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intereact!Sufjan Stevens
Retail Price (not our price): $14.98
Release Date: 2003-07-01
Manufacturer: Asthmatic Kitty
Format: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Track List
Now here, for your listening pleasure, the tracks...
| Disc 1 |
Customer Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5
1) This man has made music wonderful again.... [Rating: 5 out of 5]
I listen to a lot of music, some hard and some soft. Sufjan Stevens does it for me every time. This album is simply magical and I would suggest it to anyone!2) Michigan [Rating: 4 out of 5]
My favorite Sufjan album so far, it has the perfect mix of poignant lyics and solid music. Making a lot more sense, and not as bizzare, as Illinoise, I really enjoyed listening to the entire album without wanting to skip ahead to other songs. I highly recommend this album for first time Sufjan listeners.3) I wish I could, but I just can't... [Rating: 5 out of 5]
Having read some of the reviews, on this page, I simply can't stress, to any greater degree of enthusiasm, just how amazing this album is. I own two of Mr. Stevens' releases, to date (Seven Swans and this one), and I plan on owning each and every one.His lyrics range from the simplistic, yet earth-shakingly powerful, to the cryptic, yet eerily comprehensive and universal. Each line sung as if, finally, he feels he can release a thought, that's been tumbling in his head for days, as he had been searching for the right way to express it.The music is powerful, to the point that it seems to speak philosophies with no need for a tongue. Particularly track 8, "Oh Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!)". Yes, I know it's a mouthful. It's also 8 minutes long. Trust me when I say that all 8 minutes are stunningly fresh, and that by the time it's over, you just want more.Buy this album. Buy every album that this wonderful composer creates. You will not be disappointed, lest you have not an ounce of soul or love for beauty, sound, or art in your body.4) Gut-Wrenching [Rating: 5 out of 5]
Greetings From Michigan is the most Earth-shattering album I own. (Keep in mind I have 2500 songs in my iTunes). I also own every single Sufjan CD in existence. Sufjan Stevens is a pure musical genius. He has mastered many instruments- too many to count- and he plays them all in this album. If you have heard about Sufjan and have decided to give him a try, I would start with this album. Sufjan is very openly Christian, and he uses many Christian themes in his music. Even as an agnostic, attached to no religion, I still value his music very highly. He is very honest in his beliefs, and not at all preachy. In many cases I think he takes more of an existentialist view.Beautiful life-altering lyrics, glorious melodies, and musical talent that is almost frightening- that is the essence of this album.5) Use my hands to use my heart [Rating: 5 out of 5]
Even though I usually stick to the coasts, I'll always have a place in my heart for Michigan -- I was born there, after all.It also happens to be the first album in Sufjan Stevens' proposed fifty-state-album project, "Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lake State." Stevens' mellow indie-folk rules the album with a gentle hand, from sprightly folkpop to banjo balladry -- and it's as fun as it is complex and alluring.It opens with a gentle piano, joined in by a chorus of horns. "It's the same outside/Driving to the riverside/I pretend to cry/Even if I cried alone," Stevens murmurs, embodying a worker who isn't working. Despite its simplicity, it's packed with self-trickery and windy dissatisfaction. "I forgot the part/Use my hands to use my heart/Even if I died alone..."Then the tone totally changes with "All Good Naysayers, Speak Up! Or Forever Hold Your Peace," a sprightly little pop tune, and the folky banjo of "For The Windows In Paradise, For The Fatherless In Ypsilanti." From there, he tries out variations of all his folky talents -- dreamlike folkpop, swaying wistful folk, sparkling xylophone, guitar ballads, and steady pipe organs leading into a bluesy ballad.But the best songs of all are when Stevens combines all his musical influences into one enormous joyous mass of sound -- "Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!)" is a glorious mishmash of pop, xylophone, piano, horns and folky interludes, blended into a great soaring epic. So is the luminous "They Also Mourn Who Do Not Wear Black (For The Homeless In Muskegon)."Sufjan Stevens is one of those rarest artists whose ambitions are dwarfed by their ability -- the guy is a truly brilliant musician and songwriter, which makes his fifty state album goal (assuming he still has it) doesn't seem beyond his reach. Well, time constrains, but he could wring beauty and life from each state.Certainly his musical ability is astounding -- smooth piano played with wistfulness and energy, a sizzle of electric in "The Upper Peninsula," and mellow acoustic guitar and plucked banjo to give it that folky unpolished sound, along with some slow drums in the background. They're earthy and solid, yet somehow still very polished and solid.But the music is more colourful than that, with a xylophone played with the delicacy of windchimes. Some of the songs are just that -- xylophone tinkling at us prettily, and nothing else. And many songs are backed by a chorus of horns -- sometimes they blare happily at us, sometimes they groan mournfully through the melodies.Stevens' voice is well-suited to all this -- deep, smooth and meditative, but he can sing a more energetic tune when he wants to. And he packs plenty of meaning into deceptively simple lyrics, full of Michigan's woes, love of God, past experiences, improving the world, poverty, and just his love of the state. "If the lakes took/The place of the sea/If the cars drove themselves/Way to be!/Opposite the trains moving in/Rivers run interstate, Michigan!"Few freakfolk artists can even approach the brilliance of Sufjan Stevens' "Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lake State," a practically perfect little folkpop gem. Say YES to "Michigan!"