Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche [Outtakes & Extras from the Illinois Album] (2006)

Since Illinois had initially been conceived as a double-disc set, it's somewhat less astounding that these "outtakes and extras" often sound like they would fit smoothly into the "real" album's tracklist. Stevens also went back to retool and polish once he decided to release The Avalanche, so it's not like these are just scraps from the cutting room floor. Brief instrumental sketches like "Inaugural Pop Music for Jane Margaret Byrne" feel somewhat unrealized, but are the sorts of quirky, pace-setting interludes to which Stevens has often gravitated. Doing a final tally at the end, it turns out that there's about the same number of good songs on The Avalanche as on Illinois, although the very best of the batch was cherry-picked for the latter.

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asthmatickitty.com wrote: The little secret behind the Illinois record is that it was originally conceived as a double album, culminating in a musical collage of nearly 50 songs. But as the project began to develop into an unwieldy epic, common sense weighed in—as did the opinions of others—and the project was cut in half. But as 2005 came to a close, Sufjan returned to the old, forsaken songs on his 8-track like a grandfather remembering his youth, indulging in old journals and newspaper clippings. What he uncovered went beyond the merits of nostalgia; it was more like an ensemble of capricious friends and old acquaintances wearing party outfits, waiting to be let in at the front door, for warm drinks and interesting conversation. Among them were Saul Bellow, Ann Landers, Adlai Stevenson, and a brief cameo from Henry Darger's Vivian Girls. The gathering that followed would become the setting for the songs on The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album. Sufjan gleaned 21 useable tracks from the abandoned material, including three alternate versions of Chicago. Some songs were in finished form, others were merely outlines, gesture drawings, or musical scribbles mumbled on a hand-held tape recorder. Most of the material required substantial editing, new arrangements or vocals. Much of the work was done at the end of 2005 or in January the following year. Sufjan invited many of the original Illinoisemakers to fill in the edges: drums, trumpet, a choir of singers. The centerpiece, of course, was the title track—The Avalanche—a song intended for the leading role on the Illinois album but eventually cut and placed as a bonus track on the vinyl release. In his rummaging through old musical memorabilia, Sufjan began to use this song as a meditation on the editorial process, returning to old forms, knee-deep in debris, sifting rocks and river water for an occasional glint of gold. "I call ye cabin neighbors," the song bemuses, "I call you once my friends." And like an avid social organizer, Sufjan took in all the odd musical misfits and gathered them together for a party of their own, like good friends. A careful listener may uncover the obvious trend on this record: almost every song on the Illinois album has a counterpart on the outtakes. Carl Sandburg arm-wrestles Saul Bellow. The aliens landing near Highland salute Clyde Tombaugh, the man who discovered Pluto. The loneliness of "Casimir Pulaski Day" deepens even further in the foreboding soundtrack to "Pittsfield." At its best, The Avalanche is an exercise in form, revealing the working habits of one of the most productive songwriters today. As an illustration, the avalanche refers to the snow and rubble that falls off the side of a mountain, or, in this case, the musical debris generously chucked from an abundant epic. It's unlikely you'll find a mountain in the Prairie State so the metaphor will have to do.

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Review by Adam McKibbin from www.theredalert.com:

Sufjan Stevens is a cagey man. Whatever his motive for releasing The Avalanche, a collection of "outtakes and extras" from last year's instantly canonized Illinois, it will surely do him a favor by throwing some "new" material to eager fans and critics, stalling the clamor and intense pressure surrounding his next plunge into his ambitious mission to write an album about every state in the union (48 to go). Of course The Avalanche will be compared to Illinois, but unlike whatever state album comes next, it isn't expected to match or surpass what has been, so far, his crowning achievement (although traditionalists and minimalists may give that honor to Seven Swans).

Since Illinois had initially been conceived as a double-disc set, it's somewhat less astounding that these "outtakes and extras" often sound like they would fit smoothly into the "real" album's tracklist. Stevens also went back to retool and polish once he decided to release The Avalanche, so it's not like these are just scraps from the cutting room floor. Brief instrumental sketches like "Inaugural Pop Music for Jane Margaret Byrne" feel somewhat unrealized, but are the sorts of quirky, pace-setting interludes to which Stevens has often gravitated. Doing a final tally at the end, it turns out that there's about the same number of good songs on The Avalanche as on Illinois, although the very best of the batch was cherry-picked for the latter.

One of the crown jewels of Illinois is given fresh life on The Avalanche, which presents three considerably different versions of "Chicago": a moving acoustic version that's built around a mournfully adjusted lead riff; a pleasant but forgettable take that is perfectly dubbed "Adult Contemporary Easy Listening Version"; and a "Multiple Personality Disorder Version" that imagines an alternate universe in which Stevens suppresses his ample pop music gifts. The latter location is a place worth visiting, but we can all be glad that he doesn't stay there.

Stevens has rapidly perfected his signature sound, and always has a pair of aces up his sleeve. The first is the crowded style of arrangement that uses woods and horns and choirs -- and propelled "Come On! Feel The Illinoise!" (among others). Nothing on The Avalanche is quite the grand statement of that track, or the original version of "Chicago." But there are near-equals in his other style: the sensitive, often quiet fare that plants itself in a mutated Americana and emphasizes instruments like banjos and pianos and features some of his more straightforward and poignant lyrics. On Illinois, this style was best represented by "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." and "Casimir Pulaski Day." Stevens is most consistent when he's writing in this vein, and The Avalanche adds a few gems to the stack, foremost among them "Springfield, or Bobby Got a Shad-fly Caught in His Hair," which seems to pack a thousand ideas into just over four minutes, and has a Woodstocky refrain ( "Running out of Spriiiingfield…" ) that's easy to imagine hearing from The Band or CSNY. Taken as a whole, though, it's impossible to imagine The Avalanche coming from anyone else. Here's hoping that Stevens still sounds this fresh when he's 20 states into his road trip.

Further Reading:
Wikipedia
Popmatters
Pitchfork Media



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 (2:15)
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] (4:35)
20. Pittsfield (6:51)
21. The Undivided Self (for Eppie and Popo) (4:59)

Total Time: 75:46

Line-Up:
- Sufjan Stevens / Engineer, Performer, Compilation, Photography, Assembly, Drawing
- Rosie Thomas / Vocals (Background)
- James McAlister / Percussion, Drums
- Craig Montoro / Trumpet, Vocals
- Shara Worden, Katrina Kerns / Backing Vocals




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