Okonokos Reviews

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/entertainment/16151832.htm

[MMJ_fanatic]

Thanks for posting Laurie, but this is, by all means a stupid review

 >:(

I agree--"ham handed"?--seems a little camp for Patrick.  We love the movie guys!!!!!!!!!!!!

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxNjcmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcwMjk0NTkmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,23663,20881630-7624,00.html

[Mr. T.]

Has this been posted already? If so I missed it! If not: here it is in all his glory:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:qzd9kentgq7q~T1


A lot has been made of the Okonokos DVD, My Morning Jacket's live concert film, recorded at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium (and which accompanies this double-disc release separately). The live performance DVD is so seductive and powerful — because of the lush backdrop set and wonderfully immediate manner in which it was shot as well as the music — yet the double CD that accompanies it and the four-LP vinyl set on Badman Records of the same recording seem to get scant attention. Sure, they are mentioned, but somehow just as geegaws to accompany the DVD. Wrong. It all comes down to the music, after all, and the Louisville, KY, quintet gets that big time. It's why the CD was issued first and the DVD came later. The DVD should be seen; it's gorgeous, it's wild and woolly and beautiful all at once. But Okonokos the CD is one hell of a live record. Certainly, since it was recorded on the tour for the incredibly successful album Z, it concentrates on a lot of the band's more recent material. But they dig deep, too, and go back to 1999's "I Think I'm Going to Hell" from The Tennessee Fire, as well as "The Way That He Sings," the opening track from 2001's At Dawn and "It Still Moves" from that set, and "I Will Sing You Songs" and "Mahgeetah" from the It Still Moves disc in 2003 to close the entire show. There have been references to Neil Young & Crazy Horse, in terms of how My Morning Jacket work as a band; don't believe it. My Morning Jacket have the spontaneity and raw wiry energy to be sure — they don't try to cover the flubs — but they're infinitely tighter than those loud garage yobs who believe that playing slower than cough syrup with codeine is a virtue (Crazy Horse stopped being a viable unit when Danny Whitten died; they're merely the contradictory and uneven backing band for Young because he's not ambitious enough to get a new one).

The sheer musicianship that My Morning Jacket put on display on this intense, diverse, and focused live show is rather astonishing. Sure, they know how to "jam" and could have blown the doors off most of the bands in that genre had they been dumb enough to go down that path. (One listen to the 11-minute "Dondante" is proof enough that they could have been the new Grateful Dead or some such creativity-killing notion.) Like England's Gomez — the only band currently in their league — they were smart and weave it all into the mix of hooks, lyric flourishes, and power chords. They have the indie rock mantle prominently displayed but are as tight as U2 — and, no, they don't sound like them. In fact, as the evidence here clearly displays, My Morning Jacket sound like no one but themselves. Frontman Jim James is as charismatic and self-effacing as they come. Guitarist (and also saxophonist) Carl Broemel is a lyrical monster as both a fine melodic improviser and as a rock & roll lead guitar player. Listen to the way he handles "Gideon" and "Lowdown," and blows sax at the end of "Dondante." The three-piece rhythm section of Bo Koster's understated but emotionally and technically taut keyboards, Two-Tone Tommy's bass playing and baritone vocals, and drummer Patrick Hallahan is inventive, spot in the pocket, and full of surprising twists and turns. Near the end of disc two, where a drawling, dreamy, 11-minute "Steam Engine" (with all the solos) gives way to the stomping honky tonk rock of "Dancefloors" in a performance worthy of Lynyrd Skynyrd's One More from the Road, the picture would be complete if the Band were included as guests. My Morning Jacket are a band at the pinnacle of their power. Like great jazz musicians, they've learned to instinctively play together and make the most of every number. "Mahgeetah" sends the whole trip out on a sweet note. The feel-good rhythm and bluesed-up country-rock groove pours out so naturally and transcendentally that it's no surprise that the audience and band have bonded; they turn into something more, somehow, as they leave the Fillmore building than when they entered. Okonokos is one of the best live recordings of the last 30 years. The DVD experience is an addition, a welcome and aesthetically innovative one that adds depth and dimension to music played so soulfully and good-naturedly that it's almost impossible to think it could have been improved upon. Get both.

[trainmayne]

Although they took a really long time to get that up (3 months seems longer than normal for amg), as usual, they really nailed their review.

[Mr. T.]

and they're a bit harsh on Crazy Horse. I don't think there's any need to.

But besides that you're right: they nailed it  ;)

[LaurieBlue]

[CTdeadhead]

and they're a bit harsh on Crazy Horse. I don't think there's any need to.

But besides that you're right: they nailed it  ;)

Woah...what has this guy got against Crazy Horse.  

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.rocknworld.com/features/06/MyMorningJacket-Okonokos.shtml

My Morning Jacket - Okonokos Review



by Patrick Muldowney

.
Before writing, I felt the need to find the meaning of "Okonokos". No matter how I limited each search, all uses of the name remained tied to My Morning Jacket. Finally I stumbled on an article explaining that the word came to Jim James in a dream. Immediately I felt entranced, slipping into a world of taupe shadows and q-shaped fakirs. One approached me, passing a trapezoidal shaped card, and as I turned the card in my hand this word struck me: nieukolusiclous. And with that I had the best word to describe my review for Okonokos. For comprehension sake though, I will plain text this Nieukolusiclean adventure.

The Okonokos DVD is an incidental hour and a half of music trapped inside a ten-minute film. While attending a turn of the century party, a man develops a forbidden affinity for an alpaca. As they go out for some fresh air, since the decorative mounted heads of other animals may be nauseating to her, a crowd is heard in the distance. Tracking through the woods, the couple finds The Fillmore (of all places), where My Morning Jacket is accompanied by strobe lights, smoke machines, and a magnificent light show (quite a transition from the candlelit party). This foolishly meaningless beginning is finally usurped by 18 live tracks, though somehow the plot is never vanquished, as live performances often feature shots of our protagonist grooving to the moment, or drifting off into a hypnotic flashback. In the end, the man meats his demise as a bear rips him to pieces. Maybe he stole the bear's girlfriend. Whatever the theme: My Morning Jacket can transcend time, My Morning Jacket is a beast in alpaca's clothing, or My Morning Jacket is earthly magic, it is neither humorous nor intriguing.

The concert, on the other hand, other than its light show (overboard at times) proves why MMJ could be "The Great American Band". They may not believably convert a turn of the century character, but this DVD, an arrangement of their work thus far, has converted many disparate sects of modern-day listeners. They are certainly the first band for which I could share appreciation with hippies. Like a modern-day Lynyrd Skynyrd, this band cannot be typecast into southern rock, folk/acoustic, jam, or hard rock, because, regardless of the band's appearance, the music is shape shifting (what I thought Okonokos might mean). Once they draw you in musically, you travel along, even if it's not your normal cup of tea, because it is brilliant. Like vines and greenery strewn across a fully wired stage, My Morning Jacket is both organic and artificial. Beginning with the release of Z, they've tried to be as clearly honest about this exploration as possible.

Okonokos is a theatrical performance of varying degrees. On one extreme, "It Beats 4 U" is an all out rock out, with Patrick Hallahan and Two Tone Tommy playing faceless hairball bobble heads, and Jim James thrashing and lurching through harrowing reverb. The sound is prodigious, and the deliverers godlike. To the other extreme, songs like "Golden" allow a less hectic view of the inner workings of the band. The beats, notes, and chords are toned down until every instance is decipherable. Wherever the pendulum swings, Okonokos is clearly delivered by a practiced unit who understands actions and perceptions. Just as they refuse the confinement of genre, they refuse hallucinogen-influenced super jams (teasing at times) and romantic wallowing. The writing is admirable, the set is balanced, and, once the cinematic attempt is excused, Okonokos is evidence of the musical and visual force of My Morning Jacket.

CD Info and Links

My Morning Jacket - Okonokos

Label:Sony
Rating:

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.culturebully.com/archives/2245

[ali]

in BEAT, local melbourne street press today:  (only took them a month to get round to it)

They are a band running hot, that My Morning Jacket.  they just reached full stride with last year's album Z, there's probably no better time for them to serve up an extended live offering than now.  so they've simultaneously released this cd and dvd of two back to back concerts they played in san francisco last year.

the dvd kicks off with a silly little skit of a gentleman being snubbed by well-to-do socialites (played by the band) at some kind of party, til he hooks up with a llama (?) and they wander outside, stumbling across a my morning jacket concert, where what do you know, everyone's having a great time and he is accepted by all.  i'm crying with happiness.

what this dvd and simultaneously-released double cd is best at showing us is that my morning jacket do this thing, in their fuzzed-up southern bonghead space-jam blues way... they'll build and build and build this long, slow, meandering progression, and just when you don't think they can build anymore, when the song's transformed into this giant, snarling, snaking cumulonimbus of sound... they just snap the intensity right back down to nothing, like it never happened, and you're left wondering if you just had an acid flashback.  but do you know how great it is to watch a band at the limit of control, fighting for dominance over their own song??  that jim james and co are able to curtail their mammoth codas at all is testament to how tidy this unit is, despite all their jam-band tendencies.  they are the beach boys trapped inside led zeppelin.

but i do, upon reading that paragraph back to myself, digress.  this release is an important one for the kentucky quintet because the reverb-soaked numbers that grace a standard mmj album, well, all that reverb comes across a lot better in a live setting, is all.  dondante, the faultless closing track from Z, opens the second cd, but plays like a 'closer':  ten-plus-minutes ghostly, creeping crescendo that bursts into a colossal hard blues jam thanks to main vocalist jim james' writhing solo.  the take is spectacular to hear; but the full power of the trac is more clearly evident on the screen.

look, it's really good. just get it.  the dvd, the cd, they're both great.  the cd has some pretty hilarious 'biographies' on each of the band members; the dvd has footage of the songs actually being played, which is an almost holy thing to behold.  i can't explain it well enough, just trust me, i have great taste.
matt panag

good to see i'm not the only freak down here  ;D

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.musicaustraliaguide.com/reviews/1487#1487

My Morning Jacket  
Okonokos
Friday 22, December 2006

My Morning Jacket are on an upward trajectory. Double live album 'Okonokos' is the latest triumph from the Kentucky outfit. In an era when few dare to imagine beyond the obvious, it puts them firmly among the best creators in modern popular music. This is not a slow burn live performance; the moment vocalist Jim James sings 'It Beats 4 U' on track two, of disc one, My Morning Jacket are in full gear. It's an awesome follow-on from two of the most enjoyed albums of the last five years, 'It Still Moves' and 'Z', and will confirm the band as one of the more eclectic, electrifying and brilliant live bands of this era. The reverb remains, but the temptation to turn the live performance into an extended jam session is resisted. The music speaks for itself with quick transitions, powerful drumming, and James' distinctive gravelly vocals become another instrument, part of the movement behind rather than out front. The melodic long haired lovers of metal and Neil Young have put together an album that will stand, like the fire-surviving jacket, that gave the band its name, as a long memory of a great outfit. Few make music as good as this.

Peter Ryan

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/music/16323754.htm

Morning Jacket's put-on
BIOS FAKE, MUSICIANS REAL ON LIVE `OKONOKOS' DISCS
Recorded live last year at the Fillmore, ``Okonokos'' -- both the DVD and the two-CD set -- captures a great American band at its peak.

The whimsical fake biographies in the CD liner notes variously label the Louisville, Ky., quintet -- which returns to the Fillmore for three shows this weekend -- as country rock, space rock, prog rock, indie rock and industrial rock. Except perhaps for that last one, each description makes perfect sense in places; MMJ also can boogie and bang their heads with the best of them -- just check out the Flying V heroics on ``One Big Holiday.''

At the center of it all are the songs and soaring voice of Jim James. On this live document, he occasionally hits a bum note during his improvisational vocal flights, but the emotion behind the songs always hits squarely.

The DVD features 18 songs, surrounded by a more than slightly ridiculous framing device involving a Victorian house party and an alpaca. On subsequent viewings, you'll probably want to skip over the five-minute prologue and go right to the thrilling opening salvo of tunes from the band's then-new studio album, ``Z'': ``Wordless Chorus,'' ``It Beats 4 U'' and ``Gideon.''

For the occasion, the Fillmore stage was dressed up in a magical forest motif, and patrons were encouraged to come in appropriate garb. (If you were one of them, look for yourself in a slide show included as a special feature.)

The film intersperses crowd's-eye views with onstage shots that reveal subtle nuances in the band's playing. The editing flows naturally, cutting at logical places in the music.

During the show, intrusions of the plot, such as it is, are limited to occasional cutaways to a Victorian fop and his alpaca rocking out on the packed floor of the Fillmore and one brief black-and-white flashback during an extended jam. Following a powerful closing ``Mahgeetah,'' the plot comes to a hilariously brutal conclusion.

The CD set adds two more encores, dipping back to the band's 1999 debut disc for ``I Think I'm Going to Hell'' and romping through ``Dancefloors'' from 2003's ``It Still Moves.''

As it seemed in the audience at the Fillmore show last year, the set reaches its peak with epic versions of ``Dondante'' and ``Run Thru.'' The former is a heartbreaking ode to a fallen friend that ultimately reaches guitar catharsis; the latter lumbers on heroically for five minutes longer than the studio version, like a battered brontosaurus raging against the dying of the light.

There are no thank-yous or how-ya-doin'-San Franciscos on here. This is strictly about the music. And -- as captured in sparkling, remarkably detailed 5.1 surround sound -- that's quite enough.

-- Shay Quillen

My Morning Jacket

Where: The Fillmore, 1805 Geary Blvd., San Francisco

When: 9 p.m. Friday-Sunday

Tickets: $27 Friday-Saturday, $60 Sunday

Call: (408) 998-8497, or see www.ticketmaster.com

MY MORNING JACKET``Okonokos''

ATO/RCA

*** 1/2

[confuseddonkey]

if this has already been addressed here, please forgive me.
but i just recently noticed that Dancefloors is on my OKONOKOS download from rhapsody but not on my dvd
what gives?
anyone know?

thx

[Jupp Sacamano]

We have a Okonokos-Review in our third issue of the 'Sonic-Reducer'. It's german, but hey, it's a review  ;).

[CC]

We have a Okonokos-Review in our third issue of the 'Sonic-Reducer'. It's german, but hey, it's a review  ;).

Hall, must mean reverb, right?

I'm not sure what "ich-gehmal-aufs-Klo"-Momente means, must be something like face-melting-moment, right?

Das Doppelalbum rockt, I get that one!

thanks. nice review. I think ;)

[Jupp Sacamano]

We have a Okonokos-Review in our third issue of the 'Sonic-Reducer'. It's german, but hey, it's a review  ;).

Hall, must mean reverb, right?

I'm not sure what "ich-gehmal-aufs-Klo"-Momente means, must be something like face-melting-moment, right?

Das Doppelalbum rockt, I get that one!

thanks. nice review. I think ;)

Ich -geh-mal-aufs-Klo-Momente actually means that every show or set has a song that you don't quite like as the others and prefer to go to the john or get a beer and maybe so does a song on Okonokos for some. (for me that is "I will sing you songs")

edit: oh yeah, and "hall" is reverb.

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/9752/my-morning-jacket-okonokos-dvd/

My Morning Jacket
Okonokos [DVD]
(ATO/RCA)
US release date: 31 October 2006
UK release date: 30 October 2006
by John Bergstrom

Amazon UKThey Came In On A Flying V...
My wife walked out of a My Morning Jacket concert in October 2005. It wasn't really the music that put her off. She found the dark stage adorned with stuffed owls to be a bit spooky. She thought the band members themselves—thrashing around as if they were being electrocuted, hair flying in their faces—were creepy and a little pretentious, too. It was easy to see why she reacted the way she did, but she missed the point nonetheless. A big part of My Morning Jacket's brilliance, especially in concert, is their ability to fully embrace all the overblown, ridiculous rock'n'roll clichés, yet still get in on the joke.

In terms of presentation and aesthetics, singer/songwriter Jim James and his band hearken back to the '70s; a time when the unwashed, hirsute bohemian look was the result not of careful styling as much as the band members' lack of good personal hygiene skills; when band members could easily be mistaken for roadies and vice versa; when a taste for the mystical was met not with satiric jeering but with studious wonder. These traits, as much as their Kentucky address and taste for epic, often boogying, jam-filled songs about sweaty bars and sweatier passions, have earned My Morning Jacket the tag of "Southern Rockers".

But they deride that tag for the same reasons my wife didn't get the complete picture of their show. They've seen This Is Spïnal Tap and Almost Famous, and they're not those bands, either. James' lyrics, the atmospheric and electronic touches in their music; and, if you pay close attention, their stage presentation all establish them as a solidly 21st century act. Yes, they are passionate. Yes, they are respectful of the sacred traditions and myths of rock'n'roll. But if it suits you, they want you to laugh at their over-the-top aspects. They're laughing too, figuratively if not literally, and it's this combination of dead-serious introspection and humor, pompous posturing and near-embarrassing humility, dirty boogie and clean synthesizers, that makes My Morning Jacket such a unique, compelling, and dynamic band.

Okonokos, a concert film shot at the Fillmore in San Francisco in 2005 by veteran music video and live concert film director Sam Erickson, does its job perfectly. That's because My Morning Jacket do their job perfectly. With relatively new members on keyboards and guitars, the band is in peak form, chugging through a cross-section of their back-catalog as well as most of '05's Z as if they have nothing to lose or prove. And Erickson captures this definitive performance in a definitive manner, accurately recording what's happening on stage with a bare minimum of editing, effects, and other smoke and mirrors. By essentially putting himself out of the situation, Erickson allows the band's personality, atmosphere, and power to come charging through. At times Okonokos is so electric it should come with lightning rods.

The Southern angle is played to full effect, as the opening sequence takes place at a antebellum party at a Southern mansion, where the band (in full period dress) mingle with a houseful of merry-makers and stuffed, mounted animals. James is credited with this "concept/story", but the "story" part is being too generous by far. It's exactly what you'd expect from My Morning Jacket—poking fun at their image while simultaneously using it to great effect—yet it still puts you in a suitably warped mindset. Then, one partygoer leads an alpaca (!) into the woods...where he stumbles upon the concert.

The owls are there, too; while the ornate, foliage-strewn stage set suggests that the Fillmore has become either an enchanted forest or a Rainforest Café. From there on, it's my Morning Jacket's two-hour set, straight-up. The first three songs from Z are played in sequence—a good choice, as they take an efficient trip through the band's varied range, from the easygoing, soulful "Wordless Chorus" to the full-on power chords of "Gideon". James' songs are what happens when a smart and gifted country boy discovers Elton John, Prince, and Pet Shop Boys. Though underpinned by folk and country rock, they never shy away from pop, blues, reggae, or grandeur. And, while many do tend to get blustery, each one contains at least a bit of soul and a lot of atmosphere, thanks to James' ultra-earnest voice and trademark reverb, neither of which are lost in the live mix. In fact, the performances are all almost completely faithful to the recorded versions, which is a little surprising for a band of such dexterity. Still, the power of the playing and the palpable physical energy are enough to thrill. Only an unnecessarily souped-up "The Way That He Sings" and the use of some "canned" backing vocals break the spell.

Any stage banter has been edited out. Drummer Patrick Hallahan and bassist Two Tone Tommy almost pull off the feat of getting through the entire show with their hair completely obscuring their faces. While James could very well get away with Bono-type posturing, he's far from it. He's a self-confessed Jim Henson fan, not surprising when you consider the way he rocks to and fro and bounces around is more Muppet than messiah. Eventually he brandishes his ironic-or-not Gibson Flying V guitar, and the picture of the music-worshipping kid going nuts in his bedroom is complete.

My Morning Jacket songs tend to finish big, and by the time the 10-plus-minute "Dondante" twists and turns to a close, you could be forgiven for wondering if another bombastic coda is really necessary (the answer as evidenced by the following "Run Thru": "Yes!"). All of that is forgotten, though, by the time you get to the stunning "Steam Engine", a highlight of It Still Moves and probably the highlight of the show. The joy, wonder, and sadness are broken down into mini-movements; and now James, with his bird's nest hair leaning over his black Gibson ES; evokes a younger, American Robert Smith; while the music slays you like the Cure used to do. This is followed by the juggernaut "Anytime", which shows how well the band can work their ethereal magic even within compacted power-pop; and, finally, My Morning Jacket's pièce de résistance, "Mahgeetah", which is like the best night of your life in six minutes.

Without any self-mythologizing "behind the scenes" stuff to get in the way, Okonokos is more than just a document. Like the best concert films, it's also an involving and entertaining experience. In presenting My Morning Jacket just as they are, imperfections and all, it makes the band seem that much stronger.

My Morning Jacket - Okonokos Preview
RATING: 8

— 22 January 2007

[sweatboard]

Nice article, I also think that Robert Smith and Jim James have a WHOLE lot in common.