I will turn 50 in November of this year, so my project for 2023 will be to listen to and review one album from each year of my life, 1973 to 2022. The only qualification is that it has to be an album I’ve not reviewed previously.
2005
Top Grossing Albums of 2005:
- The Massacre – 50 Cent
- Encore – Eminem
- American Idiot – Green Day
- The Emancipation of Mimi – Mariah Carey
- Breakaway – Kelly Clarkson
Grammy Award for Album of the Year of 2005:
- How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb – U2
- The Emancipation of Mimi – Mariah Carey
- Chaos and Creation in the Backyard – Paul McCartney
- Love. Angel. Music. Baby. – Gwen Stefani
- Late Registration – Kanye West
Other Albums I’ve Reviewed from 2005:
- Extraordinary Machine – Fiona Apple
- Guero – Beck
- Aerial – Kate Bush
- You Could Have It So Much Better – Franz Ferdinand
- Naturally – Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
- Rabbit Fur Coat – Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins
- Tha Carter II – Little Wayne
- Arular – M.I.A.
- Twin Cinema – The New Pornographers
- Takk… – Sigur Rós
- Fisherman’s Woman – Emilíana Torrini
Album: Illinois
Artist: Sufjan Stevens
Release Date: July 4, 2005
Label: Asthmatic Kitty/Secretly Canadian and Rough Trade
Favorite Tracks:
- Come On! Feel the Illinoise! (Part I: The World’s Columbian Exposition – Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream)
- Chicago
- Casimir Pulaski Day
- The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts
- They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!
- The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders” (Part I: The Great Frontier – Part II: Come to Me Only with Playthings Now)
Thoughts: There was a HUGE buzz for this album in 2005 that introduced me to the music of Sufjan Stevens. I haven’t listened to it in a long time, but it all feels familiar like visiting with an old friend. This was the second concept album that Stevens based on a state, part of a purported 50-state project that Stevens has played down in ensuing years since he hasn’t made another. The album is full of references to Illinois, including Abraham Lincoln, the Black Hawk War, John Wayne Gacy, Casimir Pulaski Day, Superman, and the World’s Columbian Exposition, yet the songs are nevertheless introspective and deal deeply with Stevens’ Christian faith. The musical orchestration and choral harmonies are what makes the album really stand out. It definitely stands up as one of the great albums of it’s decade.
Rating: ****1/2
Panorama of the Mountains 