Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
BOLD, BAFFLING, and BRILLIANT., 20 Jun 2008
Other My Morning Jacket albums have hinted at the bands eclectic approach to their music and influences, but none of their studio albums have ventured this far into new territory.Evil Urges is the sound of a band at its most playfully creative, and the results are a joyous mix of the expected and the slightly surreal.Like the Flaming Lips before them My Morning Jacket are not afraid to take chances and hope their audience keeps up.
Perhaps the most controversial track is "Highly Suspicious" which steals from Prince, with added oddness in its chorus.However this is just one surprise as Evil Urges builds to the climatic modern space rock epic "Good Intentions" that closes this uplifting, but mind boggling set of songs.It takes guts to break so completely from accepted norms, and the joy of Evil Urges is in its willingness to do just that.The main comparison i can think of is to imagine Neil Young emerging as a young talent today with 50 years of rock history to work with,i reckon he would be producing music not dissimilar to this, which is the highest praise i can give.
With the success of bands like My Morning Jacket, Death Cab For Cutie, and Modest Mouse, American left field pop has not looked this healthy since the early Nineties, and is really showing the way for creative music in this new century.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Naive Over Indulgence, 13 Jul 2008
As a huge fan of My Morning Jacket, I was eagerly anticipating Evil Urges, having listened relentlessly to It Still Moves and Z and purchased all the earlier albums too. The reverb drenched vocals, existential lyrics, beautiful melodies balanced superbly with some heavy guitar work, have drawn comparisons with Neil Young, but despite the grand nature of their sound, a playful exuberance is never too far around the corner and its that ability not to take themselves too seriously, which has made them so listenable. I can pretty much put them on at any time of day in any mood and their music fits. That fine balance of intensity and playfulness has been tipped very firmly in the playfulness direction and that harmony they've achieved in the past, is not to be found in this latest effort from them, Evil Urges. I get the feeling that with success and perhaps a lot of sex, Jim James has decided to just have some light hearted fun, making an album that could even be a homage to Prince in its attempt at sexiness. It sounds like it was made in the space of an evening (a friday night on the piss most probably), rather than the manifestation of years of profound introspective thought. The track Highly Suspicious made me want to adopt the brace position. I hope, like the morning after a night out, they will wake up smiling, but suitably ashamed and ready to start being serious again. I hope it sells though and wish them nothing but the best. I'm seeing them live next week and I just pray they play some of the old stuff!
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Unintelligent experimentation, 23 Jul 2008
How was THIS the album that turned My Morning Jacket into a band that could play Radio City Music Hall, Red Rocks, and Madison Square Garden?! Even weirder was all the press they got right before this album came out, as if it was going to be a masterpiece or something. Where was all the press when they came out with GOOD music? I usually love when a band moves onto something new in their songwriting, and "Z" was an excellent example of not making the same old album all over again and bringing the listener something fresh and exciting... but the new "ideas" on this album are shallow and lousy... don't expand yourself if you can't do it, MMJ.
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