What is everyone FREAKING OUT about?

[Tony Two Tone]

Listened through Evil Urges twice now and for the life of me I can not understand why SO many people are freaking out!

There are only two, yes TWO songs that sound extremely different from what they've ever done.  The rest sounds like what we were expecting and the band was cool enough to work their ass off and suprise you with Evil Urges and Highly Suspicious.

What other band does that for their fans?  Nickleback?  MMJ makes good MUSIC, their not out there trying to make hit singles so they can be on MTV.

Yes my friends, this is one fine, fine album.  And I thank them so much for not staying in one music genre and now making it even more difficult to explain to people what they sound like.

Thanks MMJ

[shockadow]

Here. Here and....  Here!!!!!

Well put!!!!

[1derfulman]

You are so right Tony.  

I would add Touch Me 2 to make it 3 songs.  

[allode]

The only people I've seen freaking out are that homophobic guy that thought the album was too gay, and the people that got pissed over some fans not liking the sound of MMJ's new album.
I disagree that there are only TWO songs that sound extremely different. There are two songs that sound the most different but most of the album is very different.

[Tony Two Tone]

I think Z really prepared us for the new album.

If there had been no "Z" and then they released Evil Urges then I could understand the shock of the sound.

But honestly I've already gotten use to the synths and electro beats.

This is nothing like the shift of Radiohead's OK Computer to Kid A.  Now those were some shocked fans!

[allode]

I think Z really prepared us for the new album.

If there had been no "Z" and then they released Evil Urges then I could understand the shock of the sound.

But honestly I've already gotten use to the synths and electro beats.

The synths and electro beats are fine. They've been playing with that for a long time. I mean Touch Me 2 is Cobra worked out, and that song is the best full song on the album.
What it all comes down to, for me, is the horrible vocals and lyrics by Jim James and the horrible backup vocals. (i shouldn't need to bring up Highly Suspicious)
Jim James was the star of Z. The only thing Evil Urges has going for it is the guitar.

And I must say, the last minute of Smokin from Shootin does get my heart racing. And I just read the lyrics and that song does have some cool stuff going for it, "faith can't prove what science won't resolve," I love that line. So, I could see that song growing on me.

[odatat]

I was going to start a thread along these same lines Two-Tone Tony.After reading some of the posts and reading some of the negitive reviews I thought this peice of work by this great band was going to be adisapointment.Far from it.I bought this fine cd yesterday and I just want to thank Jim,Carl,Bo,Tommyand Patrick for making a album that is truly a band effort. You can here everyones influence on this recording.It brought tears and chills from the very first note.For me this is a classic Thanks Guys. : :-* :-* :-*

[gundy]

Can I get an A-MEN!  I love EU and can't wait to see them play it live on tour! See you all there!

Gundy

[cmccubbin25]

I think Z really prepared us for the new album.

If there had been no "Z" and then they released Evil Urges then I could understand the shock of the sound.

But honestly I've already gotten use to the synths and electro beats.

The synths and electro beats are fine. They've been playing with that for a long time. I mean Touch Me 2 is Cobra worked out, and that song is the best full song on the album.
What it all comes down to, for me, is the horrible vocals and lyrics by Jim James and the horrible backup vocals. (i shouldn't need to bring up Highly Suspicious)
Jim James was the star of Z. The only thing Evil Urges has going for it is the guitar.

And I must say, the last minute of Smokin from Shootin does get my heart racing. And I just read the lyrics and that song does have some cool stuff going for it, "faith can't prove what science won't resolve," I love that line. So, I could see that song growing on me.

please stop telling us how bad the album is.  you posted once that you don't like it (except for Touch Me Part 2 and the acoustic version of Smokin' From Shootin').  that is enough...you have expressed your dissatisfaction with the album so just go away and take the homophobic guy with you.

[allode]

cmccubbin25, stop talking about how much you liked the album. No, wait, keep talking about it if you want to. It's your opinion and I have no right to tell you to stop giving it.
You know, I've received a lot of crap for speaking my mind on this thread and it never really bothered me (other than being called a troll) but your statement really got under my skin. I'm trying to have a nice, calm discussion with fellow MMJ fans and if you don't want to be a part of that NICE, CALM discussion you can not take part. But don't tell me to stop giving my opinion.
If there are any trolls in this thread it's the homophobe and people like you.

[ycartrob]

allode, you're a troll

stop giving your opnion

[whothrewthecake]

i'm FREAKING OUT because the rock odyssey known as evil urges just made my brain explode and pour out thru my ears. TRUE STORY

[The DARK]

Whatever. If you didn't mean anything allode, you picked a strange way to show it. It seems like a strange way to greet fans by being extremely critical of an album that was just released.

I won't call you a troll yet, if you show more support for the band in other threads.

[allode]

Whatever. If you didn't mean anything allode, you picked a strange way to show it. It seems like a strange way to greet fans by being extremely critical of an album that was just released.

I won't call you a troll yet, if you show more support for the band in other threads.

I am a MMJ fan. You guys keep talking like I'm some dude that just heard of MMJ and didn't like it. So, I thought it would be funny to screw with MMJ fans. That's not the case at all. As I've said before. I got the album. (pre-ordered it on iTunes so I could get the live track) I didn't like it at all and I wanted to know what other fans thought. I didn't think I needed to preface my opinion with, "I've got tickets to see MMJ in Orlando. I love At Dawn, The Tennessee Fire, Sweatbees, Chocolate And Ice, It Still Moves, Z, and Okonokos."

Tracy, you are now the definition of a troll. all you are doing is trying to provoke an indignant response from me.

[Chico]

I am a MMJ fan.

Welcome to the board Allode!

I had mixed feelings on the first listen...  much like the first time I listened to "Z".  

The second listen for me was o-so-niiiice.  I expect for me it will keep getting more and more nice.

[laylow82]

Its a great album.  I mean im no music snob or anything but i do think i have discpline ears that give me the ablity to judge what is good music to what is bad music and every sound from every note is doing it for me.  All the songs have an luring appeal  to it.  i think this could be better then Z and this is from someone who thinks Z is there magnus opus ( At dawn is still my personal fav).  Give it some to time and keep listening if you still have doubts.  If you are a true mmj fan then you will invest your self in it and i believe that it will pay off for you.  The beautiy of this work will reveal itself to you just like Z did when it first came out and everyone had doubts because it was so different from It still moves

[ManNamedTruth]

It's not an easy album to get into but its slowly becoming rewarding. I think the only problem with this album is that it seems Jim had LOTS of different ideas and kind of just threw them all together. I can feel the creative high Jim must have been on. The creative energy, and the feeling that they really wanted to put out a great album is what makes it work. The best way to approach this album is to not even think about their other albums.

[YouAre_GivenToFly]

I listened to Z yesterday, and I had a thought.

With all the fuss being made over the sound of certain tracks (ie: Highly Suspicious), surely HS can't be more of a shock than Into the Woods was.  The sounds explored on Z seem to be even more of a contrast to It Still Moves than EU is to Z.

[Clarkwork]

We would be bored as shit if they just kept giving us the same sound from AD and ISM.  Those are great albums but I like that they are changing with each record.  I did not like Z at first but now I put it up there, if not ahead, of TF, AD and ISM.  

I just hope they keep giving us a fresh sound, and maybe one day they will make another record in the barn and come full circle.

[allode]

Chico, I'm glad you're liking it more and more. I'll be happy with just enjoying it live, but I'm worried about Jim's falsetto. I don't think he pulled it off on SNL.

laylow82, I consider myself a true MMJ fan but I guess my definition doesn't match yours. I look at being a fan of a music group the same way I look at being patriotic. To me, a true patriot will stand up critically against his or her country when it does something wrong, like torture. And to me, Evil Urges is torture. ;)

true, you have to be right about the guys having LOTS of ideas, and that really hurts the album. It doesn't sound cohesive. For me, it sounds like a mixture of different songs a group did over a long period of time, but they didn't put it in order of oldest to youngest. They mixed them all up and Evil Urges is what they got, and Evil Urges is the perfect name for this album. They had an urge and it was evil!

YouAre_GivenToFly, you do make a good point about Z and "Into the Woods." That was a very different sound, but that was a good song. "Highly Suspicious," on the other hand, is just a bad song. I know I'm giving an opinion like it's fact, but HS is SO different and SO corny and SO bad it really feels like it's a new law to the universe that "Highly Suspicious" is a bad song.