Boston Channel - Jam Band?

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/entertainment/5175504/detail.html

CD Review: My Morning Jacket Refine Their Sound
Jam Band Releases Fourth Full-Length Disc
David Hyland

My Morning Jacket

The Louisville, Ken., quintet earned a coveted slot jam-band scene

Rising stars

The band's previous major works, "It Still Moves" and "At Dawn," were pleasing enough records that established the band's unique sound.

The group's most pronounced sonic characteristics have always been singer/guitarist Jim James's heavy-on-the-ol' reverb vocals (his lyrics are as indistinct as any sung by early Michael Stipe) and their songs' long instrumental passages (this even though the group boasts no star-quality instrumentalists).

It is their use Marshall-stack-powered guitars and maybe James' slight Southern lilt that have earned the group comparisons to '70s rock titans like Neil Young or Lynard Skynard or the Allman Brothers. (Hey, the band even has a cameo appearance in the new flick "Elizabethtown," which was written and directed by that champion of all things classic rock, Cameron Crowe.)

But the group's greatest weakness was the kind of blasé feel of the songs. Each song sounded so similar to the one before it, and the structures were so lax that the purpose was always diluted. While on some level the songs were enjoyable, it too often gave listeners' minds a chance to wander off.

The group's newest outing, "Z," take a step forward to rectify the problem. It builds on the groundwork of their first albums but refines their sound. The band has distilled their music down to the core elements and worked to make each song a standalone piece. More specifically, they've emphasized those blues and country influences that were previously washed out in all that echo and then just toughened up the guitars.

The disc isn't a dramatic improvement on their formula, but a step in the ladder. It should reinforce the group's standing with the Bonnaroo crowd. And gazing into the future, we can see a day when My Morning Jacket will be headliners of jam band festivals. This is the record that will get them there.

Besides a couple of new band members, the most discernible new ingredient to band's circle is the presence of album producer John Leckie. One can easily detect the influence of Leckie's most famous clients -- Radiohead -- early on in the record. "It Beats 4 U" has the identical off-kilter rhythm found on "Paranoid Android" and James' voice is treated with as much holy-spirit reverence as Thom Yorke's. Both "It Beats 4 U" and disc's opening track, "Wordless Chorus," are filled with LSD-inspired auditory pulsations that reassure listeners that they are in fact on a trip of sorts.

"Off The Record" Ska guitar rhythms

"Lay Low"

James' yearning intonations eventually surrender to sizzling guitars

The song devolves to Guitar workouts Searching that would make Santana

"Knot Comes Loose" Bongos, piano and acoustic guitar, steel guitar

[fitzcarraldo]

MMJ is Not a Jam Band!  >:(

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/entertainment/5175504/detail.html

The disc isn't a dramatic improvement on their formula, but a step in the ladder. It should reinforce the group's standing with the Bonnaroo crowd. And gazing into the future, we can see a day when My Morning Jacket will be headliners of jam band festivals. This is the record that will get them there.

I'm thinking this young man writing the review wishes they were something they're not.  No offense to jam bands or their fans (at times at which I'm one), but I'm thinking that they've gone beyond headlining a jam band festival.  This gentleman needs to get a educated on the band of which he writes.  

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

Point Number One:  My Morning Jacket isn't a "jam band"

Point Number Two:  There's nothing wrong with being a "jam band"

Point Number Three:  This guy probably thinks MMJ is "southern rock" or "southern fried" or some other ridiculous label.

Jesus, just find your own opinion on the band and their sound.  Lazy ass writers.  Can I have their jobs?  I bet I could write a thousand times better than this hack.