If anyone wants to hear it PM me for a YSI link.

I'm two songs into it and so far, so good. I could do without the novel-length song titles though.

i really like it but i think that i was really in the mood to hear something like it right now so it hit me harder than it probably should.

it's been on rotation all day here at work, and i'm diggin it more and more.

I like it much better than Michigan... and it's light years ahaead of Seven Swans.

I only did one listen thus far, on Saturday- it drew me in for about the first 20 minutes; after an additional 20 minutes, I was getting bored, and a bit irritated with what sounded like filler to me; by the end of about an hour, I pulled it. To my ears, it's at least half an hour too long, and for me, the religion thing was getting a bit much, but that's just me.

I'm not even interested in hearing a note from the dude until he renounces Christ altogether.

Ah, Billy Rad.

But a Satantic Sufjan would be pretty damned irritating.

I like it OK, but that John Wayne Gacy song is too creepy. So far Michigan is my favorite state.

Looking forward to this.

Thanks, smafty. I'll listen to this now.

well, i could never dl that link, which was a bummer until i found elephante stoney on slsk. probably will listen tonite

i've only heard 4.x songs and i'm lovin' it! sufjan mcdonalds stevens, IL, here i come!

up to 11 songs & about to listen to the 2nd half. might be better than michigan!

after the first few listens...i think it really is his best yet. the songwriting is stronger (john wayne gacy?!!), but if you don't like the style he is currently comfortable using, i imagine this will be pretty samey stuff when compared with the last 2 records.

but damn, some of this is really quite impressive. hard to believe that basically one man is responsible for this.

KPH

The one time I listened to it, I was really impressed.

I think I'll hold off on listening again until I get a real copy.

listened to the whole thing. damn impressed. on first listen, my fav of his so far, and should make my top 20 of the year. this one is BOSS *and* TITS! (but just short of ACE)

thanks, smafty! Listening to it now.

Really? I think Seven Swans is very different in sound than either Michigan or Illinois, which I agree are rather samey.

i just think that 'come on! feel the illinoise' is the greatest song title ever.

love this album, love it.

metacritic shows critics falling all over this. tell me more... how you people feeling about this one?

I like very much. If anything, though, it sounds too much like Michigan. I don't know either state album well enough to make distinctions, and I still prefer Seven Swans to anything else he's done by a sizable margin.

I think it sounds like bad Belle and Sebastian. Maybe it grows on you? This is the first Stevens i've heard.

Not my cup of sap.

This and Michigan are on a truck on their way to me right now . . . not having been able to locally track down any of the soon-to-be rare Superman covers. Seven Swans is a thing of beauty, and based on forced-cursory listens to the mp3s of Illinois that I have, it's almost, but not quite as beautiful.

On another Sufjan Stevens now . . . so, maybe I'm an idiot, but does anyone know definitely how to pronounce his first name? "Soof-john" is what I hear in my head.

I think it's Soof-yan, with "soof" rhyming with Michael Spinks saying "booth".