My Morning Jacket CD review
June 17th, 2008 by Wade Tatangelo in Reviews
Evil Urges
MY MORNING JACKET
Ato Records/Red
Pundits have been trying to define My Morning Jacket since the band first arrived on the scene a decade ago. In the beginning, people filed the reverb-loving rockers under “alt-country” and even “southern rock” thanks to the band’s Bluegrass State homebase. A galvanizing 2004 performance at Bonnaroo and subsequent, more experimental releases, especially 2006’s live album Okonokos, landed My Morning Jacket in the “jam band” bin.
But none of the labels truly did the quintet’s music justice and MMJ’s latest release, Evil Urges, is the band’s most gloriously eclectic studio album to date. It’s also the band’s finest, with each stylistic leap serving the song rather than sounding like hubris-driven experimentalism. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than on the title-track that opens the disc, a thick-yet-fluid hybrid of futuristic funk, precision prog and dream pop that serves as a genius update on the free love and tolerance ethos of the 1960s. Frontman Jim James adopts a sexy falsetto to winningly deliver memorable lines like, “It ain’t evil, baby, if ya ain’t hurting anybody.”
On the equally horny “Highly Suspicious,” James soars again in feminine mode, crooning like Prince over a thumping back beat custom made for club play. The song’s addictive-quality is off the chart, a pop fix unlike anything in the band’s canon. Amazingly, the same album also features tarcks such as “Sec Walkin,” a slice of steel guitar-kissed space rock that floats through the speakers like a DayGlo tumbleweed. On the shimmering mid-tempo number “Two Halves” James addresses the aging process with the sagacity and good humor of a content man old enough to put youth’s charms in perspective.
The body image subject matter of the acoustic-guitar-and-strings profile “Librarian” is as fascinating as it is heart wrenching. “Karen of the Carpenters, singing in the rain,” James intones, his reedy voice teeming with pathos, “another lovely victim of the mirror’s evil way.” A couple tracks later, listeners are blasted with the first-rate arena rocker (replete with guitar hero solo) “Aluminum Park,” a song that begs for a sing along, fist pumping and Bic waving.
Many bands have aspired to genre-busting greatness in recent years, but few, if any, have succeeded so thoroughly as MMJ does with Evil Urges, easily one of the most diverse and satisfying albums to emerge in the new millennium. It’s filler free and proves more rewarding with each listen. In fact, it’s hard to imagine MMJ or any other American rock act — Wilco included — topping this album in the foreseeable future. 4.5 stars 5 stars
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June 17th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Granted, I’m a big MMJ fan, but you make it sound like this is groundbreaking stuff for them…it’s not.
My Morning Jacket has been kicking out the best albums and shows for this entire century!
That’s right, and while this is the first album to try and break away from the now recognizable MMJ sound, it’s not the first to be a masterpiece. You would have to start with 2001’s “At Dawn”
I do agree with the album being good though, not quite as strong an artistic piece as Z in my opinion, but maybe a little more summer fun than anything else they have.
Thanks for the review!
June 17th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I’m a big fan of “summer fun.”
June 18th, 2008 at 11:53 am
I’m also a huge MMJ fan.. I’d agree that this is their finest album, in part because it sounds like they had some real money to spend in the studio this time and also because of the risks they took in serving up different musical styles like flapjacks.. That being said, there are still some tracks - Librarian for example - that I have to skip before the onset of puking takes hold of my throat.
I guess I’ll see you at the House of Blues comes August..
Also worth mentioning is the set MMJ just played at Bonnaroo - link (including audio download)
Disc 1 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/gr4wht
Disc 2 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/ttv7qv
Disc 3 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/pbbwcg
Original Seed on bt.etree.org
My Morning Jacket
Which Stage,Bonnaroo Music Festival,Manchester,TN
6/13/08
RETURN TO THUNDERDOME pt 2:
cd # 1 Set 1:
Evil Urges
Off the Record
Gideon
Hot Fun(Sly & the Family Stone) with Jeff Coffin on saxophone and the Nashville/Louisville Horns
Highly Suspicious
What a Wonderful Man
I’m Amazed
Thank You Too
Touch Me Pt 1
Sec Walkin
Golden
Two Halves
Laylow
Hit it and Quit it(Funkadelic)
Tyrone(Erykah Badu)
cd # 2 Set 1 cont…
Steam Engine
Anytime
Aluminum Park
Easy Morning Rebel with Jeff Coffin and the Nashville/Louisville Horns
Dancefloors with Jeff Coffin and the Nashville/Louisville Horns
One Big Holiday featuring Kirk Hammett of Metallica
Set 2:Cold Sweat with Jeff Coffin and the Nashville/Louisville Horns
Get Down On It(Kool and the Gang) with Jeff Coffin and the Nashville/Louisville Horns
Across 110th Street(Bobby Womack & Peace) with Jeff Coffin and the Nashville/Louisville Horns
Wordless Chorus
Phone Went West
cd # 3
Mahgeetah
Oh Sweet Nuthin(Velvet Underground)
Librarian
Bermuda Highway
Dondante
Run Thru
Smokin from Shootin
Touch Me Pt 2
Home Sweet Home(Mötley Crüe) featuring Zach Galifianakis as Annie
FOB DPA(B&K) 4011s->Luminous Monarchs->SD 722 @ 24/96.SD722 ->Wavelad(dither/resample)->CD Wave (tracking) ->
Wavelab 5(edit)-> FLAC. Recorded in the pouring rain with a little luck and transfered by Mark Lynn(mark@ninebullets.org).
Toubab Krewe is playing Friday at the State Theater - they’re good enough to see