For when youāre in a quiet reflective moodā¦I feel myself welling up from Matt Rollinās exquisite piano introā¦Lyle Lovett with Rickie Lee Jonesā¦
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Hereās a cracking number form the mid-eighties:
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And hereās one from ten years earlier. Cracking guitar break from Mr Fripp:
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And a final one for tonight. Back to the eighties we go:
Rather like the home-made vid that goes with it tooā¦
As itās Glastonbury weekend I thought Iād revisit one of my favourite bands from 1990ās festival. Didnāt even know they were playing but they were awesome. Samoan hip-hop funk at itās best 
:
And to get a feel oif what it was like back in the day:
On a day like this we need some reggae! The Jamaican horn sound in evidence here, Horace Andy (collaborator with Massive Attack) sings the lead before Tapper Zukie arrives to turn the general into the specific.
Enjoy!
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This month marks the 10th anniversary of the release of Sufjan Stevenās āIllinoisā and āPitchforkā has an interesting feature, giving the inside story of the recording sessions: http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/822-inside-the-recording-sessions-for-sufjan-stevens-illinois/
At the moment the album has the status of a cult classic but in my opinion I think it will eventually earn a wider, more universal recognition.
Yeah well I like itā¦everybody should listen to it at least once in their lifetimeā¦itās that good. 
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Itās a great album, Lifer.
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Itād be in my top 25 Iād say, 'slowlane.
But try as I might, I just havenāt been able to get into too much more of his other work.
Itās all quite enjoyable, but not in the same league as Illinoise - at least not to these ears.
Anything youād specifically recommend?
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Jesus, has it really been ten years? Life is passing me by. Time keeps on ticking at what seems to be twice the speed of my motivation to do anything. Itās a great album, listened to it all last week for the first time in a while.
It is difficult to recommend because everyone comes to the same point (e.g Illinois) via a different route. I arrived chronalogically in that my first was āMichiganā in 2003 and then moved onwards. Obviously this is an advantage as you can never unhear something youāve listened to āout of timeāā¦often going back through an artistās catalogue youāre disappointed with earlier work. Thatās not to say āMichiganā wasnāt a good albumā¦it is, just that āIllinoisā was a āquantum leapā If youāve not heard āMichiganā give it a go.
āThe Avalancheā is billed as āIllinois Outtakesā but what outtakes! better than most artist manage in a career. Iāve heard everything post āMichiganā and nothing preā¦probably for the stated reason. 
Around Christmas time Iāll start a dedicated āSufjanās Christmasā threadā¦thereās enough tracks to keep everyone entertained for the month of December.
I hate to be controversial, but Sufjan Stevens = twee.
Started off the whole twee movement too. 
Dirty. Sexy. Needs bass. Strong cider.
Wrong. I donāt care much for the rest of his stuff but āIllinoiseā is a great album. Really.
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ā¦is the right answer.
Koala 1 - 0 Louise.
Yeah, Iāve had a dabble with the Xmas album. Hmm.
And Iāve also tried Michigan too. Iāll dedicate some proper time to give it a real chance to grab me.
Thanks for the recommendation.
If we have a Sufjan Stevens Xmas thread, weāve got to have a Dylan one too.
Deal?
I mean, really, Louā¦reallyā¦
ā¦not sure I can think such a beautiful yet sad song on such a disturbing topic.
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I gave Illinois a fair old listen when it first came out. I dispute the assertion that Iām wrong.
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Louise, Iām not sure that our musical tastes cross over too much, but I wondered if this might hit your spot.
Popularised as the theme tune to True Detective series * 1.
Another example of their work, with a wonderfully messed up lyric.
I saw them last year with a mate at a really tiny venue, just north of Basingstoke.
We then had a few beers with them afterwards - together with some other great people we met.
A really fantastic night.
* Iāve intentionally used the word series and intentionally avoided using the word season.
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