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CD Review: My Morning Jacket ‘Evil Urges’
My Morning Jacket
‘Evil Urges’ (ATO)
Consider My Morning Jacket — the very name has become a mark of quality as the Louisville outfit has snuggled into its role as rock band du jour for the “All Things Considered”-and-New Yorker crowd.
Classic guitar rock nerds who ended up indie rock scene-makers, MMJ’s fifth album is a very clear next step move, the aesthetic progression after the 2005 breakthrough “Z.” “Evil Urges,” their fifth album, is their futzing-around-with-other-genres record and as has been widely reported, their favorite new sound is Prince. (And really, who doesn’t want to be Prince?)
MMJ leader Jim James’ voice is still closer to (his obvious idol) Richard Manuel, his music closer to Crazy Horse guitar rock than the purple one’s voice or funk, but he’s able to rock a Princely squeak on the sharp title track, which assumes most evil urges are merely desires we’ve been encouraged not to indulge.
But it’s “Highly Suspicious” that longs to be a “Sign O’ the Times” B-side. James stretches his falsetto as far as it will go in the service of lyrics such as “peanut butter pudding surprise!” The Muppet-grunting on the chorus puts tongue firmly in cheek and even the guitar solo tries for Revolution-style overkill. Impressive, frankly.
In fact, the first four songs are uniformly excellent. In addition to the above, “Touch Me I’m Going To Scream,” with its electronic smears, sounds like a well-meaning Wilco tribute, but works anyway. ‘I’m Amazed” is their modernized Southern-rock at its catchiest.
James’ metier is also rock at its most medium-soft. A tendency towards the dull has been MMJ’s Achilles heel; even the band’s spaciest guitar jams feel faintly restrained. “Sec Walkin” tries to find Nixon-era soul and somehow ends up at the corner of Fogleberg in downtown Atlanta Rhythm Section.
It’s to his credit that James never quite comes off as smug, exactly, but there’s something suspect about his awe-shucks vibe. Acoustic guitar plucking out the melody, He sings about the local nerd-hot “Librarian” (“Take off those glasses and let down your hair for me”) as if he discovered the look himself.
But his many fans will forgive him. In tense and uncertain times, “Evil Urges” makes listeners feel good about themselves. That’s more than enough for most.
Recommended: “I’m Amazed,” “Evil Urges”
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Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Music, Reviews
Comments
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By Stan
June 9, 2008 8:42 PM | Link to this
This CD is genius, what are you saying, 3 stars?
Do you not hear the innovative magic of this?
Joe, please Joe, listen again.
By Stacy
June 10, 2008 2:40 PM | Link to this
Gotta agree with Stan on this one. I have a feeling this will be considered one of the top 5 albums of the year by December. Write it down…