My Morning Jacket

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I'm listening to this for the first time, and so far I really, really like it. I didn't care for "It Still Moves" all that much. This album feels somehow less boring so far. "Wordless Chorus" is a neat song - it sounds kind of like Steve Miller or Joe Walsh singing with a cutesy indie pop band.

― Hurting (Hurting), Thursday, 20 October 2005 00:15 (twenty years ago)

How can you not like "It Still Moves"? It was a diverse and vibrant album. Mind you though, their new one is also very enjoyable. I personally like "Off the Record" and "What A Wonderful Man".

― jamesdeaner, Thursday, 20 October 2005 00:30 (twenty years ago)

I didn't dislike "It Still Moves". In fact I felt like I heard something really good in it that just wasn't quite coming to the surface, and now it came to the surface more. If that makes any sense.

― Hurting (Hurting), Thursday, 20 October 2005 00:31 (twenty years ago)

"Off the Record" gets a little too jammy for me (reminds me of the second half of Can't You Hear Me Knocking), but then the album picks up again with "Into the Woods"

― Hurting (Hurting), Thursday, 20 October 2005 00:32 (twenty years ago)

i like it a lot. wordless chorus is great, dondate is an amazing closer. fuck the copy protection though.

― jonathan - stl (jonathan - stl), Thursday, 20 October 2005 00:36 (twenty years ago)

Zzzzzzzzz ...

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Thursday, 20 October 2005 01:48 (twenty years ago)

Somebody give Josh the door prize.

― Hurting (Hurting), Thursday, 20 October 2005 01:52 (twenty years ago)

This album just gets better and better.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Thursday, 20 October 2005 01:54 (twenty years ago)

How much different does this record sound than "It Still Moves"? I really liked that one, but when I saw these guys on Conan last week it sounded like they were trying to update their sound with something more fashionable, with meh results.

― Keith C (lync0), Thursday, 20 October 2005 02:32 (twenty years ago)

I guess it does feel a little like they're making a concerted effort to say "Hey, we're not just an Americana band".

― Hurting (Hurting), Thursday, 20 October 2005 02:44 (twenty years ago)

i really like this album, but i regret the decision to drop the reverb and bring the vocals out more. ends up making them sound a bit to close to modest mouse or your average indie band...

― Brett G. (Brett G.), Thursday, 20 October 2005 08:39 (twenty years ago)

I've played it once only and if all you critics are correct, it must be a grower.

Not one track grabbed me like 'Golden' did from the last one

― Jessie the Drunk Dutch Mountain Dog (Jessie the Drunk Dutch Mountai), Thursday, 20 October 2005 10:30 (twenty years ago)

i love how off the record gets all spacey and whatnots at the end

cool album

― harshaw (jube), Thursday, 20 October 2005 13:14 (twenty years ago)

for a second i thought this thread was about some my morning jacket / Jay-Z bootleg. Oh well :-)

― spin dr. wolf (idle hands), Thursday, 20 October 2005 13:22 (twenty years ago)

I got 99 Problems but a good song ain't one.

― Chris O., Thursday, 20 October 2005 13:34 (twenty years ago)

I guess it does feel a little like they're making a concerted effort to say "Hey, we're not just an Americana band".

-- Hurting (Hurtingchie...), October 20th, 2005. (Hurting) (later) (link)

OTM, and it totally works, to these ears.

― foxy boxer (stevie), Thursday, 20 October 2005 14:17 (twenty years ago)

On a few more listens, I'd say I like maybe half the album. First two tracks are really good, especially Wordless Chorus. Really catchy.

Quick, no one post on this thread so we can avoid the embarassment of looking like we like anything that gets played on AAA stations!

― Hurting (Hurting), Friday, 21 October 2005 03:07 (twenty years ago)

they fucking nailed it a couple of weeks ago in N'ville.
Z's on the "to buy" list.

― Will (will), Friday, 21 October 2005 04:30 (twenty years ago)

Lay Low is about it.

― bingo (Chris V), Friday, 21 October 2005 09:08 (twenty years ago)

I don't think I'll ever get this band. You can go to some club and find exactly this minus the reverb. It's because they are on a indie label, huh?

― samg (samg), Friday, 21 October 2005 17:00 (twenty years ago)

they aren't on an indie label

― aaron d.g. (aaron d.g.), Friday, 21 October 2005 17:11 (twenty years ago)

You're not on an indie label.

― samg (samg), Friday, 21 October 2005 17:15 (twenty years ago)

How is this the best record of the year, according to Metacritic? Nobody's going to mistake 2005 with 1971 or 1977, but still...this is the best we've got in 2005?

These guys just are not my cup of tea.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Friday, 21 October 2005 17:19 (twenty years ago)

Coming from someone with a name of kornrulez if I was MMJ I would take the fact you don't like them as a badge of honor.

― Jim Reckling (Jim Reckling), Friday, 21 October 2005 17:45 (twenty years ago)

My name is ironical, turkey. Geez, some people.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Friday, 21 October 2005 17:48 (twenty years ago)

I don't think I'll ever get this band.

Hey, that's fine. To each his own.

You can go to some club and find exactly this minus the reverb.

No.

It's because they are on a indie label, huh?

Give me a break.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Friday, 21 October 2005 17:56 (twenty years ago)

Anyway, I don't think Z is anywhere near as good as At Dawn, but I like it better than Tennessee Fire or It Still Moves. I like the move toward a more conventional sound, mostly because the songwriting doesn't suffer as a result. There are a few relative stinkers, but I can overlook it.

Not my favorite album of the year, but definitely top 10.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Friday, 21 October 2005 18:01 (twenty years ago)

Yeah like it was real obvious that you don't like korn.

― Jim Reckling (Jim Reckling), Friday, 21 October 2005 19:44 (twenty years ago)

'knot comes loose' - ahhhhhhhhh

― foxy boxer (stevie), Saturday, 22 October 2005 15:50 (twenty years ago)

I was somewhat underwelmed by At Dawn, but I was listening to Z today and was very pleasntly surprised.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Saturday, 22 October 2005 17:29 (twenty years ago)

Just listened to track: Gideon - sounds like a combination of recent Beta Band, U2, and Sunny Day Real Estate circa 2000

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 3 November 2005 14:43 (twenty years ago)

Don't put this dirty slut of a CD in your PC

― Keith C (lync0), Thursday, 3 November 2005 14:52 (twenty years ago)

Yes, the built-in software player is a pisser ... not allowing me to rip into iTunes or iPod properly. Had same issue with the Foo Fighters record. If this is where RCA is headed (both are on that label, or on related imprints), then they really need to start advertising this in big letters on the packaging, or at least work it out so that legit buyers can rip, as in, have a pass code that either disables the player or allows for one clean rip.

Pissed me off that I spent the money on this record just to get it onto my iPod -- and then couldn't do it.

That said, this record is extraordinarily odd ... in the good way. Splices all the best parts of mid-70s wonk rock together (Elton John, Traffic, Pink Floyd, songs of the South) but manages to be dreamier than that, too. The "Into the Woods" placement in mid-record is just ballsy -- what an f'n curveball. Best song is "Anytime," but my favorite is probably "It Beats 4 U." One complaint: The quality of James's lyrics seem to vary depending on sobriety. Some of it is just really awkward stoner riff-raff.

― Chris O., Thursday, 3 November 2005 18:37 (twenty years ago)

Keith C otm

http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/10/sony-rootkits-and-digital-rights.html

Sony copy-protected cds install rootkit on your computer

― milton parker (Jon L), Friday, 4 November 2005 02:28 (twenty years ago)

It played fine on my comp and I was able to rip it in iTunes with no problem.

― van igloo (van smack), Friday, 4 November 2005 02:32 (twenty years ago)

yay apple

― milton parker (Jon L), Friday, 4 November 2005 02:38 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

Just heard "Off the Record" for 1st time. 1st song I've heard that's made me think it should have been on my top ten singles list.

An uncharacteristic song for these guys? (Hadn't heard them before.)

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 27 December 2005 04:54 (twenty years ago)

It's a little more jangly than some of the other album tracks, but it's not (to my ears) significantly so. Jim James reminds me of Evan Dando a little on "Anytime" , but not unpleasantly so. The earlier albums are spacier, more dreamy-reverbish, and the kind of thing hip kids like to refer to as 'alt-country influenced' , though I'll be damned if I know what that means.

― remy (x Jeremy), Tuesday, 27 December 2005 05:05 (twenty years ago)

It seemes I like to end sentences with the word "so."

― remy (x Jeremy), Tuesday, 27 December 2005 05:07 (twenty years ago)

I don't think it's particularly uncharacteristic. You should check out all of Z if you like it, and then just work your way backwards. Z is fucking fantastic, btw. My #1 of the year, and they are brilliant live.

xxpost

― regular roundups (Dave M), Tuesday, 27 December 2005 05:12 (twenty years ago)

Hmm, it appears this is one record that didn't stay with me. Haven't felt the urge to throw it on once since the first few weeks I had it.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 27 December 2005 06:29 (twenty years ago)

two years pass...

This album is really boring, but man, "Wordless Chorus" just came on my shuffle and I forgot what a great song it is.

― Hurting 2, Thursday, 7 February 2008 16:35 (eighteen years ago)

I love this album. Of the four full-lengths it's neck-and-neck with Tennessee Fire as being my favorite. (It Still Moves is the only one I don't really like - a few terrific songs but overall too long, too bloated, too jammy.)

― pgwp, Thursday, 7 February 2008 17:41 (eighteen years ago)

hurting 1 > hurting 2

― The Macallan 18 Year, Thursday, 7 February 2008 19:44 (eighteen years ago)

I take the opposite opinion - It Still Moves is practically all golden. Z has a higher crap quotient than usual, although I'll have to reconsider "What a Wonderful Man" since learning that it's about a friend's suicide.

I am psyched for Evil Urges.

― Simon H., Thursday, 7 February 2008 19:56 (eighteen years ago)

Z has a higher crap quotient than usual

Yes, but the highs on Z -- e.g., Anytime, Gideon, Wordless Chorus and that surf/prog rock song -- are higher than they're prior highest peaks. So yeah, I'm excited for Evil Urges, too (also because it's a good title and this year has been so dismal so far for new releases, and it doesn't look to get much better soon).

― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:07 (eighteen years ago)

Ugghhh. "They're" = "their." What a stupid typo.

― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:08 (eighteen years ago)

This album is really boring, but man, "Wordless Chorus" just came on my shuffle and I forgot what a great song it is.

otmz

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:14 (eighteen years ago)

It Still Moves - solid as a rock.

― will, Thursday, 7 February 2008 20:59 (eighteen years ago)

er, I meant At Dawn - solid as a rock. It Still Moves is pretty decent, too. a couple of snoozers here and there, but I still listen to it.

― will, Thursday, 7 February 2008 21:00 (eighteen years ago)

Z has two low points - "What a Wonderful Man" and the circusy song - can't think of the title off the top of my head. But yeah, what Daniel said - the high points are really high. Especially the opener and closer.

― pgwp, Thursday, 7 February 2008 23:45 (eighteen years ago)

I read all the reviews and expected these guys to be like Lynard Skynard + mournful Space Cadet reverb or something. V v disappointed when I saw them live at ACL Fest and they turned out to be like String Cheese Incident or something.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 8 February 2008 01:22 (eighteen years ago)

ok lol @ this

The song "Mahgeetah" appeared in a beer commercial in 2005. They had initially sold the rights to the song to Coors under the impression that it would be used for a Coors Light advertisement. Upon finding that the commercial had been released supporting the new Coors Aspen Edge, they donated every cent of the proceeds to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and swore to never do another commercial.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 8 February 2008 01:31 (eighteen years ago)

I really only know ISM and AD, but I like those two and good deal. I saw em open for GBV like 6 years ago not knowing anything about them (which I felt wast true for most of the audience) and those dudes really one the crowd over. More hard-rockin and beard-swingin, less String Cheese.

― will, Friday, 8 February 2008 01:31 (eighteen years ago)

won

― will, Friday, 8 February 2008 01:33 (eighteen years ago)

I'm not the biggest fan of MMJ, but this might just be the greatest performance on Conan ever.

― Belldog, Friday, 8 February 2008 03:19 (eighteen years ago)

Man-o-man are MMJ good live. I saw them at Langerado last year. They were the one band that could unite the hippy-dippy and indie rock crowds.

MMJ ARE UNITERS, NOT DIVIDERS.

― Daniel, Esq., Friday, 8 February 2008 03:32 (eighteen years ago)

two years pass...

SHE SAID BOY YOU BETTER LEARN TO EXPRESS!!! YOURSELF!!!

― markers, Wednesday, 20 October 2010 20:40 (fifteen years ago)

Looking back, this is the shark jump album.

― Badmotorfinger Debate Club (MFB), Thursday, 21 October 2010 00:37 (fifteen years ago)

― markers, Thursday, 21 October 2010 02:54 (fifteen years ago)

nah that was the one before it

― moar organs (electricsound), Thursday, 21 October 2010 02:55 (fifteen years ago)

i still love this band

― Bee OK, Thursday, 21 October 2010 04:08 (fifteen years ago)

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My Morning Jacket - Z