What is missing from Evil Urges?

[Goat Boy]

My Morning Jacket is one of those bands that speaks to me. Like Bob Mould, Rush, Stephen Malkmus and others, I am drawn to their music and I buy all their releases. Is every one of these artists' songs the greatest songs ever? Absolutely not, and I don't listen to some of their songs b/c they do not appeal to me. Do I reach out to other fans and talk about these songs that do not move me? Ummmm, duuhhh, no.

You are a collector and a completist.  I'm not see.  I don't buy something unless I like it.  They 'do not appeal to you'?  What does that mean?  Isn't that just a different way of saying they are a bit shit in your opinion?   I love The Beatles but I don't listen to Run For Your Life because it doesn't 'appeal to me' i.e. because it's fucking shit frankly.  Ditto Maxwells Silver Hammer etc.  Beatles in writing shit song shocker!  It did happen.  I mean praise and criticism arent mutually exclusive you know?  I love the groove of Under My Thumb even if its misogyny is utterly reprehensible.  Ditto Stupid Girl.  So you own all Rush's albums but some don't appeal to you as much as Hemispheres or 2112, right?  Why can't you just say they are average records or that certain songs are, gulp, not very good in your opinion instead of using a cop out like 'they don't appeal to me'?  Jeez, why so scared to criticise?  Why so uptight about it?  Why so precious?

The idea of people sitting around critcizing music makes my skin crawl.

Here we go.  This is a thing with you isn't it?  Why does it bother you so much?  Is it only music criticism that bothers you or does literary, art and film criticism bothers you as well?  The internet is full of messgaeboards with people doing exactly that I'm afraid.  It is as just as valid as enthusing about something and most people find it a lot easier to criticise and say why they don't like something then explain why they do like a certain record.  This is perfectly natural.  Should music only be praised and lauded?  Well obviously not so what exactly does that statement mean?  Does it bother you if people slag off The Jacket or Rush?  Why so personal?  If the very idea of complete strangers slagging off bands and records makes your skin crawl then the internet must be hard going for you!  Or are you coming from the Frank Zappa writing about music is stoopid school of thought?    

People who say things like "I used to love REM.  Then they became total shit," are obviously pretentious people who are going to educate me (once again, for the 10,000,000th time) what music is good and what music is bad and what music I should and should not like, b/c they know what good music is; they are the holders of all that is sacred in regards to musical taste and if I happen to like an REM song off REVEAL, then I am an idiot and have no taste in music. Heard it, heard it, heard it, heard it....not interested.

Obviously pretentious people?  Don't be daft man.  You're inferring that there are other motives behind a statement like that as if I am doing it too look cool or something.  You cannot possibly know that can you?    There is no pretension in that statement at all so to suggest that people i.e. ME who say similar things are 'obviously' pretentious is your desperate interpretation so you can go off on a little insecure strop. The idea that these people are somehow trying to educate you, again, is your inference and nothing in that statement suggests that.  You took that particular ball and ran with it yourself.  I merely said that I used to love REM then they went a bit shit so I, funnily enough, went off them.  Where is the pretension?  People who say things like 'X' are therefore Y.  We don't live in a black and white world.  You're accusing me of arrogantly trying to ramrod my opinion down your throat and yet your labeling me 'obviously pretentious' based on that?!  You obviously do value your opinion quite highly when it manages to convince yourself that people are such and such based on a simple statement - I used to love X but then they became shit imo so now I don't.  Pretentious?

There are good songs on Reveal but it's the production that spoils it.  Ditto Up.  These albums sound like pastiches at times and find a band clearly facing a loss of identity after Berry's departure.  Witness the Pet Sounds wannabe At My Most Beautiful that sounds like second rate High Llamas rather than REM.  Around The Sun was wretched.   So of course you are not an idiot for liking song/s off average or shit albums.  Nothing in my post suggests this does it?  In the same way shit bands can have good songs as well.  For example Girls Girls Girls by the otherwise horrendous Motley Crue.  I am a music snob - everybody is to certain degrees otherwise we'd listen to any old shit - but I am quite happy to listen to Pharoh Sanders or Cluster as I am Girls Aloud or Toxic by Britney Spears.  How good is Umbrella by Rihanna eh?  

>>imagining how this conversation with Michael Stipe might pan out: "Hey Michael, I really loved Chronic Town, Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, Life's Rich Pageant, Document, Green, Out of Time, Automatic for the People, Monster, and New Adventures in Hi-Fi, but, lately your music is shit". Is there a reson I would not say this to Michael Stipe? Wait! Think a minute before you answer. I understand that 15 years of solid music is really not that big of a deal; that anyone of us could just shit that stuff out....  think about it.

Think about what exactly?  I'm not bitter that REM turned shit.  Your post makes me sound like some angry fan who expects blood from his idols and is actually ungrateful when they turn out shit product like they owe me.  "but Stipey, I know you've given us some great music over the years but this new one just isn't good enough, you've ruined my life you prick!" Not at all, they don't owe me jack shit and I'm grateful for the memories Stipe and co.  Murmur and Reckoning will always have a place in my heart.  The others far less so these days.  My post was merely questioning someone's blind faith which is a perfectly reasonable line of debate to pursue is it not?    

I own 22 RUSH albums everyone, and when I listen to it, I listen to it LOUD on my expensive as hell hi-fidelity stereo system and it makes me feel [size=20]G O O D[/size]

Knock yourself out Mr High Fidelity!   What with all your Rush albums and your expensive as hell hi fidelity stereo system whilst others slum it with our cheap music systems....  

Kiss my ass   :-*

I would kiss your ass but it's so big and cumbersome that I wouldn't where to start frankly and the whiff of heavy sulphur is making me wretch somewhat ;-)

[dragonboy]

i.e. because it's fucking shit frankly.  Ditto Maxwells Silver Hammer

Are you kidding?!! I love Maxwells Silver Hammer!!! Abbey Road is my fav Beatles album & there isn't a single second of it that I don't like!  :)

[red]

Are you kidding?!! I love Maxwells Silver Hammer!!! Abbey Road is my fav Beatles album & there isn't a single second of it that I don't like!  :)

Even "Octopus's Garden"?!  Abbey Road is my favourite Beatles album too, and one of my all-time favourites, but I always skip that one.  ;D

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

oi vey!  such a difference of opinions...about opinions.

goat boy, i don't think there's a real need to let the debate descend into a pissing contest - unless that's your purpose, of course.  seems like it is, IMHO.  

so, back to the topic:  what is missing from EU?  well, having not heard the whole record, i can't say for sure.   of the songs i've heard, nothing is.  it is what it is -  a My Morning Jacket record.  It sounds like a huge sound progression for them, but ultimately it sounds like My Morning Jacket.  They have the unique ability to put their own sound and stamp on the ever widening funnel of influences they've absorbed over the years.   To this wizened listener, I can't believe I'm hearing the same band after almost eight years of albums and shows - but it is the same band.  (at it's core, of course-I'm well aware of the lineup changes).

Every record is an exciting chance to hear how Jim and co. have grown, matured, and evolved from those thrift store kids I saw all those years ago bashing out Cromagnon versions of "The Bear" and "Heartbreakin' Man", almost skeletal in their forms - to the fully fleshed out beasts of "Run Thru" and "Gideon".  Now, almost a decade later, we've got "Evil Urges" (the track) which sounds like the Wizard of Oz has transported the band into Mesopotamia circa 2000 BC and they opened a head shop for tranny belly dancers high on morphine, and brought those very dancers back to the future so they could all go disco dancing.

Yeah.  :)

[dragonboy]

Haha, I love Octopuses Garden & often put it on my summer mixtapes.

[ycartrob]

goat boy, I can see you love the tit for tat, but I am bored with it.

You rant and rave how you could never be percieved of as pretentious, then the next paragraph you call yourself a music snob. You should perhaps think that through a little more, you unpretentious snob you. Not everyone is a "music snob" to a certain degree, like you say. Get your language straight. Just b/c the Mona Lisa doesn't appeal to me (and it doesn't, I don't get it) doesn't mean I am an art snob and it also doesn't mean the Mona Lisa is shit. It means the Mona Lisa doesn't appeal to me, however, I respect the fact that other's love it. The same goes for the MMJ song They Ran, a song that does not appeal to me, but out of respect for those who love it, I don't think it's shit or call it shit. I just don't think it's my job to tell you how shitty a song is that you might love (and part of the magic is to see the beauty in your enjoyment of it). Don't you understand that?

[biscuitbobo]

yeah...they've really gone downhill since "the funeral" ;)

[megalicious]

come on. you can't join this forum and post a "review" of an album from a band we all love and expect people not to get upset about it. and you can't say hateful shit to other members and expect us all to welcome you with open arms.

i am looking forward to hearing evil urges in its entirety. the ONLY thing missing from this album is my owning it, and this will be remedied on june 10th.

oh, and don't diss tracy, rush, or the beatles. even "octopus' garden." these things are all awesome, and this subject is not up for further debate.  :)

group hug.
:-*

[searchinbig]

Hey....let's talk some politics!  ;D

:o  :o  :o  :o  :o  :o  :o  :o  :o  :o

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

Hey....let's talk some politics!  ;D

:o  :o  :o  :o  :o  :o  :o  :o  :o  :o

Obama is da man.  ;)

[upstatestruggler]

Whatchoo know bout Mark Twain and Tesla?

<teenage b-girl singing>
whatchoo know bout me, whatchoo whatchoo know bout me...my mark twain is cool, my tesla is poppin'...

[BH]

Whatchoo know bout Mark Twain and Tesla?

<teenage b-girl singing>
whatchoo know bout me, whatchoo whatchoo know bout me...my mark twain is cool, my tesla is poppin'...

;D  My 3 year old loves that song!  Lip gloss be poppin'!

[searchinbig]

Hey....let's talk some politics!  ;D

:o  :o  :o  :o  :o  :o  :o  :o  :o  :o

Obama is da man.  ;)

No way......Jim James for President!!

:)

[searchinbig]

Hey....let's talk some politics!  ;D

:o  :o  :o  :o  :o  :o  :o  :o  :o  :o

Obama is da man.  ;)

but then there couldn't be a tour...no way!

No way......Jim James for President!!

:)

Of course there can be a tour! It will be renamed the Evil Urges campaign tour!!

[realdeal]

I actually have a copy of the entire album. What I will say is there are some very good and some very BAD songs. What I don't understand is Jim said they had over 20 songs and they filtered some out because they didn't belong. Really? Because the 2 tracks "Remnants" and "Two Halves" could have been tossed for anything else! If you thought that Z was overproduced pop music, you ain't heard nothing. Everything else is pretty original.

[PapaJoeBear]

Wow...

    This kind of post is the reason I dont post here any more.  I've been a member for a long while now,  maybe about a year before It Still Moves came out.  Back then, this was a board where everyone and anyone could state their opinions about stuff, whether it be MMJ's music, or anyone else's music for that matter. But since, I'd say around the release of Z,  this board has become a place of rabid MMJ fanboyism.
    Lets take a look at  this whole post.  Killerwolf posted his review of Evil Urges. Innocent enough. Sure, he is a 'newbie' on the board, but all he did was post his opinion.  When this album releases,  people will be post either links or cut'n'pasting a bunch of reviews onto this website just like you folks did when Z came out.  Good and bad reviews at that. I think the overall review was positive.  He didn't like some songs, liked a bunch of others; whatever.  Did everyone skip where he wrote "this album is still a million times better than any of the other crap that is going to be force fed onto the masses this year"?  Why is everyone hung up on him saying that sometihng is missing?  There is something missing from the mix, afterall.  Its that intoxicationg reverb that the reviewer remembers so fondly on the 1st 3 albums.  I dont think anyone here would deny that the overall sound from MMJ has changed a bit from At Dawn to this album (though I have only heard what has been released. I'm not a downloader.)
    The very next post, Tracy comes on the attack.  Tracy nowhere does the reviewer say that the ALBUM tremendously let him down. Her was refering to particular songs.  It seems that as soon as you heard any negativety you had to jump on the defensive. Why? I mean, your not in the band,  and its just one persons opinion.  I appriciate the OP views on the album, and I am a part of their fan base. Wether you like it or not, the review was exactly what you implied it wasnt; constructive input.  Later on in this thread, you state the the OP 'pissed on MMJ".  How so?   By posting a review?  You make fun of the guy for not being able to dish it out and take it.  He wasn't dishing it out to you, or anyone for that mater. He wrote a review, which obviously you can not take. Walk the walk indeed.
    As for everyone saying he's ragging on Highly Suspicious, if you read the review he doesn't do that at all.  He said he LIKES the song.  He is just pointing out that it extremely odd and not like your average MMJ track.  I've heard the live version and I am divided on it myseld.  It is extremely goofy;  I am very curious as to how it sounds on the album.
    Upstatestruggler posts that she thinks she knows this (type of)guy.  How do you gather that from a review of an album.  If I posted a review of Z it would not be a glowing review of an album that in infallible;  there a songs I like and dont like on it, same as the OP here feels about Evil Urges.  Does that mean I'M that kind of guy? I'm not.  I am the guy that gets there early stays at front up against the state, and rocks the hell out.   If you dont like reviews, dont read them.  That would prevent you from listening to a new album and hearing what a reviewer is talking about.
    EVIL coltrane URGES writes that everyone can have an opinion.  Why is this place different?  Did everyone love everything the band did back in the day? Really? I rember several posts 'back in the day'  that were about tracks off of MMJ albums that we did Not like, even back then.  This board is not a cult.  There is not a club fee. Its a MMJ message board.  We can post what we feel. Nowhere does it say 'only post if you love every single thing that MMJ has released."   Saying that this board is a place for only people 'who want to remain positive and have fun' is pretty ellitist of you.  Let people post their opinions without giving them a hard time.  This IS a ordinary band forum.  Dont think this place is anymore than that.  is MMJ an ordinary band?  Well thats up to your own OPINION.
    Goat boy was just defending the OP opinion which he has a right to, johnconaway.  Maybe he is letting it descend into a pissing contest,  but Tracy is just as guilty of that.  Why do people on this board always feel the need to defend the other 'long timers' here, but get all bent out of shape when someone else defends a newbie? I'm sure that I'll be attacked and picked apart for this post, and thats fine I guess. It's something I've grown to expect from a handful of you folks.
    All in all, this was just a review. An opinion of an album. get over yourselves; you are not a member of the band.  You are one of many that belongs to a board for your favorite band.  Others here may not like everything MMJ does, and thats ok.  Let them post about it without attacking them.  I am, as we all are, looking forward to the new album, and I will more than likely post my opinions of the album here when it comes out. I hope you do too.  
Keep on rockin.

PapaJoeBear

[realdeal]

Amen. Where have you been all my life. Fanboyism to 3rd degree around here sometimes.  Oh My God!! You better not say anything negative about the or their music!!
This board is so fucking one sided.

[Angry Ewok]

Amen. Where have you been all my life. Fanboyism to 3rd degree around here sometimes.  Oh My God!! You better not say anything negative about the or their music!!
This board is so fucking one sided.

I can't stand all of these fans who are supportive of their favorite band and get annoyed at critical reviews of stolen, unreleased material, either.

::)

[PapaJoeBear]

That is assuming the OP didn't get a promo copy of the album, right Ewok? I mean, he states that "When I finally recieved a copy of Evil Urges".  Never does he suggest he downloaded the leaked copy.   Promos are out all over the place now, and tons of people get them.  My buddy who writes reviews had recieved a copy of It Still Moves a month or so before it was released, and let me listen to it a few times.  Just saying, dont assume this was an illegally downloaded copy.
Carry on.

[Angry Ewok]

That is assuming the OP didn't get a promo copy of the album, right Ewok?

It's just that very few people I know who do have a promo copy have said much of anything about it, so my assumption is always that if the review isn't made by a professional, then it was listened to without the band's consent.

You are right, though.

I have been humbled.