but Seven Swans is a slight departure. I prefer the latter.

That is some ish. I went there yesterday and they said they weren't selling them,

That's funny.

When I asked for it, the dude said, "Grab another one of those SOOF-JON CDs", as if they'd been selling a lot of them.

Or maybe they just like me more.

Just went at lunch to the local Border's and picked up two (last ones they had.) I picked up two intentionally so I could hang on to one and get rid of the other. If anyone here is a less fortunate individual who doesn't live in a metropolitan area let me know and I could work out a deal with you.

How many states has he released albums for so far? I know of Michigan. Any others?

I hate the suburbs. I was going to buy it regardless but none of the record stores around here even had a tag for his name. I asked and they were all confused, trying to look it up, and how to spell it.

Most of the eBay ones are going for $30 US at least. I'm not that interested.

Got one in the first shop I went into. Ha ha! Fuck you DC Comics.

New from Pitchfork:

Sufjan's Illinois Back on Sale...For Now

Rob Kleckner reports:
If you haven't already auctioned off your pre-cease and desist copy of Illinois...too late. While copies printed from now on will feature new artwork, the initial pressings shipped to stores for the July 5 release date will be sold as originally planned. We reported yesterday that the new Sufjan Stevens album could no longer be sold with its original artwork, presumably due to the image of $uperman on the album cover. However, Asthmatic Kitty had been selling the record from its website for weeks in advance, so the dirty copies were already circulating. Also, iTunes was selling the album beginning yesterday (with bonus tracks!).

But now you can head on down to the record store and buy it. An email message sent to retailers yesterday evening by the label's distribution company said: "Any retail outlet which currently has Sufjan Stevens' Illinois in their possession can now sell at will. This can be done with the full blessing of Asthmatic Kitty and SC Distribution."

Unfortunately, that's not the end of the story. "We are not able to ship any more copies from our warehouse," the message continued. "Asthmatic Kitty is still dealing with unresolved issues. Right now, worst case scenario is that we have to wait until a repress with new artwork lands-- conservatively, that would be around the first week of August."

So get 'em while they're hot. Or, if you can't find it in stores, buy it on iTunes and then buy it again when the new edition comes out in stores...hmm...$ufjan?...nah. Why the sudden move to sell, sell, sell? The email addressed this decision: "There are two main reasons for this development: 1) We were largely unsuccessful in our attempts to get the large chains to comply with our cease and desist request. We did not want to disadvantage independent retailers because of that. 2) We realize that many stores have a limited buying budget each week/month. And may have spent a good chunk of their budget buying on Sufjan. Despite the unresolved issues that Asthmatic Kitty still faces, they wanted to make things as right as possible and allow stores to sell what they have."

Well, that's that. Go hunt the album down, even if the journey takes you to every Borders and Best Buy in your town.

They didn't have any at Tower, the only music store I was near today.

i picked mine up this afternoon. i think it's pretty good, but i'm waiting for it to knock me over later.

I just got a notice from CDUniverse that my copy (along with Michigan - I know, I know, bad me for not already having this) which was ordered yesterday shipped today. It'll be in my hands Monday. It's something like $11.19 there, if anyone's looking for it.