Is it just me or does that look like John McCain from behind in that picture?
Alright, a little bit of history here- I didn't get into My Morning Jacket until Z came out in 2005. I, like everyone else, thought it was pretty great. Then I went back into their older albums and found that Z was actually just a little disappointing. It Still Moves was a masterpiece. At Dawn and The Tennessee Fire were both as good if not better than Z. So I wasn't sure what to expect from Evil Urges. I absolutely love their old hillbilly ways, but I hate it when a band doesn't try to change. But after hearing what came before it, Z seemed like a bad decision as far as experimenting goes. The best songs from that album, Lay Low and Knot Comes Loose, sounded like they could have been on their older albums.
So I've been listening to Evil Urges for a few days now and I'm finally starting to figure out what I want to say about it. It, like Z, is kind of a disappointment. In a way.
It's not a bad album at all, it's just sort of boring. It starts off pretty good with the title track. Jim James does his best Prince impersonation. The whole track sounds more like Z than anything else from this album. Lots of atmosphere. But in a good way. It changes it's sound three or four times throughout. It's basically MMJ saying "Look what we can do!!" Well, everything except the stupid deep voice that says "I'm ready for it nowwww" near the end. This song would have been close to a 10/10 without that shit.
"Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Part 1" is next and it sounds like straight up Roxy Music. It's the most interesting song on the album. It's hard to explain how it sounds. Just think MMJ doing Roxy Music with a nice portion of The Flaming Lips and you'll pretty much get it.
Then comes Highly Suspicious. The worst song they've ever done. It's pure garbage and they never should have fucking made it, let alone put it on the most important album of their career. It sounds like that awful song "Word Up"
After that things change. Their first three songs sounded like a continuation of Z. But then they go backwards. After that we get lots of songs that could have been on any of their first three albums, expect they also sound like old 70's soul songs. It's like, the songs are good but really mellow. After the twists and turns of the first three songs, why get so mellow?? It's kind of boring. One of my biggest, and shallowest, problems with this album is that there's nothing that kicks as much ass as Lay Low. Mostly it's just Jim James sounding like he's half asleep. The songs are nice, like I said, but what the hell are they doing here?
It's here that I start to think MMJ doesn't have a clue what they're doing. This album sounds like a 15 year olds first 4 track recording. They just write a bunch of songs, some go together, some don't, and they just throw them all together on the same record. Some bands can handle doing lots of different styles on a single album, but with Evil Urges it just ends up seeming disjointed. The first part, the middle and that last section all sound like they belong on different albums.
The last two songs on the album, Smokin' from Shootin' and Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Part 2 are a great one two punch to end this album, but after everything that comes before it you get the sense they were written for something completely different.
Remember how I said I like when a band expands it's sound? MMJ have always had a problem doing this. They can't seem to figure out how to expand their OWN sound. When they try to be different they just copy other peoples sounds. Z, their "breakthrough", sounded like Coldplay at times. On this record they sound like everyone from Prince (Evil Urges) to James Taylor (Sec Walkin, which is probably the best song on the whole album), to Jack White (Librarian). When Radiohead and Wilco changed directions with their sound, it sounded right. It sounded like the next logical step they'd take. With My Morning Jacket, it sounds like they're just taking influences and just jamming them on their records. I still love this band and I know I've spent a lot of time complaining about this album but it really isn't bad. Hell, a lot of it sounds like it would be pretty good music for a small road trip at least. It's just not the huge step we all have been hoping they'd take. These are mostly good songs but next time, please MMJ, be yourselves. You guys were best when you weren't trying to be other people.
7.0/10. Best songs- "Sec Walkin", "Smokin' from Shootin'", "Thank You Too"
Worst songs- "Highly Suspicious", Remnants"
-M
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