Okonokos Reviews

[CC]

http://www.allgigs.co.uk/Reviews.php?review=EllyRoberts/mymorningjacket-okonokos

[SiOuxTribe]

"Patrick Hallam"

[LaurieBlue]

http://media.www.michigandaily.com/media/storage/paper851/news/2006/10/27/Music/Live-And.Let.Live-2406207.shtml?sourcedomain=www.michigandaily.com&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com

Live and let live
A little bit of sweet Kentucky at the Fillmore West
Lloyd H. Cargo
Posted: 10/27/06
The live album, especially the double live album, is a risky proposition for most bands.

Wilco pulled it off spectacularly last year, with Kicking Television, by letting Nels Cline stretch out over their normally restrained material. My Morning Jacket finds similar success with Okonokos (also to be released as a DVD on Oct. 31) by doing the opposite. Initially MMJ were a band that might actually play "Freebird" if some yokel screamed enough, but their most recent studio effort, Z, went after a much tighter, produced sound with more hooks than their three prior albums combined. No longer is Jim James's voice drenched in reverb, with an epic guitar solo in every song - and that treatment has been extended to the highlights of their back catalogue on this two-plus-hour set.

Fear not, long-time MMJ fans, that doesn't mean that there aren't a ton of face-melting guitar workouts on Okonokos. It just means more attention is being paid to the songs themselves. These dudes still have giant hair and Flying-Vs, but they seem to be distancing themselves from the southern rock aesthetic they were mining on At Dawn, Tennessee Fire, and even It Still Moves. For one, the concert was taped at the famed Fillmore West in San Francisco, pretty damn far from their rural Northern Kentucky base.

They make it clear right off the bat that this is going to be a no frills affair. The crowd noise is minimal and they don't pull out any rarities or obscure covers from their vast catalogue. Most of the songs are selected from their most recent albums, with Z's first three songs being replicated, in order, as the first three songs of Okonokos.

From there it's on to an early highlight, "One Big Holiday." As one instrument comes in after the other, the song builds into a massive groove that climaxes with one hell of a guitar solo. It's prototypical stadium rock, and it never fails to make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end.

As with most concerts, the show drags in some places, but the band avoids killing the momentum by putting ballads back to back. Still, for a band considered one of the best live acts around, Okonokos is lacking that extra little something that makes their concerts so special. Releasing a double live album is ambitious, and this may even make for the best introduction to the band in their catalogue, but it's not quite the home run it might have been.


Okonokos
My Morning Jacket
ATO/RCA


Rating: 3 and 1/2 out of 5 stars

[ycartrob]

Initially MMJ were a band that might actually play "Freebird" if some yokel screamed enough

I miss the good ol' days when you could scream Freebird enough so that the band would give in and play it...

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.rcarecords.com/images/press/MMJ_Harp_Review.jpg

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.scopecreep.com/Rhapsody/2006/10/my-morning-jacket-okonokos.html

[LaurieBlue]

http://blogger.xs4all.nl/werksman/archive/2006/11/01/143055.aspx

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.lansinglowdown.com/index.php/article/401

'Okonokos' defines My Morning Jacket's identity with soothing sound for listeners
By Trey Scroggin
November 1st, 2006
Rating
    
Details
"Okonokos"
My Morning Jacket

ATO/RCA Records

Lyrics: 4 stars

Music: 5 stars

Vocals: 5 stars

Replay: 4 stars

It moves, grooves, hums and soothes. It lives in the prolific lyrics, the captivating keyboards and the rich, singing guitars. It's "Okonokos," the epic two-disc live cut from My Morning Jacket.

After losing two of the original members just prior to the band's recording of its fourth studio album, "Z" - and just avoiding disaster - MMJ was sent looking for an identity.

With "Okonokos," they found it. Eight of the 10 tracks on "Z" are replayed live on the cut; this time with more definitive style and soul. Building off the album's majestic atmosphere, the live tracks feature the same grandiose feel, rocking the listener from head to toe, bringing them up and letting them down in wave after wave of sheer power.

But My Morning Jacket is more than good old-fashioned '70s jam rock. With roots in Louisville, Ky., MMJ finds musical inspiration from a range of sources. The group has fashioned lyrics after emotional soul singers, guitars that pick on the fringe of twang, rock and country and bass lines that suggest some hip-hop undertones. The resulting sound is one that has appeased both fans of '60s and '70s psychedelic music, as well as modern-day indie and rock 'n' roll fans.

They have a sound that can easily soothe listeners, allowing them to revel in the glorious lyrics and sweet keyboard backing - tracks such as "Gideon" or "Golden." Inspiration is never short at hand - MMJ expertly produces artistic tracks that blend captivating rock 'n' roll and soulful melody, such as "Wordless Chorus" and "It Beats 4 U." And when My Morning Jacket chooses to rock, it brings the whole house down with applause - "Mahgeetah," "One Big Holiday" and "Lay Low."

Perhaps nothing on "Okonokos" says "My Morning Jacket" quite like "Dondante" reworked. Led off by drummer Patrick Hallahan, each player in the five-piece outfit gradually fills in the sound with its own unique piece. Second to join is Jim James on a quietly-plucked guitar and lonely vocals.

After four minutes of beautiful harmony, the remaining three members join full force and launch into a melodic groove that is capped off by a duel of solos from both James and lead guitarist Carl Broemel. Producer John Leckie, who worked with the band on "Z," says the sounds of every song - particularly "Dondante" - are worked to James' voice and the continual reverb with which he experiments.

"Dondante" explores every aspect that makes MMJ unique. The song moves in a way that no music can - reverb at every turn, along with pitch and tempo changes, create a flowing, living object.

Mysterious and majestic - every aspect of the music My Morning Jacket creates contains both - and no single aspect of any song is more important than the other.

Following "Dondante," MMJ pushes on to "Run Thru" - faster paced, widely swinging and a full attack that once again pulls a musical 180 on the listener. Solo after solo and verse followed by chorus, James holds the notes for as long as possible - essentially feeling what he is communicating to his audience.

But while James' music is recorded and available to everyone, he believes My Morning Jacket's music to be largely one-time.

"My Morning Jacket retains some of that pre-recorded vibe. 'What a Wonderful Man' is like an explosion; 'Into the Woods' is like a mist; 'Anytime' is like a fast-moving cloud; 'Gideon' is a cloud that builds up. 'Dondante' is like a series of clouds above a requiem," said James on the band's Web site.

[dragonboy]

Not quite a review, amazon.com has a blog entry 'The Year Of The Live Album?' that mentions Okonokos:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/plog/post.html/ref=cm_blog_pl/102-1872334-2852162?ie=UTF8&pt=personalBlog&aid=PlogMyCustomersAgent&ot=customer&pd=11624055548

[Anu]

Let me add my review to the many, soon to be published on a webzine called Intermedia.

My Morning Jacket
Okonokos
Live DVD and Double CD, available separately
On ATO/RCA records

After all the hope and hype that's been heaped upon My Morning Jacket, it's amazing that the band can remain so humble. But somehow, being laid-back about their own fame and fabulousness is part of the group's fascinating gravity, an unpretentious and unassuming allure.

Allow me to summarize the superlative critical chorus: The Louisville, Kentucky quintet known as My Morning Jacket are, among many other extraordinary things, a magical musical combination of apparent opposites, a holy hybrid between roots and reverb, hippie and hipster, rural and urban, southern and northern, Grateful Dead and Radiohead.

To this amazing litany of literary license and juicy juxtapositions, I'd like to add that they're a rock version of visionary mythic creatures, worthy of JRR Tolkien novels, Jim Henson creations, and George Lucas films. That is, lead singer Jim James is a funkified Frodo, a post-punk Muppet, a jam-band Jedi.  

A fan-friendly and earnestly ambitious operation, My Morning Jacket honored this autumn by releasing a live CD in late September, hitting us on Halloween with a live DVD, and culminating the season with a 23-date tour beginning in the southeast in November and concluding on New Year's Eve in San Francisco, at the Fillmore where this concert film and live disc were recorded.

At a time when many other early-to-mid-career peers are teasing their fans with short 60-to-90 minute live sets (made even less palatable by high ticket prices), My Morning Jacket seem to only perform 20-song, two-hour testimonials to the love of their craft and their fanbase. In fact, My Morning Jacket have apparently decided to be a great rock band by any standards, in a manner that defies assumptions and unites categories, that gives fans what they want, what they need, what they paid for.

Okonokos as a name bears a striking resemblance to a tiny town in West Virginia, but apparently, is a phrase that came to lead singer Jim James while sleeping, and he remains open to its actual meaning or interpretation. The film is sandwiched by a surreal subtext conceived by James, situating the show in a magical forest. But essentially, it's a straightforward concert film, almost like a symphony in its musical integrity.

And James refrains from the between-song banter preferred by so many frontmen, his voice a mere instrument among many. This quality reminds us of early REM when Stipe's pipes soared without precise articulation. And today, this is the approach taken by Tool, where Maynard James Keenan's wails decisively woo and wander within the mix rather dominate it.

For a band to sustain our intoxicated attention for an entire studio album—much less a two-disc live set or lengthy DVD—is no small accomplishment in the I-pod age. But some listeners want more than three-minute morsels to add to the mixtape. My Morning Jacket blend classic rock perspiration with modern rock aspiration as though this were what they were born to do. Just a brief visit to the band's online forums, and we feel the fondness found among Deadheads and other hard-core fan communities that subsist without commercialism. Some fans crave the sustained intelligence, ingenuity, and inspiration invoked by only a handful of artists. While a live album could be a kind of joke for some artists, My Morning Jacket are so defined by their shows that such a
record was anticipated and appreciated, inevitable and inspirational.

My Morning Jacket deserve this devotion. And while Okonokos could serve as a greatest hits introduction, featuring as it does the best songs from studio albums Z, It Still Moves, At Dawn, and The Tennessee Fire, most listeners will prefer to treat this rousing set as its own religiously relevant combination, a sacred synthesis more than a mere compilation. Indeed, My Morning Jacket's sound infects people and inspires us to be serious fans more than casual listeners, people who will feel compelled to own the whole collection, not just the latest release, as amazing as that release might be.

[sweatboard]

Nice shout out to the forum.  We to will try and remain humble in the midst of our new found fame. :-*  Although someone needs to talk to Tom, at the last show I saw him signing autographs and takeing pictures with young girls while they stroked his beard.  I tried to get my picture with him to, but he was all like "sorry man, no pictures with dudes" then his press agent started "restraining" me.  Whatever.

[BH]

Very nice Anu!  I like it.

[TEO]

Brilliant and astounding! I did not think I could Love this Band any more than I already did but now I am head over heels once again.

[ellisintransit]

That was a wondeful piece to read Anu.  Well written.

[MMJ_fanatic]

"funkified Frodo, a post-punk Muppet, a jam-band Jedi. "
Holy Crap that's poetic.  

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.statepress.com/issues/2006/11/07/arts/698706

Listening live
 by Ashley Harris
 published on Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Recording a live album can be understandably tricky.

You can take the risk of recording only one show, praying that there are no technical hiccups or lyrical brain farts. You can also go the route of spanning over the course of several shows, like Denver-based, ska band Five Iron Frenzy, who picked the best tracks from more than 10 shows during a tour.

It takes a certain type of band with the support of extremely talented producers and mixers to ensure that the sounds - from instruments to vocals and even cheering from the audience - are going on the tape.

If it isn't enough pressure to perform well every night on stage, imagine the kind of stress My Morning Jacket might have been under as they recorded two nights in concert at The Fillmore in San Francisco.

This band is no stranger to live performance, having been around since 1998. Its impressive live show has created so much buzz that the band has been asked to such infamous festivals such as Austin City Limits, Coachella and even four times to the Bonnaroo, a record for the festival.

Take all of these factors and a little bit of luck and you have "Okonokos." With five members, My Morning Jacket pieces together perfectly on this album, creating a seamless recording that features a wide array of songs from the band's eight-year history, including "Steam Engine," "The Way That He Sings" and ending disc two with "Mahgeetah."

However, many say the true essence of a live show is exactly that - the show. That is why not only did My Morning Jacket release the aural aspect on Sept. 26, but the visual aspect with a subsequent DVD on Oct. 31.

It's impossible to not take in the entire experience in whatever way reaches you best, and for fans, or even people curious about the band, the insight that either the DVD, CD or both give you is enough to truly encompass the all-encompassing music of My Morning Jacket.

Reach the reporter at: ashley.e.harris@asu.edu.

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.harpmagazine.com/reviews/movie_reviews/detail.cfm?article_id=4884

[tomEisenbraun]

Nice shout out to the forum.  We to will try and remain humble in the midst of our new found fame. :-*  Although someone needs to talk to Tom, at the last show I saw him signing autographs and takeing pictures with young girls while they stroked his beard.  I tried to get my picture with him to, but he was all like "sorry man, no pictures with dudes" then his press agent started "restraining" me.  Whatever.

dude, that's bs and you know it.

talk to my agent, fool.

[LaurieBlue]

http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=151952#rating

My Morning Jacket
Okonokos
BY DEBBIE MICHAUD
Published 11.08.06
 
 My Morning Jacket's lead singer Jim James howls like a dog at the moon. His rich, reverb-heavy voice combined with the band's Southern rock-infused instrumentation forms songs so seemingly organic, it's hard to tell where the songs begin and end. For Okonokos, the group's latest release, My Morning Jacket recorded live at San Francisco's Fillmore over two days in November 2005 and the band's energy translates spectacularly. At the time, MMJ was supporting its second major-label album, Z, which offered more experimentation. My Morning Jacket modernizes classic rock's all-too-familiar guitar-heavy trademarks with a foray into an electronic, and sometimes ambient, realm ("Wordless Chorus," "Donate"). It's an invigorating fusion of Skynyrd and Radiohead resulting in unpredictable, dance-friendly jams such as "Off the Record" and "Run Thru." MMJ has expanded its territory from Kentucky into outer space with the kind of rock 'n' roll that an astronaut could bounce around to in zero gravity. 3 stars

My Morning Jacket plays the Tabernacle Sun., Nov. 12.

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.sundaypaper.com/AE/Music/MusicArchives/tabid/218/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/2060/111206-CD-Reviews.aspx
CD REVIEWS
My Morning Jacket
"Okonokos"
(ATO)

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MY MORNING JACKET
Sun. Nov. 12
The Tabernacle
404-659-9022
www.livenation.com

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My Morning Jacket's tour for its 2005 album, "Z," stopped at San Francisco's Fillmore West for what would become the Lexington, Ky. Quintet's first official live recording. Of course, one disc just isn't adequate to contain the complex, sprawling intensity of a typical My Morning Jacket performance. Even this double-disc set doesn't entirely capture the band's grandeur; add the associated DVD and you're almost there.
    
Most of the disparate elements that form the band's sound are here: the alternatively sludgy and lilting guitars; the ethereal vocals of frontman Jim Jones; the prog-rock, country and reggae strains that tear and tug at the songs; and especially the sweeping melodies at the heart of this American music. Only the occasional '70s cover of an Elton John or Bread song, usually included in live shows, is MIA.
  
Not surprisingly, "Okonokos" goes heavy on the recent material, but older tracks such as 2001's "It Still Moves" and "The Way that he Sings," along with "I Think I'm Going to Hell" from the band's 1999 debut, also benefit from the taut yet expansive attack. Indie-rock's most hirsute group shows plenty of tenderness under that hair, as James slides into his falsetto and the band shifts gracefully from wispy strums to thunderous Who-styled chords on the 11 minute "Dondero." Not since the prime of  Neil Young and Crazy Horse has a band managed to work dynamics so effectively. When guitarist Carl Broemel blows sweet sax to close the song, the effect—like the entire show—is galvanizing. 3.5 STARS—Hal Horowitz u