CHUD.com Community › Forums › MUSIC › Music › My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges

post #1 of 9
6/22/08 at 6:47pm
Thread Starter 
I didn't see a discussion yet, hope I didn't miss it...

I've just started listening and am not sure what I think about the entire album, but I will say:

1. Listening to "Highly Suspicious" tells me that MMJ got the same joke that The Darkness got from late-70s/early-80s metal, and in fact may be better at re-telling that joke.

2. In fact, the saving grace for the entire album may be the only-barely-winking '70s riffs throughout. "Thank You Too!" and "Sec Walkin'" borrow heavily from "The Long Run"-era Eagles, and "Touch Me...pt 2" has that disco vibe that almost all popular music had picked up by 1979. I'm not coming up with any names, but in other spots the album strongly evokes for me the late-70s pop country sound (all I can think of right now is Ronnie Milsap and that isn't quite accurate).

3. The album is falling flat for me in the 2nd half right now. Songs like "Look At You" and "Remnants," at least after just a few listens, sound more like a lesser band trying to do the alt-country thing, or maybe a Jupiter Coyote throw-away.

4. And I don't know what to think about "Librarian" lyrically. It's so straightforward at first listen and it may be terrible shmaltz or clever tongue-in-cheek stuff.

This all may come back to bite me, because my impressions often change over time. Anyone else listening to this yet?
Reply
post #2 of 9
6/22/08 at 7:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianM View Post
4. And I don't know what to think about "Librarian" lyrically. It's so straightforward at first listen and it may be terrible shmaltz or clever tongue-in-cheek stuff.
Oh, I have some opinions about it...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Me, with my dander all up
Imagine, if you will, that you are the librarian in this song. You’re going about your business, probably doing some cataloging while you work the reference shift, maybe thumbing through this week’s PW, listening to Karen Carpenter on the sly, hoping the director doesn’t hear it and put another one of those obnoxious, passive-aggressive memos about conduct on the reference desk in your mailbox instead of just, Jesus, confronting you, when you hear it. Heavy breathing behind you, coming from somewhere in the 700s. You try to look over your shoulder without really looking, because eye contact in these situations can be fatal and, God, what if it’s one of the masturbators again and you have to call security and file and incident report and get the cleaning staff to bring some disinfectant… But you manage to look without really looking and, sure enough, you see a pair of eyes staring right at you, right above Popular Mechanics. You turn around, turn up the radio a little, pull the phone a little closer. You make eye contact with Kate, who works at circ. You roll your eyes. She’ll ask you how “your boyfriend” is later. You’ll both laugh. You need a raise.
Reply
post #3 of 9
6/23/08 at 12:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianM View Post
I didn't see a discussion yet, hope I didn't miss it...

I've just started listening and am not sure what I think about the entire album, but I will say:

1. Listening to "Highly Suspicious" tells me that MMJ got the same joke that The Darkness got from late-70s/early-80s metal, and in fact may be better at re-telling that joke.
This one doesn't sound like late-70s/early-80s metal to me, but rather like an 80s funk thing. Somewhere between Prince or The Time and Cameo. I thought they came closest to Darkness-like theatrical levity on "What a Wonderful Man" from the last album.

"Highly Suspicious" seems to be the big lightning rod for lovers or haters of this album. I think it's kind of fun, but it's so clearly a one-off, jokey experiment that I have trouble taking it too seriously for good or ill. "Evil Urges" mines some of the same falsetto/funk territory, but it comes off like less of a goof.

Quote:
2. In fact, the saving grace for the entire album may be the only-barely-winking '70s riffs throughout. "Thank You Too!" and "Sec Walkin'" borrow heavily from "The Long Run"-era Eagles, and "Touch Me...pt 2" has that disco vibe that almost all popular music had picked up by 1979. I'm not coming up with any names, but in other spots the album strongly evokes for me the late-70s pop country sound (all I can think of right now is Ronnie Milsap and that isn't quite accurate).
Yeah, they've gradually been expanding their range into areas outside the rootsy, Neil Young type of stuff they made their name on, but even their other reference points on this album are mostly rooted in the 70s. I like Z a lot better, but in a lot of ways, it's much less risky. It made a lot of sense for a band coated in reverb to dabble in U2-like atmospherics, and a band with an occasionally anthemic quality to bust out "Anytime," which sounds like a Who/Replacements hybrid.

Here, it's a lot more haphazard. There are the funk/soul experiments, a couple slightly metallic/hard rock songs that come from the same place as "What a Wonderful Man" ("Aluminum Park," "Remnants"), a few that sound roughly like old MMJ ("I'm Amazed," "Two Halves"), and a few ballads.

It reminds me of Rilo Kiley's Under the Blacklight in that the band is consciously trying out styles of music they clearly love, but aren't really known for playing. I think Under the Blacklight works a little better in this sense, despite a few missteps. Adventurousness and pop frivolity suits Rilo Kiley. Until recently, MMJ weren't really known for humor or pop music, and both come off a little forced on Evil Urges. Not surprisingly, the best songs are those that sound like old MMJ, but feature a welcome new commitment to shorter, catchier compositions, like "Two Halves."

Quote:
4. And I don't know what to think about "Librarian" lyrically. It's so straightforward at first listen and it may be terrible shmaltz or clever tongue-in-cheek stuff.
Like I said in the comments on MissZooey's blog post, I think "Librarian"'s failures have as much to do with James not being a competent straightforward storyteller as his bizarre, possibly condescending (if we're to take the song on its face) perspective on gender roles and librarians. Either way, I think it's the unsung worst song on the album, but it's getting overlooked because "Highly Suspicious" is so unusual and polarizing.
Reply
post #4 of 9
6/23/08 at 1:51pm
It's weird. I really like the song Evil Urges. The rest of the album left me totally cold. Some of them are pleasant enough (I'm Amazed, Remnants) but nothing that totally blows me away. I like that the band is pushing themselves, but I think this album finds them either pushing too hard or not hard enough.
Reply
post #5 of 9
6/24/08 at 7:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Parker View Post
It's weird. I really like the song Evil Urges. The rest of the album left me totally cold.

Absolutely agree here. Evil Urges is on constant loop on my ipod, and the rest sort of just hangs there.
Reply
post #6 of 9
6/25/08 at 11:54am
Thread Starter 
That's what's getting the most play by me so far as well, although "I'm Amazed" and "Two Halves" are perfectly nice songs. And I wouldn't give "Highly Suspicious" back. It's fun (I see what DaveB is saying with the Prince and Cameo comparisons, I'm hearing more Kings' X or a Mike Patton project).

EDIT: Zooey, I love the "You'll both laugh. You need a raise." from your blog. That entire entry = very entertaining.
Reply
post #7 of 9
7/6/08 at 11:42am
However much subtext and layering there might be in a MMJ song, Jim James has always been a heart on his sleeve guy. You can probably take any song literally if you so wish.
Reply
post #8 of 9
7/10/08 at 11:38am
Finally got around to listening to this a few times. Apart from "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Pt. 2," there really aren't any jaw-dropping moments on the album (and even that one is just somewhat of a "Chocolate and Ice" EP rehash).

Maybe a little time and seeing the songs live will see me warm up to the album (ala Sky Blue Sky), but as of right now, not much here is going to make it onto my "Best of MMJ" playlist.
Reply
post #9 of 9
1/9/09 at 5:59pm
Thread Starter 
Well, it's been six months and I'm going to have to call this one a failure (for me). Mostly because I feel almost exactly the same about the songs as I did the after the first few listens. I can get into the groove of "Touch Me...pt. 2" when it comes on and find most of the rest listenable ("Librarian" usually gets me reaching for the remote), but I play everything else by them a lot more often.

Pissed that I missed MMJ's Austin City Limits appearance, I'd like to hear what they are doing with these songs live.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Music
CHUD.com Community › Forums › MUSIC › Music › My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges