Okonokos Reviews

[sweatboard]

These people are serious?

If the end of Gideon does not tear your head apart, you are almost not human.


Fuck. Off.

first off, the lyrics may sound ridiculous, but if you had to imagine one of those songs for where you find yourself in the frickin wrong part of town at 3am in the morning and realize how "wrong" of a part of town it is, you understandthis song. the lyrics may seem ridiculous, but make perfect sense in that scenario. the whole "oh no, we have to get out of here quick." maybe you don't even need to experience it, because i'm almost certain that i never have.

Get your heads out of your asses Pitchfork. Grow an imagination, and a better staff of writers who actually love music, and not the idea of a band being under the radar in order to classify them as "good".

In the realm of subjectivity, these guys take the cake for creating the biggest need to understand just what that is.

I was thinking the same thing about run thru.......Surely at least one writter or editor or something over there has had to go into the projects at least once to get their crack.  They could have stepped in and been like "no man, that's a pretty significant lyric."

[marino13]

I was thinking the same thing about run thru.......Surely at least one writter or editor or something over there has had to go into the projects at least once to get their crack.  They could have stepped in and been like "no man, that's a pretty significant lyric."

Looking at this from a different view, why is he even picking apart an individual song's lyrics like that?  That is something that should be done on the It Still Moves review, not a live album where it's all about the performance.  

[Ghosts_on_TV]

Looking at this from a different view, why is he even picking apart an individual song's lyrics like that?  That is something that should be done on the It Still Moves review, not a live album where it's all about the performance.  

It's because pitchfork sucks balls, thats why.

[megisnotreal]

It's because pitchfork sucks balls, thats why.

Couldn't.

Agree.

More.

[Angry Ewok]

"Wordless Chorus" is botched by Jim James.
"Runthru" is a silly song.
"Gideon" jams aimlessly.
"Mahgeeta" never seems to end.

I cannot formulate a response that doesn't stoop to spewing meaningless vulgarities and name-calling.

[MyLifeISought]

It's because pitchfork sucks balls, thats why.

The problem is that it's the only place to go for a lot of indie music reviews. They review things that a place like allmusic wouldn't pick up.

[tomEisenbraun]

which is exactly why we should all learn this phrase:

www.cokemachineglow.com

no review for okonokos, but they seem to do an extremely honest job of reviewing albums.

[ycartrob]

they finally got it right on Z...

[ycartrob]

first off, the lyrics may sound ridiculous, but if you had to imagine one of those songs for where you find yourself in the frickin wrong part of town at 3am in the morning and realize how "wrong" of a part of town it is, you understandthis song. the lyrics may seem ridiculous, but make perfect sense in that scenario. the whole "oh no, we have to get out of here quick." maybe you don't even need to experience it, because i'm almost certain that i never have.

I don't know Tom, if you would have yelled Oh Shit Run!
while we were walking to the car after the Bogart's show in the 'Nati, I wouldn't have stopped and wondered what you were talking about...

[gnOsticgardener]

Okonokos will definately sit at the top of my list for best live album of 2006. Listening to Okonokos feels just like being there. Not many live albums (X  Live At The Whiskey A Go-Go is one of them) transcends and transplants a listener into the concert arena, MMJ has pulled it off exceptionally well with Okonokus.

I remember the feeling I had when Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon came on the scene. It's much like that now with MMJ's Okonokus. It's that unexplainable feeling you get when you hear something so new and different it sets your mind on fire and extinquishes the blaze all at the same time.

I think there's something in Kentucky's dirt and MMJ knows what it is.

[prefixmag]

We just posted our review of Okonokos yesterday. Thought you guys might be interested in reading it. Thanks.

http://www.prefixmag.com/reviews/cds/M/My-Morning-Jacket/Okonokos/2550

[tomEisenbraun]

Interesting, Magheeta and Dancefloors never struck me as luck-luster on Okonokos. Maybe I'll listen again. Perhaps it also makes a little more sense if you've been to a live show, to know how Jim toys with the crowd during that segue between the first and second halves. And Dancefloors...I won't ever cease to shout that they need to get Carl to just bust it out on the sax for that one. Honestly, the horns parts really do make that song as awesome as it is, and to leave them out, while not making the song suck, it does take away part of that raucous fun. If just for that one lead-in.

That was a good review though. They got their facts straight, and gave a good honest review.

Werr'd.

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060928/ENT04/609280402

My Morning Jacket , "Okonokos" (ATO Records)

For all its splendor in the studio, My Morning Jacket is a band best experienced live, and its new double-live set "Okonokos" captures the scruffy Kentucky rockers in their element and at their finest. Recorded during the tour, behind last year's captivating "Z," "Okonokos" highlights the band's liberal, jam-minded tendencies (on disc 2, a trio of tracks clock in around the 10-minute mark) without losing focus of the tight songwriting. The transcendent majesty of the Jacket cannot be denied on epic renderings of "Steam Engine," "One Big Holiday" or "What a Wonderful Man," where frontman Jim James' Neil Young-like howl washes magically with the band's reverberating guitars, giving life to the band's rough-hewn, southern-fried sound. "Okonokos" near-perfectly captures MMJ live: It's like Bonnaroo without the body odor. GRADE: A-

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.redandblack.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/09/28/451b1a0ac5226

Morning Jacket's 'Okonokos' shows band's humanity

By MATTHEW GRAYSON
Published , September 28, 2006, 06:00:01 AM EDT
 
There are moments on "Okonokos" when Jim James almost sounds human.

For fans of the big-haired frontman, these are what makes My Morning Jacket's new live double-album such a success.

No longer does James' larger-than-life voice seem channeled from some far-off place where the only achievable pitch is perfection.

Throughout "Okonokos," his voice is gravelly at times, outright angry at others.

Listen closely and you might even hear a voice crack or two.

My first reaction was that "Okonokos" lacks the intimacy of "Acoustic Citsuoca," My Morning Jacket's rare six-song EP recorded live at a friend's Halloween party in Braintree, Mass.

And I was right, in a way. When I listen to "Acoustic Citsuoca," I feel privy to something important — a moment too big for its surroundings.


MY MORNING JACKET
Grade: B+
Verdict: A sprawling live double-album that reveals the humanity behind Jim James' other-wordly voice.
 

You know, like someone who's realized this is the last time he'll hear his friend's band play in such a setting before hitting it big.

Still, James doesn't sound like anyone's friend on the EP. Maybe the friendly ghost of Halloween's past, perhaps, but certainly not a living, breathing human being like you and me.

On "Okonokos," then, that ethereal quality is gone from his voice.

He no longer sounds like a visitor from another world, but rather a frontman with a world-class set of pipes coming through loud and, for most of the show, clear.

"Okonokos" won't magically transport you to a point in someone else's past, nor even to Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco where the album was recorded.

Even at the show's best, you'll still be sitting in your bedroom, but you'll be listening to one hell of a live album.

"Okonokos" begins just as My Morning Jacket's latest studio release, "Z," does with the pounding bass line and psychedelic keyboards of "Wordless Chorus."

At the song's climax, quite literally a wordless chorus, James' yelps sound less like the ghostly howls that "Z" emits and more like the high-pitched screams that they are.

Likewise, his yodeling during "It Beats 4 You" is almost comical, and the strings that open "Gideon" sound horribly out of place.

That said, what follows this three-song cut-and-paste job from "Z" to "Okonokos" is exactly

what you'd expect from a My Morning Jacket live album.

The real show begins with "One Big Holiday," and judging from the crowd's reaction, even the fans knew the first three songs were nothing more than a vocal warmup for James.

High-hats ... Check. Guitars ... Check. James ... Big check.

And then we have liftoff.

After a lukewarm beginning, My Morning Jacket takes flight with its older material and never looks back.

"I Will Sing You Songs," "Lowdown" and "Golden" are given new life in the live setting, and "O Is The One That Is Real" makes a rare cameo on the second disc, rocking harder than any other track on "Okonokos."

Like any great live album should, "Okonokos" ends not with a whimper but a bang.

There's no smooth landing for James and company. Instead, there's "Magheeta," which builds to its climax, pushes a little further and then spirals out of control before crashing back to the earth.

Ignore that last guitar solo. That must be James, a guitarist as well, thanking the crowd and giving his last words before collapsing to his knees in exhaustion, breathless and, for once, voiceless.

Jim James sings his heart out on "Okonokos," and if he sounds human here or there, can we really fault him?

After all, even Superman has his kryptonite.
 

[tomEisenbraun]

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060928/ENT04/609280402

My Morning Jacket , "Okonokos" (ATO Records)

For all its splendor in the studio, My Morning Jacket is a band best experienced live, and its new double-live set "Okonokos" captures the scruffy Kentucky rockers in their element and at their finest. Recorded during the tour, behind last year's captivating "Z," "Okonokos" highlights the band's liberal, jam-minded tendencies (on disc 2, a trio of tracks clock in around the 10-minute mark) without losing focus of the tight songwriting. The transcendent majesty of the Jacket cannot be denied on epic renderings of "Steam Engine," "One Big Holiday" or "What a Wonderful Man," where frontman Jim James' Neil Young-like howl washes magically with the band's reverberating guitars, giving life to the band's rough-hewn, [size=16]southern-fried[/size] sound. "Okonokos" near-perfectly captures MMJ live: It's like Bonnaroo without the body odor. GRADE: A-

Yes!

[sweatboard]

It's BACK....... :o :o :o

[LaurieBlue]

http://winnipegsun.com/Entertainment/Music/2006/09/29/1917551-sun.html

LIVE ALBUMS

MY MORNING JACKET

OKONOKOS

ATO | SONY BMG

When you see southern psychedelic-jam-prog-art rockers My Morning Jacket live, two thoughts come to mind: 1) Damn, these dudes sound incredible; and 2) Damn, these dudes have a lot of hair. See for yourself on Halloween, when singer-songwriter Jim James and his hirsute Louisville outfit are slated to release Okonokos: The Concert, a DVD chronicle of what appears to be a visually striking live show. For the impatient fans -- or those with a burning yearning to blast MMJ's majestic epics while driving -- the superb-sounding double-disc Okonokos CD is available now. It features 21 strong cuts from their four eclectic and ambitious studio albums, performed with every bit of the power and momentum you'd expect from a bunch of southern rockers (but also with more skill, subtlety and grace than you probably anticipated). Just don't blame us when you're shelling out again for the DVD to hear the 5.1 mix and see all that hair in full flight.

****

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.sjuhawknews.com/media/storage/paper763/news/2006/09/29/Entertainment/My.Morning.Jacket.Crams.Stage.Onto.Cd-2314926.shtml?norewrite200609290917&sourcedomain=www.sjuhawknews.com

My Morning Jacket crams stage onto CD
Richard Hughes '09
Issue date: 9/29/06 Section: Entertainment

My Morning Jacket has captured their charisma on plastic.
 
 
The best songs are the ones that you need to listen with more then your ears. My Morning Jacket is a band that has created these types of songs with a string of great albums. This past Tuesday, My Morning Jacket released Okonokos, a double live album from their November 2005 performances at the legendary Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. The discs serve as a soundtrack to a film that will be released by the band on Halloween with the same name.

The listener enters a realm of familiarity from the beginning when they notice that the first three tracks are the same from the band's masterpiece Z. The versions don't tread to far from how they sounded in the studio. "Wordless Chorus" works Jim James' vocals to pitches that not too many men can reach. Energy is built up from the audience showing their enthusiasm right before the band kicks into the signature beat of the song.

The relationships continue when three other groups of songs occur back-to-back as they were presented on their original album. From a band that constructs their albums to make every little nuance purposeful, who can blame them? Lead guitarist Carl Broemel explodes on the solo of "One Big Holiday" before calming down into the trancelike, "I Will Sing You Songs." The band chose the ingredients of having these songs together on 2003's It Still Moves. The band's 2001 release, At Dawn, is also represented similarly.

The visual aspect of their live performance is translated perfectly on the discs. With the pristine mix of the instruments, you can visualize the spectacle of the band members rocking out with layers of hair swaying over their eyes under a light show that does a phenomenal job bringing people into the music. Epic songs like "Dondante," "Run Thru" and "Steam Engine" are accentuated in the live setting. Jim James almost seems as if he is holding on for dear life as he wails in "Run Thru." All three of the numbers trek their way up to around or over the ten minute mark but do so with meaning and intensity.

"What does it mean to feel? / Millions of dreams come real / Feeling in my soul I'd never felt before," Jim James sings with his acoustic guitar on the simply beautiful song "Golden." These lines do a great job of reflecting on what the MMJ listening experience is all about.

It should also be noted that even though Jim James writes all of the songs, each band member makes worthwhile contributions by feeding off each other's energy. The band's bassist, Two-Tone Tommy, walks the band out of the climax in "Dondante" and into Broemel's saxophone solo. Patrick Hallahan brings John Bonham back to life in a nice drum solo as the band tries to close "Steam Engine." Bo Koster's also adds colorful textual layers on the songs with his keyboard playing.

Jim James has found a way to take his little band from Kentucky to incredible heights. They have made critically acclaimed albums, played monumental sets at festivals across the country, toured Europe, played their songs accompanied by the Boston Pops orchestra and now they have a live recording that will serve as a testament to their exceptional and original qualities. Recognition does not matter to these men but, they certainly deserve it.

This music could not have been made 20 years ago but, it also has a dimension that it has been with us for a long time. When people start discussing how awesome it would have been to live in the 70's to experience music in its hey-day, my mind usually goes right to the fact that I would be missing out on the journeys of bands like My Morning Jacket. The ride of this band is something that I am definitely glad to be on the bus for. It has allowed me to be there for when they released one of the greatest live albums of all time.

[loper]

Wow,

if I didn't know better (and I'm green with envy) I could have been the author of that review! Either that or this guy can read my mind ??? :o

Despite what so many crap reviewers think, this band could not have produced this music in the 70s. This is noughties music, more up to date than all the post punk, garage, ironic, post modern, tongue in cheek stuff that is put out by 1,000s of wanna be bands who think they are hip.

This is music with soul, honesty and passion. That might be thought of as a thing of the past,  but MMJ are not only the present , but the future as well.


I love it when he says 'as the band TRY to close Steam Engine'.


Great review, thanks Laurie :)

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/01/arts/01play.html?_r=1&ref=arts&oref=slogin

My Morning Jacket

In a studio My Morning Jacket can get self-conscious and overly arty. Onstage the three guitars stack up riffs and strums merging Southern rock, U2, the Byrds and Pink Floyd, and chords ring out with architectural splendor behind Jim James's keening voice. It's a sound big enough for any wide-open space, which is why the band satisfies festival audiences from Coachella to Bonnaroo. "Okonokos" (ARO/RCA) is a welcome two-CD live album. The sequencing is odd: there's no surpassing the ecstatic peaks of "One Big Holiday," which is only the fourth track. But the band wisely picked performances with less than perfect vocals, so that Mr. James sounds earthly and passionately human. A DVD version is due Oct. 31.