- Record Label: Asthmatic Kitty
- Release Date: Jul 11, 2006
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Most of these songs are just as good, if not better, than the ones that actually made the cut.
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These wistful folk-pop leftovers are better than most acts' A game.
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The more interesting discussion to be had about The Avalanche is whether it says more about Sufjan Stevens or everyone else that a collection of even his second-tier material ranks among the most superior releases of the year.
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No, this album is not superfluous -- far from it. The Avalanche brings Stevens' exacting vision on Illinois into sharper focus.
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Avalanche,... is all over the place musically but never loses the singer-songwriter's jaw-dropping vision.
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The Avalanche's best songs would've been Illinois standouts as well.
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Stevens is a pensively nostalgic folk chorister like the Paul Simon of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme: he is just as prone to swerving into an epiphanic Bach-lite chorale, but as yet short of memorable tunes on his own account. He's close enough to be fascinating, though.
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Although not as flat-out amazing as its parent album, this new record shows us that even Stevens’s warmed-up leftovers are more creative, engaging, sophisticated, beautiful, and simply better than what most other musical acts have to offer with their A-list material.
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The biggest upside to the release, however, is that now the intrepid Illinois enthusiast can cobble together one super playlist.
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UncutYet another work of widescreen beauty and magnificent ambition. [Aug 2006, p.86]
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You simply have to marvel at the talents of a man who is surely amongst the most gifted and fascinating musicians of modern times, even if "The Avalanche" does feel like a vaguer retread of the absolute bravura seen on its big brother.
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Alternative PressIf anything, the quality of Stevens' B-sides further validates the folk-hero legacy he's begun. [Sep 2006, p.212]
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It's hard not to compare the two albums and find this one wanting; even the best songs, which are quite good, wouldn't bump anything off of Illinois.
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Under The RadarWhat Stevens does most successfully here is expand the notion of American song. [#14]
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Stevens constructed an alternate version of Illinois that is almost as good as the original.
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More of the same, but we don't mind.
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All the songs here are fully realised and often the equal of those on their parent album.
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The Avalanche is a great record, but one that may have benefited from its creator learning to be a little more detached from his compositions.
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BlenderIt's like School House Rock for hip kids. [Aug 2006, p.117]
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MojoThis whets the appetitie for whatever Stevens' formidable talent fixes upon next. [Aug 2006, p.96]
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SpinRemarkably, the songs on Avalanche are nearly as good as the ones on Illinois, although with surprising synth bursts and craggy guitar noise that were sandpapered off of its predecessor. [Aug 2006, p.79]
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Listening to The Avalanche is a lot like going back to visit old friends - familiar, cozy and safe.
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Paste MagazineA shadow version of its decorated predecessor. [Aug 2006, p.91]
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There’s a wealth of great material buried within The Avalanche, if you don’t mind digging.
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Anyone expecting a pared down, contented Sufjan can bugger off. If anything, The Avalanche chases his caprice and whimsy further down the rabbit hole.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 52 out of 59
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Mixed: 4 out of 59
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Negative: 3 out of 59
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MattStepAug 31, 2007
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PhilipCSep 21, 2006Vastly overrated, even more so than the rest of his catalogue.
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ChadMAug 25, 2006