Z appreciation thread

[The DARK]

Why does "Into the Woods" get so much hate....

The same reason Highly Suspicious does and will on a larger scale once the album is released. Some people just don't have a sense of humor, is all.

Its not the sense of humor for me, i like the silly covers and Jim's boots and Oregon Trail attire. I like Into The Woods, but don't like Highly Suspicious.

I think Highly Suspicious is hilarious. I bet they have so much fun with it.  :D

[BuyOrangeRacket]

Z is sort of an oddity in that it was a transitional album, but a highly polished one. Even from the initial listen, it's hard to be captious when the damn thing just shines of gazillion-dollar production value.

Yes, there were a few songs that didn't stick at first listen. When you have three prior albums that are all in the same awesome vein, Z knocked me for a loop. "Into The Woods" was one of those songs, but now I think I play that song even more than some of the others on the album, lol.

"Gideon," to me, is the album's brightest gem. Jim is a freakin' vocal Godzilla on that track. It just sounds so...so...divine.

But all of that is just Jim James' posturing, if you ask me...holding back all these years with Z as the tease before he really drops the hammer -- with Evil Urges. Not to give it away, but 'Urges is the MMJ album that totally blurs the lines (maybe you all gather that from 'Touch Me pt 2.?). It's Z all over again and more.

[megalicious]

z is a phenominal album. from start to finish. it's one of those rare albums you can put on and not skip any tracks because each one is equally boss.

into the woods is an amazing song. i don't get all the negativity about this tune. it's so detailed in its arrangement, and all the little touches--sound effects and all--make it one of those songs you could listen to on headphones and just say, "damn."

DAMN.

[lime1968]

I had never really been a huge fan of Z, especially in contrast to their earlier body of work. People say that the band pushed their sound and really experimented with Z, but I think that the band went more out on the limb with their previous albums. Z just sounded more generic, mainstream, like it could have come from any other number of bands. (sorry for the hate.)

BUT... just recently, after hearing Jim play Z solo acoustically I have fallen in love with the songs and gained a new appreciation for the album. I guess it was mostly the overly synthetic production of the album that really irked me. And the omission of some choice songs like How Could I know, Chills, and I Can't Wait!... I mean how could this beauty never get recorded?

[ManNamedTruth]

I had never really been a huge fan of Z, especially in contrast to their earlier body of work. People say that the band pushed their sound and really experimented with Z, but I think that the band went more out on the limb with their previous albums. Z just sounded more generic, mainstream, like it could have come from any other number of bands. (sorry for the hate.)

BUT... just recently, after hearing Jim play Z solo acoustically I have fallen in love with the songs and gained a new appreciation for the album. I guess it was mostly the overly synthetic production of the album that really irked me. And the omission of some choice songs like How Could I know, Chills, and I Can't Wait!... I mean how could this beauty never get recorded?

The point of this thread is to talk about how great Z is, having read a lot of posts like yours lately and I wanted to keep this one positive. There's nothing mainstream about this album, thats why it didn't do well in the mainstream. "like it could have come from any other number of bands"=one of the dumbest comments I've read here. Start a Criticize Z thread if thats what you want to talk about.

[biles1234]

Z was also my first exposure to MMJ and is also my favorite album. The amount of musical territory covered on that album on that album is absolutely amazing. It is so stylistically diverse yet manages to sound pretty cohesive. An absolute masterpiece. There's a few songs on there that I don't care for as much as others, but I feel I don't get the full enjoyment from the album unless I listen to it from beginning to end. The final 4 songs on the album (Anytime to Dondante) may be the strongest string of 4 tracks that I've ever heard. "Lay Low" and "Knot Comes Loose" are possibly my top 2 favorite MMJ songs.

However, I recently have listened to At Dawn and Tennessee Fire and I understand that longing for the haunting rural sound that characterized the band's earlier sound. At Dawn is such a spacious and stunning beautiful work. I'd probably place it as my 2nd favorite MMJ at the moment. I haven't listened to enough of TTF to include it in my rankings but right now this is what they would look like:

1. Z
2. At Dawn
3. It Still Moves
4. Evil Urges

I'm not a huge fan of Evil Urges. It has its great moments but it stumbles at times. It also has the first (in my opinion) skippable tracks of any MMJ album (Highly Suspicious & Two Halves). The great moments are truly incredible (Thank You Too, Touch Me, Pt. 2) and this where I can see Jim James' vision for the "new sound" come true but as a whole EU didn't do it for me. A really solid album, but not on par with the band's earlier work.

[Clarkwork]

I just listened to this whole album for the first time in a long time.  It really is a great album.  Love the songs and the sound.  Production is great.  I can't wait to hear EU to compare.  I hate when people are already comparing and the actual album hasn't came out yet!