Login for Favorites
EDIT INFOMy Morning Jacket - Z
Tweet
Album Details
- Artist: My Morning Jacket
- Album: Z
- Label: ATO
- Year of Release: 2005
- ME Rating:
- Reviewed by: dscanland on 2006-01-24
RecommendZ is quite a departure from My Morning Jacket's previous effort, It Still Moves. Z contains quite a few more pop references and influences. It seems like the boys are having a little more fun and are able to convey those fun feelings into their music quite easily. It Still Moves came off quite dark. I'm not sure if it was the recording technique used or whether Jim James intended this feeling. While Z ends up even more listenable to the uninitiated. The album definitely still has its moody moments like the closing track "Dondante" but overall, much more lighthearted than their previous release. I would think this would be a good album to dive into MMJ's music. The huge reverb on Jim's vocals is still there but the sound of them recording in a grain silo is gone. I think Z is My Morning Jacket's finest offering yet. Still not a perfect album but one that will please very many people. Definitely check out "It Beats For You". It is one of the best tracks that 2005 had to offer. If you don't get, just listen to it one more time.
User Reviews and Comments
Log In or Register to Rate Albums
User Rating:
Write your own review
Tell us why this album is great or sucks ass, or correct the reviewer. If you write enough quality reviews you may find yourself on the editorial staff.
Reviews have to be over 100 words, shorter ones are classed as comments.
Tell us why this album is great or sucks ass, or correct the reviewer. If you write enough quality reviews you may find yourself on the editorial staff.
Reviews have to be over 100 words, shorter ones are classed as comments.
Log In or Register to Rate AlbumsReview:
on 2006-10-12 lacali12 Said:
Wailing guitars, catchy riffs, loud drums, rhythm guitar and vocal theatrics are the constituents of Z, My Morning Jacket’s newest album. The band, who hails from Louisville, lost two of its members prior to recording Z and was faced with a critical decision concerning the bands future: retire My Morning Jacket or find new band members. Thankfully for us, the three remaining members decided on the latter option and signed keyboardist Bo Koster and guitarist Carl Broemel onto the band. These new members joined singer-guitarist and songwriter Jim James, bassist Two-Tone Tommy, and drummer Patrick Hallahan.
With the band’s new future in front of them, they decided to record their album in upstate New York’s Allaire Studios, which provides a more rural setting than the suburbs of Louisville, where the band had previously recorded the album It Still Moves.
In It Still Moves the band utilized echoing vocal effect, chamber percussion and discernable bass lines. The same techniques are prevalent on Z in “Wordless Chorus,” “Gideon,” and “It Beats for You.” Another point of interest is the guitar and keyboard sounds that form contermelodies that enrich the musical content.
Using an array of sounds and instruments including acoustic guitar, flutes, whistles and samples Z has proven itself as a very carefully orchestrated album.
One of my personal favorite album tracks is “Anytime.” The track is eclectic in its poppy guitar and playful keyboard melodies. Singer Jim James takes a page out of Morrissey's (Smiths era) book in his low-pitched whining.
While it is well orchestrated, the album is mundane at points in “Knot Comes Loose" blatantly annoying due to the band's failure to create a folk sound using a traveling guitar. In addition, the track does not fit with the styles prevalent on the rest of the album.
While most of the arrangements and melodies prove to be quite catchy and aloof, Jim James’ lyrical talents are mediocre: on “Off the Record” a verse reads “Well You Knew All This/ Would Turn To Mist/ If Your Idea Wasn't Kissed - Why're You So Pissed?”
Tracks to Check Out:
Wordless Chorus
Off the Record
Anytime
Lewis Corson
lacali12@gmail.com
Age 17
Rating: 7/10
