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Album Description: 2008 reissure of Z, the fourth album by rock band My Morning Jacket. This collection features a much spacier and polished sound than previous MMJ releases, making heavy use of synthesizers throughout and incorporating small bits of reggae and dub. The heavy reverb, a characteristic of the band's recordings previous to Z, is largely absent.Amazon.com: Two years and a pair of band members have passed since My Morning Jacket's last album, and the respite seems to have reinvented the Louisville, Ky., band and its leader Jim James. Shelved are the boogie-soaked country and hard-stomping metal of the first three records--assuring that all links to Lynyrd Skynyrd are hereby obsolete--and the sleek maturation of James's wailing, echoing falsetto may have even nullified the Neil Young comparisons. Using the guitar as a complement more than as a weapon, songwriter James has simplified the sound where keyboards take the lead and choruses play like a '70s AM radio. While songs like "Anytime" and "What a Wonderful Man" channel the old MMJ sound, they do so with less chaos and more spontaneity. That's the trend for the record's best: "Wordless Chorus" and its infectious "aaaah" refrain, the Hawaii Five-O-riffed ska of "Off the Record" and a Stranglers-minded carnival waltz, "Into the Woods." Serving as a pop-music paradigm that change is good, Z is ambitious, groundbreaking and downright impeccable. --Scott Holter
Customer Reviews:
- Just Discoered!: My 20 year old son left this CD in my car and I just discovered how excellent this album is. In the likes of the Shins and older Shoes and early R.E.M. Great, eclectic rhythms and lyrics. Just an all around great CD. I cannot believe I have never heard of this group before????
- The must have album from the bands discography: Overall, a great rock album, showcases Jim James' and the bands diversity within the rock genre, Well mastered. Jim James' vocals are lodged in your head and the band has a certain Jam element that I love. The perfect sounds of the keyboards as well as the arrangements and the variety of Jim's vocals make it special. I would give it 4.5 out of 5.
- This little CD won't make you catch the Zzzzzz's...: There's something that happens to good and interesting bands, well they change. For some bands it just takes sheer boredom, boredom with their signature sound, for some it takes a spirit of creativity and experimentalism, and for some it takes tragedy. Louisville, Kentucky's Jim James, and his fellow daybreak jackets, experience a little bit of turmoil and tragedy leading up to 2005's release of Z, My Morning Jacket's (as best as I can come up with) fourth studio album.
Leading up to Jacket's Z, founding band member, Johnny Quaid (no relation to Dennis), and guitarist departed the band along with the keyboardist Danny Cash. The question is out there, will Quaid and Cash someday become the infamous 5th Beatles? I'll answer that one now, nope, neither one have been associated with the Beatles, only My Morning Jacket so it's kind of an impossibility.
So you didn't come here to read this to listen to my random inane ramblings. You want to know the dish and dirt on Z. Is it any good? Should I bother spending time listening to it and getting to know it? Will I be considered a middle aged hipster if I start claiming allegiance to My Morning Jacket's ever growing legion of loyal fans? The answers my fellow Amazonians are yes, yes, and heck yeah!
Some people would say that My Morning Jacket became the next Wilco with the release of Z. Well, that would be shorting MMJ methinks. They are this eclectic amalgam whose music is very hard to pigeonhole. The musicality is off the charts. The first track, Wordless Chorus, has this 70's easy funk R&B groove going on. Track 2, Dondante, hits you with James' ghost-like high wail. There's something ethereal about his voice as it climbs into the high registers. Gideon, track 4, is a little musical masterpiece including symphonic arrangements with beating on a tymphonic drum I believe.
Track 7, Anytime, is the radio friendly indie superhit that comes off as My Morning Jacket doing a riff on Pela riffing on Arcade Fire who in turn is really riffing on My Morning Jacket. Complicated, I know, but follow me here. My Morning Jacket is a sound all its own, in a class all its own.
I don't doubt we'll be hearing much from them in the future as they forever evolve. I haven't dug into their 2008 release Evil Urges, which oddly enough I couldn't find on Amazon just now to stick in a link for youse guys. Evil Urges...ohh there it is...so sorry 'bout that. You won't want to miss a minute of Z, MMJ's real and they mean it. --mmw - joyfull noise: i was very pleased by the work that My Morning Jacket put out on this album. they are awesome thought, so i wasnt surprised! off the record would have to be one of my favorites on this one ; )
- "Z" is a Keeper: For fans of MMJ, this album is a continuation of an impressive, enjoyable body of work from these Kentuckians. The reverb on the vocals really make the album for me. I'm looking forward to their new album coming out!
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