My Morning Jacket

http://www.contactmusic.com/new/home.nsf/webpages/mymorningjacketx04x09x06

My Morning Jacket - Okonokos - Album Review

My Morning Jacket
Okonokos
Album Review
Psychedelic reverb-botherers My Morning Jacket have been thrilling us for the best part of a decade, and now they've taken the high road and released a live album, containing tracks from all their previous L.Ps.
Listening to this vast collection shows what an expansive back catalogue Jim James and Co have, with tracks touching base on big 70s style rock, reggae, funk and country, but all of them retaining the trademark epic MMJ sound. "Dodante" and "Run Thru" are ten minutes opus' that sound like the Flaming Lips doing Pink Floyd, but manage to sit quite comfortably next to the sweet country-tinged "Xmas Curtain", which comes complete with a delightfully incongruous steel drum solo.

What is truly amazing, though, is the level of skill and sheer ambition on display here. If it weren't for the cheering of the faithful, you'd be forgiven for thinking this was a studio album, such is the perfection of the soundscapes the band create. That's not to say they merely rehash the studio versions, all 21 tracks sound fresh, even the oldest songs appear reinvigorated, James' primal howl sending them skyward, even when they threaten to sink.

And, to be fair, there are a few moments that test the patience, the
noodling and soloing being best in small doses, is pushed to its very limit on "Off The Record." But, given the overall quality of the music on offer on Okonokos, you can let this minor quibble slip by and enjoy two sides of quality live music.

Ben Davy

i say bring on the noodling & soloing....

Quotei say bring on the noodling & soloing....

Amen Ali!  Amen.

Quote

Amen Ali!  Amen.

of course.     and i just quoted someone quoting another.

http://www.jambase.com/headsup.asp?storyID=9147

We are pleased to announce My Morning Jacket's Fall 2006 Tour! Pre-sales begin on Thursday, September 14th at 12:00 pm local venue time for select dates.
MMJ will also release Okonokos, their new double live album with JamBase regular Dave Vann's photos! The release features 21 live tracks on two discs and will be available on September 26th on ATO/RCA Records. Pre-order the album and receive a free download of "Strangulation" (Live).

 OKONOKOS
Following the release of their fourth critically acclaimed full-length album, Z, My Morning Jacket readies to deliver what is surely to become their quintessential body of work – two discs and a concert film. They contain their most dynamic, otherworldly compositions to date, presented in their finest form. Live. Okonokos is a creative concept conceived by Jim James, and it is as much a question as it is an answer. It is an enigma wrapped around a riddle. Okonokos is whatever you want it to be.

Belying the myth that live albums tend to highlight the disparity between it and its studio counterpart, Okonokos, mixed by Michael Brauer (Bob Dylan, Coldplay) and mastered by pre-eminent engineer Bob Ludwig, delves into the realm of raw, rich, elevated sound, while proudly staying true to its roots. The treasury begins with "Wordless Chorus," one of the Jacket's captivating traditional introductions. A glacially expansive "One Big Holiday" grips you, throws you into a trance-inspiring guitar riff frenzy, quiets down, and leads you through another transcendent moment. The collection continues to mesmerize through the second disc, and closes with a spirited "Mahgeeta."

MY MORNING JACKET TOUR DATES
09.14 | Palamagatu Bologna, ITA (w/ Pearl Jam)
09.16 | Arena | Verona, ITA (w/ Pearl Jam)
09.19 | Palaisozaki | Torino, Italy (w/ Pearl Jam)
09.17 | Fila Forum | Milan, ITA (w/ Pearl Jam)
09.20 | Duomo Square | Pistoia, ITA (w/ Pearl Jam)
09.22 | London Astoria | London, UK (w/ Pearl Jam)
11.09 | The Music Farm | Charleston, SC
11.10 | Tennessee Theatre | Knoxville, TN
11.12 | The Tabernacle | Atlanta, GA
11.13 | Ryman Auditorium | Nashville, TN
11.15 | House of Blues | New Orleans, LA
11.16 | Gypsy Tea Room & Ballroom | Dallas, TX
11.17 | Gypsy Tea Room & Ballroom | Dallas, TX
11.18 | Stubb's BBQ | Austin, TX
11.20 | The Pageant | St. Louis, MO
11.21 | Riverside Theater | Milwaukee, WI
11.22 | Louisville Gardens | Louisville, KY
11.24 | The Riviera Theatre | Chicago, IL
11.25 | Clowes Hall | Indianapolis, IN
11.27 | 9:30 Club | Washington, DC
11.28 | 9:30 Club | Washington, DC
11.30 | Roseland Ballroom | New York, NY
12.01 | Electric Factory | Philadelphia, PA
12.02 | Avalon | Boston, MA

i love jambase

Can't Sept. 26th come any sooner. And shit I wish the dvd were coming out first.

http://www.newburycomics.com/rel/v2_viewupc.php?storenr=103&upc=82876862102&pt=1

On the double-disc concert album OKONOKOS, My Morning Jacket harnesses its considerable live energy into an impressive set. Drawing primarily from IT STILL MOVES and Z, the 2006 release features a few of the Louisville, Kentucky-based act's quieter tunes ("I Will Sing You Songs," "Golden"), but focuses primarily on gloriously rocked-out performances, including the surging shoegazer "Gideon" and the searing "One Big Holiday," which conjures up thoughts of the Allman Brothers Band and Mogwai in an on-stage choogle session. While many live records call attention to weaknesses in an ensemble's sound, OKONOKOS plays to MMJ's strengths (particularly frontman Jim James and guitarist Carl Bromel's bold, up-front six-string work), proving that the group is an arena-rock band in the best possible sense.

http://www.tuftsdaily.com/media/storage/paper856/news/2006/09/20/Arts/Mmjs-Live.Okonokos.Delivers-2286095.shtml?norewrite200609200637&sourcedomain=www.tuftsdaily.com

Tufts Daily

(excerpt)

"Overall, "Okonokos" showcases an incredible band at the height of its game, chugging relentlessly through its best songs and never holding back. For this reason alone, it is worth listening to. However, "Okonokos" accomplishes a far greater and more significant feat: It makes the listener believe in the power of rock 'n' roll. "

Quotehttp://www.tuftsdaily.com/media/storage/paper856/news/2006/09/20/Arts/Mmjs-Live.Okonokos.Delivers-2286095.shtml?norewrite200609200637&sourcedomain=www.tuftsdaily.com

Tufts Daily

(excerpt)



"Overall, "Okonokos" showcases an incredible band at the height of its game, chugging relentlessly through its best songs and never holding back. For this reason alone, it is worth listening to. However, "Okonokos" accomplishes a far greater and more significant feat: It makes the listener believe in the power of rock 'n' roll. "

Very good review this one! Thanks LaurieBlue for all the efforts. Keep em coming!

http://au.launch.yahoo.com/060923/11/wg38.html

ARTIST: MY MORNING JACKET

ALBUM: OKONOKOS (ATO/RCA Records)

It's high time one of America's best live bands committed its stage show to disc, and "Okonokos" delivers as powerful a wake-up call to the ears as seeing MMJ in the flesh. Vocalist Jim James lets it rip on "What a Wonderful Man," "One Big Holiday" and the spine-tingling "Gideon," while the band jams "Dondante" and "Steam Engine" into 11-minute rock epics. MMJ also proves its versatility on more intimate material such as "Golden" and "I Will Sing You Songs," which is handled with the finesse of players twice their age. The track list rightfully goes heavy on last year's outstanding "Z" (opener "Wordless Chorus," the jolly "Off the Record"). But it also dips into the back catalog for delightful obscurities such as "O Is the One That Is Real" and the countrified "Xmas Curtain." More, please!

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060923/SCENE04/60923005

Album Review
My Morning Jacket live!
New album faithfully captures MMJ energy, experience
By Jeffrey Lee Puckett
jpuckett@courier-journal.com
Courier-Journal critic


My Morning Jacket makes exceedingly good records, from the handmade charms of 1999's "Tennessee Fire" to the epic, inverted pop of last year's "Z." But there has always been something undeniably magical about the band's live performances that the studio can't capture, an energy that vibrates bone deep and lifts buildings off their foundations.

On some nights, the shows are literally transforming. You can arrive with a world of hurt weighing you down and by halfway through "Lowdown" it's all golden. The only problem is that the shows always end.
  
Until now. With "Okonokos: Double Live Album," My Morning Jacket's crazed, electric energy has been expertly captured. A DVD of the same show, recorded at the Fillmore West, follows on Oct. 31, but the record — out Tuesday — more than stands on its own.

"Okonokos" is a true concert experience, its many transcendent moments sharing space with happily wrecked solos and the occasional splintered high note from singer Jim James. This is not a complaint. This is what live music is all about: a shared, human experience, imperfections and all. We're living in the moment here.

Extremely picky fans might take issue with song selection, seeing as how "Tennessee Fire" is represented only by "I Think I'm Going to Hell," but the album's flow is impeccable, and there are far too many highlights to detail. Let's just say that you won't hear a more deeply moving version of "I Will Sing You Songs," and epic rockers such as "One Big Holiday," "Run Thru" and "Anytime" never sounded better. And "Lowdown" is here, too, just in time for one more emotional rescue.

If there's a better rock band, anywhere, than James, Patrick Hallahan, Two Tone Tommy, Bo Koster and Carl Broemel, it hasn't yet made a record. And if you haven't yet bought a My Morning Jacket record, start right here.

Jeffrey Lee Puckett is SCENE's pop music editor and oversees this page

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2006-09-21/music/rotations.html?src=default_rss

The best live albums bring something new to songs that have been heard only in a studio incarnation, new performances that transcend the recorded versions and connect with striking immediacy. By that standard, Okonokos, My Morning Jacket's first concert set, is a stunning success. An able followup to last year's critical breakthrough, Z, the new release continues along the tangent that has taken the band members from swampy Southern retro rock origins to the enigmatic, atmospheric sound that defines their recent outlay, spread over two discs. The album is a riveting encapsulation of their past catalogue, one that retraces the bandmates' hollow-eyed ambiance and dark deliberation and charges them with an urgency previously hinted at in the group's studio sets.

http://www.gigwise.com/contents.asp?contentid=22522

Some bands may by now view gigging as an unfortunately toil-intensive part of the promotional cycle. Not My Morning Jacket, though. Every moment of 'Okonokos', the exquisitely hirsute Louisville, Kentucky quintet's two hours plus take on the old school double-live album, crackles with a sizzling celebration of the stage and its transcendental possibilities, and it doesn't take them long to start wiping the floor with any preconceptions you might have about the band.
 
Far from a bunch of backwards-gazing Southern-fried boogie peddlers, Neil Young-aping alt. country aspirants or aimlessly noodling jam band aficionados, these 21 career-spanning tracks capture the five-piece mixing these ingredients and much, much more - country-folk roots, swooning soul, road-ragged rock 'n' roll, sparkling pop, even dancefloor-geared spaceage-funk and reggae, all of it catapulted to glorious heights by the heavenly croon of Jim James and Crazy Horsian reserves of cranked-up guitar crunch - to nail the genre-busting sound unveiled on last year's 'Z' with awe-inspiring aplomb.
 
Whether rescuing rarities from obscurity, switching early lo-fi gems to blazing multicolour without losing an iota of their hazy melancholy charm, dumbing down to greasy riff action, setting sail to stargazing cosmic soulfulness or providing convincing arguments in favour of marathon-length workouts, 'Okonokos' is filled with immense, uncategorisable music that makes much of the competition seem stiff in their movements, not to mention severely short on skills and soul alike. Simultaneously stadium-huggingly huge and soothingly intimate, equally fit for the grandest enormodome and the tiniest of clubs, gazing at the future whilst remaining rooted in trusted traditions, the band is on jaw-dropping form here, switching from muscle-flexing raw power to aching vulnerability with breathtaking ease, equally at home with giddy joy and teary-eyed desolation.

Barring the odd honourable exception (Wilco's stunning 'Kicking Television', for example), live albums have become a bit of a scam - time-killers for bands with alarmingly low credit in the ideas bank, contract-fillers for those wishing to escape the clutches of their current paymasters. My Morning Jacket remember a time when it didn't use to be like this. Rather than helplessly hugging a pile of vinyl from the golden era of capturing the beer-stained whiff of concert halls on records that blew minds and stereo speakers alike by displaying the full arsenal of the talent involved sans studio sanitation, they've produced a shit-hot document that deserves to be ranked alongside the art-form's key texts - 'Live Rust', 'Live At Leeds', 'Get Your Ya-Ya's Out' - the band obviously esteem highly.
For 'Okonokos' is the kind of a resistance-battering record that turns skeptics into believers, believers into foaming-at-the-mouth fanatics and....well, it's probably best not to know what it does to the most fervently dedicated section of their audience, beyond proving every superlative-exhausting claim of superiority ever made on their favourite band's behalf.

http://www.dailynebraskan.com/media/storage/paper857/news/2006/09/25/Reviews/Cd.Reviews-2305199.shtml?norewrite200609250750&sourcedomain=www.dailynebraskan.com

'Okonokos' sticks out among pack of live CDs


My Morning Jacket - Okonokos
4/5 stars

Live releases from bands have lost some of their uniqueness since bands like Pearl Jam began releasing every concert they performed to fans who want to purchase them.

But every once in a while a single live release will come around with enough swagger to make me forget about the commonness of live releases circa 2006.

My Morning Jacket's "Okonokos" is one of those albums.

Before the album's first offering, "Wordless Chorus," is over, it's easy to grasp that the band took its time putting together a quality release.

And in hearing the fullness of "One Big Holiday" in a live setting, I immediately added MMJ to my list of "Top-five bands I need to see live before I die."

"Okonokos" is a double live album that features 21 offerings from throughout the band's career.

While I would've wished for an acoustic version of "Golden," the version that makes an appearance on "Okonokos" is upbeat enough to make up for the omission.


- compiled by Jeremy Buckley

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/5329/my-morning-jacket-okonokos/

My Morning Jacket
Okonokos
(ATO)
US release date: 26 September 2006
UK release date: 2 October 2006
by Dave Heaton

"Does everybody remember the Foghat rule? Your fourth album should be double-live," Bob Odenkirk, in Kiss makeup, instructed his pupils at rock school, Yo La Tengo, in a hilarious skit of a music video once upon a time. My Morning Jacket's double-live album, Okonokos, is their fifth album, not their fourth, but still, those sort of unwritten rules of ROCK seem to run in My Morning Jacket's blood. As a band they perennially adopt the stance of rock 'n' roll warriors, out to take over the world. In concert they attack their instruments ferociously, long hair swinging in front of their faces. They play their songs loud and proud, thriving off the larger-than-life aspects of playing music for people. They seem to remember how it felt as a kid when a rock band captured your imagination, made you dream, and they try and embody some of that spirit themselves. Certainly they get why the Foghat principle joke is funny, but they also get a kick out of that sort of musical excess, out of living it up onstage, acting like (or being?) the best, baddest, most kick-ass band that ever was.

So yes, of course My Morning Jacket has released a double-live album, and of course they've made it big and bold, exemplifying the greater history and mythology of the Live Album. It was recorded last year in San Francisco at the Fillmore, an iconic venue. Though the performance features songs from throughout their career, the live album has been given a vague concept of its own, that of the fanciful land of Okonokos. The show itself included a stage set to match this concept, one designed by a movie set designer. And the album is actually even bigger than your standard double-album. It's two CDs, or four LPs, if you get the limited-edition vinyl 'box set' version, which included an extra side of music. And then there's the DVD version, which also is going to be screened theatrically in limited release in October. This is a band that thinks and acts big, and this live album's as big as they come.

The scope of the music is huge, too; it's not just the concept and presentation. Where their first two albums of moody, transformative country drew incessant Neil Young comparisons, their major-label debut It Still Moves had such a consistent, well-formed rock sound that critics started talking about them as Southern rock. And then their atmospheric, complex fourth album Z made those critics switch gears and start calling them the American Radiohead. None of those are true, and all are. One thing Z confirmed is that the band is capable of almost anything, as they switch from high-powered pop-rock into spaced-out reggae, to expansive Western-desert-type exploratory jams, and on and on.  All of that is captured on Okonokos, an album that contains music from throughout their career and impressively demonstrates how well they're able to translate those songs into a live setting.

Okonokos's structure is perfect for a live album—when the songs trip off into another world, they soon rock brightly back to life, often within the same song. The songs are stretched out, but without losing any of their impact. In fact, the impact of every hook, note, and solo is only accentuated. The band hammers each note exactly right, with absolute toughness but also sensitivity, so it isn't bombastic but still kicks hard. James' voice soars but also turns ragged, as the music flies light but also punches the audience in the face. An extra dose of intensity is added to songs, to keep the feeling of surprise, and those intense moments the audience is expecting—like on "One Big Holiday", their most overtly rocking song—are delivered even better than promised.

The first disc of Okonokos opens with the first three songs off Z, in order, and the order suits the songs as well here as on the album itself. Then the band steps back through the previous albums, returning to Z here and there. It Still Moves' "I Will Sing You Songs" seems especially slow and dreamy at first, with James lingering on lyrics like "just don't make it last any longer than it has to," like a playful tease, before the whole band inevitably rocks the song up right. On At Dawn's "The Way That He Sings", they take an instrumental break and use it as a hook to ride, as the audience claps along to the drummer's determined rhythm and the guitarists bang on their guitars in a way that makes me imagine them striking a windmill stance.

The second disc starts off looser and mellower in tone, as it should, before knocking the mood back in an energetic direction near the end. The 11-minute "Dondante" offers a slow drift, leading into nine minutes of "Run Thru" that get increasingly further from Earth. Soon they're back in the land of (somewhat) shorter songs that leave melodies and mysteries behind—like a brilliant version of "Xmas Curtain" and a truly haunted "I Think I'm Going to Hell," the lone track here off their debut album The Tennessee Fire—but after that is a blistering, slow-burning version of "Steam Engine" that ends in a drum solo, a necessity for a rock band's live album. There's more of course, leading up to an album-ending version of "Mahgeeta" where the band sounds as sharp as they did when they started.  

With each passing year My Morning Jacket seem more like one of the most powerful live bands around. Okonokos does nothing but reinforce that impression.. or solidify it even, by leaving in aural concrete a evidence of their capacity to rock, to float, to wring emotion from each note while ensuring fire pumps through the veins of every listener.

RATING:  8/10

— 25 September 2006

Great review, there... did I skip a line, or did he ever address the reason why he gave an 8 instead of a 10?

seriously. why an 8?

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/4212696.html

Our guide to the best entertainment this week

1. My Morning Jacket

Alt-rocker band My Morning Jacket is one of the best live acts out there. On Okonos it takes on one of rock's greatest indulgences: the double live album. In stores Tuesday.

http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?z=y&EAN=828768621028&itm=1

Barnes & Noble
Even before their breakthrough, It Still Moves, My Morning Jacket had built a buzz as a great live act: With their long hair swinging in circles, their penchant for dramatic shifts in dynamics, and their indulgence in epic guitar solos, the Louisville, Kentucky, band created an impressive spectacle. But the main draw was always Jim James's voice: lathered with reverb, soaring into a high tenor, earthy but otherworldly. So the double live album Okonokos makes sense, just as live albums made sense for fellow classic southern rockers like the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Little Feat. Drawing heavily from Z and It Still Moves but reaching back to At Dawn and various early EPs, Okonokos demonstrates the depth and breadth of MMJ's talents. The band shifts easily from compact bursts of joy like "What a Wonderful Man" to gentle, country-flavored acoustic ballads like "Golden" to epic guitar jams like "Steam Engine" (one of four songs that stretches beyond the eight-minute mark). Although the set bypasses the unusual covers the band often tosses into its shows, Okonokos (which is also a DVD film produced by Sam Erickson) makes a good case for My Morning Jacket's place as one of the best live bands of its era. Steve Klinge

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/reviews/story/0,,1871735,00.html


The next 10
My Morning Jacket, Okonokos

*** Esteemed space-rock hairies follow in the footsteps of Neil Young

Paul Mardles
Sunday September 17, 2006
Observer Music Monthly

Since 1998, Kentucky's My Morning Jacket have combined the sonic excesses of the old school with the sensibility of cosmic noughties rock. Fitting then that their filmed live album, Okonokos, takes its cue from Neil Young's Rust Never Sleeps - a film/gig notable for its absurdly large stage props - and veers, much like Young, between fragility and brawn. Of the two CDs the first in particular is superb, chiefly thanks to 'Wordless Chorus' and 'It Beats 4 U' on which they bridge the chasm separating soul from rock and make their poor contemporaries sound like leaden-footed oafs.
3/5 stars

E! Online gives it a B+

"Our Review:
This hairy Americana rock band has a reputation for its knockout live shows, which have been known to stretch out over three hours. And while it's nearly impossible to fully get the group's beardy wonderfulness from a recording, the brawny material on Okonokos, the band's live double-disc set recorded live at San Francisco's Fillmore, compensates with added guitar solos, new song arrangements and singer Jim James' stunning falsetto--particularly on the opening track, "Wordless Chorus." From there, things get better with a stellar stretch through the middle of disc one and the hammering one-two punch of "Dondante" and "Run Thru" on the second disc. As concert recordings go, this is one of the best."

http://www.eonline.com/Reviews/Facts/Music/RevID/0,1107,3810,00.html

new song arrangements?

beardy wonderfulness!

i think that sums it up in two words!!
 :)

Philadelphia Daily News
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/15609541.htm
My Morning Jacket's haunted, reverberant rock actually improves in the concert setting of "Okonokos: The Live Album" (RCA, B+).

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/living/15609541.htm?source=rss&channel=dailynews_living

My Morning Jacket's haunted, reverberant rock actually improves in the concert setting of "Okonokos: The Live Album" (RCA, B+).

http://www.diamondbackonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/09/25/45188741ea05c

My Morning Jacket is successful in their first live album effort Okonokos
By Tripp Laino

September 25, 2006

When a band is known for its incredible live performances, it only makes sense for them to release a live album showcasing their talent. It took My Morning Jacket four albums and seven years to figure this out, but their first foray into this realm is an excellent one.

Okonokos was recorded over two nights at the historic Fillmore Auditorium, where a veritable who's who of musicians have performed, including the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and even Otis Redding.

"One Big Holiday" opens with a simple hi-hat solo, but moves into veritable one-man-band guitar player/saxophonist/vocalist Carl Broemel's excellent guitar work and Jim James' pleading vocals. Put simply, it's just a great rock song.

In terms of live experimentation, the most entertaining track on Okonokos is "Off The Record." While the song clocks in at a relatively short seven minutes for an improv piece, "Off the Record" is where the band finds a groove meshing drums, keys, bass and guitar together in perfect fashion. The five members play off one another to take their song to another level, the quintessential example of what a good live band does best.

"Dondante" begins with James' shrill vocals over a driving drum and bass back beat, but the song expands into 11 minutes of a Broemel solo, driving an ordinary studio track to an epic level. James' vocals are eerie but highly effective at conveying his emotions, "all that ever mattered will some day turn back to batter like a joke", making this track one of the album's best.

The best ballad on the album is "At Dawn," an offer of James' best Bono impression backed by the band's best U2 impression. The song opens with an almost trance-like beat, and the pleasant vocals and instrumentation mesh harmoniously to form a pleasant break from the louder tracks.

MMJ shows off a little of their southern rock roots on "Dancefloors," culminating in a mass solo and breakdown a la Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird." It also serves as the springboard to the excellent close of this album, as "Dancefloors," "Anytime" and "Mahgeeta" create a solid end for this live adventure.

While MMJ's first attempt at a live album comes off well, Okonokos lacks what makes live albums so much fun: the banter of the musicians and the crowd. Without this key ingredient, the album might as well be hastily ordered studio tracks with some cheering added in postproduction. These knocks aside, Okonokos is an excellent introduction to one of the more entertaining touring bands today.

Contact reporter Tripp Laino at diversions@dbk.umd.edu.

You lost me at Danny Cash.  WTF??!!

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/38749/My_Morning_Jacket_Okonokos

 
My Morning Jacket
Okonokos
[ATO; 2006]
Rating: 7.2




Reportedly, My Morning Jacket hate being labeled Southern rock. Who can blame them? Their ambitions transcend genre tags, and besides, Louisville, the band's hometown, is located in Northern Kentucky and is arguably more Midwestern than Southern. So it can't be a coincidence that for their first-ever live album, curiously called Okonokos, My Morning Jacket chose to record their performance at classic-rock homestead the Fillmore West in San Francisco, about as far west as you can get from Kentucky without getting wet. Their aim seems to be to prove that their brand of rural classic rock, abandoned-silo reverb, and farmyard psychedelia can connect anywhere across the U.S.

If they're trying to avoid the Southern rock tag, what are they striving for? Okonokos shows the band trying to find out. Z positioned them as one of few contemporary bands that could appeal to a broad swath of the populace, from indie kids to frat boys to soccer moms to older listeners wondering why they don't make 'em like Led Zeppelin IV anymore. On stage, MMJ shed their regional associations and their signature reverb, but they're still an American band, reinventing classic rock as a bluegrassroots movement. The Skynyrdisms remain, but My Morning Jacket have added Zep-heavy riffs, Springsteenian grandeur, Bonnaroo-ready jams, and breezy SoCal pop into the mix, while retaining an enigmatic presence reminiscent of earliest R.E.M.

So the music on Okonokos never sounds vague or really even placeless, but instead has a jolt of fresh energy. The current lineup may be the band's best and most dynamic yet: disciplined enough to love the sound of every instrument clicking into place, as on "One Big Holiday", but also restless enough to keep the songs constantly shifting. The grandiose "It Beats 4 U" launches into its strange whistling bridge (reminiscent of Goldfrapp's Felt Mountain) before closing out with Patrick Hallahan's driving snare-led groove. It's a pretty neat sequence, but never feels showy or disconnected. Similarly, the reggae strut of "Off the Record" dissipates into a long, moody outro that swirls around the stageset flora, sounding looser and less directed than the studio version, as if the band made that transition on a collective whim.

My Morning Jacket's move away from a regional sound has been gradually progressing from the rural sounds of At Dawn and The Tennessee Fire-- with their jumbles of guitar, banjo, harmonica, and reverb-- to the noodlier It Still Moves and the more electric, eclectic Z. So it's no surprise that the older material on Okonokos sounds most revitalized since it must be updated most dramatically to fit the band's increasingly expansive sound. Standouts "The Way That He Sings", "Xmas Curtain", and "Lowdown" are chirpy and bright without their original reverb. And nothing else on these two discs beats "O Is the One That Is Real" for its fierce rock assault, with singer Jim James' best performance of the evening propelled by Hallahan's slicing high hat and Danny Cash's noir keyboards.

Nevertheless, Okonokos still feels strangely unfulfilling, never quite living up to My Morning Jacket's reputation as one of the best live acts around. James botches the big moment on opener "Wordless Chorus", overselling those climactic yawps so they come out like out-of-tune brays. "Runthru" has an enormous riff that works well in this setting, but that theatrical grandeur, as well as the explosion of distortion, only underscores how silly the song is: "Oh shit run," James sings, with complete seriousness, "oh shit run through the ghetto." "Gideon" jams aimlessly, and "Mahgeeta" never seems to end.

Any live show will inevitably have crests and valleys, but besides these specific performances, Okonokos disappoints on a more general level: It too seldom sounds like an actual live album. There's almost no interaction between the performers and their audience: James never addresses the crowd and crowd noise is mostly inaudible except during the intervals between songs. Furthermore, the set list favors recent songs over older materials, which means there are fewer opportunities for dramatic reinterpretations. Aside from a few moments when they achieve a barreling momentum or hit a particularly tight groove, My Morning Jacket follow the prescribed routes set by the studio versions, sounding occasionally more intense but too often predictable in their course. These are minor complaints, as that respectable rating attests, but taken together, these shortcomings prevent listeners from getting any real sense of who these musicians are individually and collectively beyond what they could have learned from listening to the studio albums.

-Stephen M. Deusner, September 26, 2006

http://music.monstersandcritics.com/reviews/article_1205036.php/Album_Review_My_Morning_Jacket_-_Okonokos

It`s high time one of America`s best live bands committed its stage show to disc, and 'Okonokos' delivers as powerful a wake-up call to the ears as seeing MMJ in the flesh.

Vocalist Jim James lets it rip on "What a Wonderful Man," "One Big Holiday" and the spine-tingling "Gideon," while the band jams "Dondante" and "Steam Engine" into 11-minute rock epics. MMJ also proves its versatility on more intimate material such as "Golden" and "I Will Sing You Songs," which is handled with the finesse of players twice their age.

The track list rightfully goes heavy on last year`s outstanding "Z" (opener "Wordless Chorus," the jolly "Off the Record"). But it also dips into the back catalog for delightful obscurities such as "O Is the One That Is Real" and the countrified "Xmas Curtain." More please!

'Okonokos' is now available at Amazon. Visit the music database for more information and a complete track listing.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1541722/20060926/index.jhtml?headlines=true

Morning Glory: Cameron Crowe faves and former Boston Pops collaborators My Morning Jacket remind us what makes their live shows so memorable with Okonokos: Double Live Album, mixed by Bob Dylan buddy Michael Brauer and mastered by the legendary Bob Ludwig. The set actually precedes a more comprehensive document of MMJ's explosive concert. Let the press-release description do the talking: "Inspired by a fairytale-like performance in Tokyo, the band decided to adorn their mysterious set with qualities akin to an old growth forest, capturing the essence of a timeless, nameless, anonymous place. The theme of straddling the line between the surreal and the actual is introduced at the film's prologue when a cast of characters draped in Victorian-era costume, along with one alpaca, are introduced." Right on.

QuoteNevertheless, Okonokos still feels strangely unfulfilling, never quite living up to My Morning Jacket's reputation as one of the best live acts around. James botches the big moment on opener "Wordless Chorus", overselling those climactic yawps so they come out like out-of-tune brays. "Runthru" has an enormous riff that works well in this setting, but that theatrical grandeur, as well as the explosion of distortion, only underscores how silly the song is: "Oh shit run," James sings, with complete seriousness, "oh shit run through the ghetto." "Gideon" jams aimlessly, and "Mahgeeta" never seems to end.

-Stephen M. Deusner, September 26, 2006

I hate pitchfork...so...much.

Run Thru "Silly"?

Gideon 'jams' aimlessly?  That's the most un-jammy song they've ever done!

Magheeta never seems to end?  

This guy sucks.   :P

Quote

I hate pitchfork...so...much.

Run Thru "Silly"?

Gideon 'jams' aimlessly?  That's the most un-jammy song they've ever done!

Magheeta never seems to end?  

This guy sucks.   :P

I guess we should be happy they gave it above a 3.0 knowing pitchfork.  Usually when a band starts to get halfway popular they dock them 5 or 6 points.  Pitchfork are pretentious fucks.

Quote

I guess we should be happy they gave it above a 3.0 knowing pitchfork.  Usually when a band starts to get halfway popular they dock them 5 or 6 points.  Pitchfork are pretentious fucks.

Stephen M. Douche-ner  had Danny Cash on keyboards, so he obviously hasn't a clue.  If he had mentioned the other guitartist, I would wager he would have misfired on Carl as well.  The "Gideon" comment takes the cake.  

That pitchfork review SUCKS aimlessly!!!!!

Couldn't they get someone halfway capable of doing an informed review of a MMJ release at this point?  

Well, one thing we know for sure, if Band Of Horses releases a live disc this year it will top Okonokos by at least two points.   :-/

Pitchfork gave the Flaming Lips' "Zaireeka" a 0.0 because they thought the concept was dumb. Half the time i read it just for laughs

Quote
Well, one thing we know for sure, if Band Of Horses releases a live disc this year it will top Okonokos by at least two points.   :-/

For sure.  Because, you know, like, Band of Horses is better because they aren't famous yet. :P

On a side note, if I hear one more fucking indie hipster proclaim that this band "finally got it right on Z" while completly dismissing thier entire back catalouge, I'm going to puke all over thier chuck taylors.  

QuoteOn a side note, if I hear one more fucking indie hipster proclaim that this band "finally got it right on Z" while completly dismissing thier entire back catalouge, I'm going to puke all over thier chuck taylors.  

Hahahahhaahhahahahhahahahahahhaha!!!!!

QuotePitchfork gave the Flaming Lips' "Zaireeka" a 0.0 because they thought the concept was dumb. Half the time i read it just for laughs

These people are serious?

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

Quote"Runthru" has an enormous riff that works well in this setting, but that theatrical grandeur, as well as the explosion of distortion, only underscores how silly the song is: "Oh shit run," James sings, with complete seriousness, "oh shit run through the ghetto."

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.

Remember...when we whine, pitchfork wins. :P

Quote

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."

Quote

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.  

Quote


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.

Quote

It's because pitchfork sucks balls, thats why.

Couldn't.

Agree.

More.

"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.

Quote

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.

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.

they finally got it right on Z...

Quote
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...

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.

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

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.

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-

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.
 

Quotehttp://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!

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

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.

****

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.

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 :)

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.

http://www.dailygamecock.com/media/storage/paper247/news/2006/09/25/TheMix/My.Morning.Jacket.Plugs.In.Plays.On-2305211.shtml?norewrite200610010833&sourcedomain=www.dailygamecock.com

My Morning Jacket plugs in, plays on
Celia Stephens
Posted: 9/25/06
The difficult part of reviewing My Morning Jacket's new double-live album "Okonokos" is not in what to say but in what to edit out. Although artists typically put out live albums for their devoted fanbase, this two-disc experience could be the best introduction there is to Louisville, Ky.'s chosen Southern-rock sons.

Their otherworldly shows have garnered acclaim from both hippies and hipsters alike. Now everyone can be a part of what's more of an experience than simply a concert. The 21 songs on "Okonokos" span the band's seven-year discography, including fan favorites like "One Big Holiday" and lesser-knowns such as "O is the One That is Real." The quintet makes a controlled racket, securely rooted in the earth of harmonies. When the searing electric guitars let loose to wander, it is herded back by tight percussion and pristine piano parts.

Opener "Wordless Chorus" bursts forth with frontman Jim James hitting high notes Mariah Carey would applaud. The gorgeously spacey "Gideon," from the most recent studio full-length "Z," is both ambient and raucous with James' wailing to steer the tune. A perfect little nugget featuring slide and acoustic guitars, "Golden" harks back to the country in the band's oft-noted country-rock tag. A zinger of a closer on the first disc, "Lay Low" marks the halfway point of the show with a crescendo into sonic lovemaking a la Led Zeppelin or Lynyrd Skynyrd.

The second disc starts with a slow-burning epic in "Dondante," which builds to a caterwauling catharsis, sopped up by the horn around the 10-minute mark. "Run Thru" is slow and sludgy before whipping into a bluesy, Allman Brothers-like midsection. "Xmas Curtain" and "Dancefloors" are optimistic, not to mention a hell of a lot of fun to dance to. Older songs like "Steam Engine" and "I Think I'm Going to Hell" are very organic, near-jam band material. The climactic one-two punch of "Anytime" and "Mahgeetah" up the ante and the energy to end the album, knocking out the listener with the gusto of the band's twin-guitar attack.

Even a half-ass fan will be converted to the My Morning Jacket cult after reviewing "Okonokos."

Anyone that has seen this band should know what you're in for. If you don't, buy "Okonokos" and complement the audio with the visual, courtesy of the accompanying DVD released Oct. 31. If still unsatisfied, make a date with My Morning Jacket on its fall tour, which should chisel the raw power of its live performance into your head and heart. Be rocked classically, and then be thankful.

QuoteEven a half-ass fan will be converted to the My Morning Jacket cult after reviewing "Okonokos."

Anyone that has seen this band should know what you're in for. If you don't, buy "Okonokos" and complement the audio with the visual, courtesy of the accompanying DVD released Oct. 31. If still unsatisfied, make a date with My Morning Jacket on its fall tour, which should chisel the raw power of its live performance into your head and heart. Be rocked classically, and then be thankful.

With reviews like this & all of the others that I've read it looks as if the guys might finally be about to get the recognition they deserve  :D

Quote
With reviews like this & all of the others that I've read it looks as if the guys might finally be about to get the recognition they deserve  :D

Live albums rarely really sell well outside of the artist's fan base and even fewer are career defining. However, Okonokos should keep MMJ's name in people's and critic's minds at least until their next studio album drops.

http://www.stv.tv/out/showArticle.jsp?source=feeddb&articleId=2972

My Morning Jacket

Article by Finbarr Bermingham

On the eve of the release of their debut live LP, The Skinny caught up with singer, songwriter and founder member of My Morning Jacket's ever fluctuating line up, Jim James. James' personal appearance is, oddly enough, rather reflective of what is to be expected at a MMJ live show, with 'Okonokos' being no exception. His untrammelled facial hair has parallels with the omnipresent musical liberation of an MMJ gig. You are just as likely to witness extreme head banging as you are mellow, acoustic meanderings. In most cases (see their recent performance in Cabaret Voltaire) you'll get both. So, four albums in, what is the thinking behind the release of a live album and DVD?

"Well it's a big part of what we do," James offers, "We wanted to make a live album that also sounded good, like a studio album, but live. We've never been able to do that until now, it's always been a dream for us." The result of this dream is 'Okonokos', the title of which was also stumbled upon in 'The Land of Nod'.

"I wanted it to be a thing where we were playing somewhere in a forest. It didn't matter where it was, whether it was Scotland or the USA. It didn't matter at all. I got the name in a dream; I wrote it down on a bedside table. I wanted it to be open to interpretation, and I think that's how it turned out."

Okonokos as a word in itself, then, may not mean all that much. However, as most MMJ fans will testify, the essence of the band is truly encapsulated live. Despite never having "massive success or a hit single" (although sound transatlantic album reviews have ensured they haven't flourished unrecorded), their live shows have become legendary in some quarters. Eight years of incessant touring, with an unprecedented four successive annual slots at the Bonnaroo festival Stateside, have culminated with this release, recorded at the legendary Fillmore venue.

The album itself reads like a Best Of compliation, with the likes of Off the Record, One Big Holiday and It Beats 4U sounding as predictably perfect as ever. Much is made of Jim James' fondness for reverb ("I use it as an instrument to hide behind") and indeed it is to be found here by the sackful. It would be unfair though to detract from his vocals by claiming he is reliant upon it. His unique tone flits effortlessly between the older more conventional tracks and cuts from last year's more contemporary and even psychedelic 'Z'. His own depiction of his voice as an instrument seems justified upon hearing this album, reverb or no reverb.

So where does this inprov laden style stem from? If truth be told, its one that's been engendered over years of line-up changes. Jim explains, "Change is always good. The band is its own thing. Within the band we've been 5/6 different bands. And the current line up is the most positive we've ever had. Bo (Koster) and Carl (Broemer) brought a lot of energy, spirit and enthusiasm. They make it fun again. They play a lot more instruments. Carl can play steel and pedal guitar and saxophone, and they can both sing and harmonise. With the others we were going to a dark place."

And the sound itself?

"I really was inspired by a lot of 70s and late 60s stuff. Simon and Garfunkel, Neil Young Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. I also liked weird children's things like old Disney movies like Pinocchio and Robin Hood. Jim Henson and the Muppets too. Growing up Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem were my favourites. Also country stuff like John Prine and nowadays things like Outkast. I really wanna hear their new record. Have you heard it?"

The Skinny shakes its head, still wondering whether Jim James' favourite band is really Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. Most of the other influences though are apparent. But does the release of a live album now mean we have to wait another 12 months for a 'proper album'? "Probably. At the end of the year we'll start rehearsing and recording. It'll be a while but I've been doing a lot of writing."

Guess that means we'll have to make do with 'Okonokos' then. Thank God for small mercies.

Okonokos is out now on ATO/RCA Records
Okonokos (DVD), a live concert film directed by Sam Erickson, is released on Oct 31

Links:
My Morning Jacket

Quote

I've been doing a lot of writing."

YEY

 :)

Quoteomnipresent musical liberation of an MMJ gig

I friggin love this phrase.

http://www.livedaily.com/reviews/Album_Review_My_Morning_Jacket_Okonokos_ATO-10798.html?t=98

Album Review: My Morning Jacket, "Okonokos" (ATO)
 
October 02, 2006 10:39 AM
by Justin Gage
LiveDaily Contributor
The saviors of all things rawk & roll, My Morning Jacket (music), in admittedly the ultimate rock move, deliver their first double-live album, "Okonokos," as a companion piece to their upcoming DVD of the same name.
Comprised of 21 tracks spanning the band's catalog over the past eight years, "Okonokos" catches the fire of My Morning Jacket's notoriously energetic live show, and then some. Frontman Jim James' reverb-soaked voice coupled with the band's (version 2.0) signature sound practically leap out of the stereo. This is about as close as you can get to the MMJ live-show experience--until the DVD drops in a few weeks, that is.

Culling material from every previous MMJ release, the two-disc set acts as a thorough live history of the band, as well as a great jumping-off point for those curious as to what all the fuss is about. In addition to the group's more polished contemporary sound--perfected on last year's critical favorite "Z"--the band re-visits their earlier high-lonesome, Kentucky-bred, alt-country roots on some of the tracks, which will satisfy fans who have been on board from MMJ's beginning days at Darla Records. Whether your tastes fall more in line with Radiohead or Whiskeytown, this live document is sure to please.

some kick ass reviews on this page. thanks for posting them!!!!

Another good one......

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/my-morning-jacket/okonokos.htm

http://www.suffolkjournal.net/media/storage/paper632/news/2006/10/04/Arts/Lupe-Fiasco.And.My.Morning.Jacket.Cd.Reviews-2329614.shtml?norewrite200610040627&sourcedomain=www.suffolkjournal.net

And another..:-)

Peter Decoteau
Posted: 10/4/06
My Morning Jacket, the five-piece rock band from Louisville, Ky., have slowly been climbing up into the pantheon of the best, most critically acclaimed bands you've probably never heard of. Their latest studio album, Z (Ato Records, 2005), was hailed as an American, southern-fried version of Radiohead's groundbreaking album OK Computer (Capitol Records 1997).
The band has also been gaining in stature as a live act. Their new live, 2 disc set is their newest album entitled, Okonokos (Ato Records, 2006), which sets out to prove that they're a force to be reckoned with not only in the studio, but on stage as well. Though Okonokos is in no way a let down, it seems to present My Morning Jacket in a very duplicitous way. Disc one avoids the longer, more experimental songs in favor of short, energetic pieces that, while highlighting the bands songwriting ability and musical prowess in tracks like "It Beats 4 You" and "Gideon," provides what could have easily been a greatest hits compilation album without the weight and sense of improvisation that turns a good band into a great live act.
It is not until the first song on the second disc, a haunting ode to a lost friend entitled "Dondante," that the group really starts to excel, coming out of their shell in an extended ending that finally shakes off the confines of a studio recording and sounds, well, live. The next track, "Run Thru," begins where the previous one leaves off, dragging its guitar and drum lines on purpose to create a real sense of a song that's about to come apart at the seams before bursting into speed mode, climaxing, and then repeating the same course with even more drag and effect. All the while, lead singer Jim James' high pitched howling compliments the tune, made it sound emotional and raw, which is exactly what a live show should sound like.
Okonokos truly is a tale of two bands. While it presents some of My Morning Jacket's best songs and some tough-to-beat apexes, it leaves the listener wishing that they'd opted for a more improvised, jam-filled set that emphasizes spontaneity over quantity.

Key Track:
Track 4 - "One Big Holiday"

http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/mymorningjacket/okonokos

Now in MetaCritic

http://www.filter-mag.com/picks/index.html
 
Filter Recommends...
Week of 10.02.2006

Filter likes music. There's no hiding it. We also like our own opinions a whole bunch, so once a week we give the masses a fleeting glimpse into our selective stereos to let them see firsthand what fuels our endless devotion. We like to think of it as community service. We're selfless like that. So without further ado, here are the official, inarguable, objectively good Filter Weekly Picks. And in case you trust our tastes that much, click on the links below for some sample tracks (not all releases have samples available) from these releases, and even buy it if you feel so inclined. Yeah, we're good at what we do:

» Cursive, Happy Hollow

» Various, Marie Antoinette Soundtrack

» My Morning Jacket, Okonokos

» Swan Lake, Beast Moans

» Dustin O'Halloran, Piano Solos Vol. 2

» The Slip, Eisenhower

» 31 Knots, EP: Polemics

» R.E.M., When The Light Is Mine

» Sean Lennon, Friendly Fire

» Jim Reid, Dead End Kids
 

http://www.jambase.com/headsup.asp?storyID=9251

 MY MORNING JACKET: OKONOKOS 4 Comments

By Chris Pacifico

The whole idea of a live album can be a bit tricky for all bands, especially for a great band like the Kentucky boys of My Morning Jacket. Let's face it - out of all the groundbreaking artists of the past 40 years who've cut a live one, about 90 percent of them seem to be sub-par. And no, the live downloaded Phish and .moe bootlegs that you listened to in your college dorm while sucking on a glass Jerome Baker piece don't count. Sure, the concerts at which they were recorded must've been enjoyable for the fans, but it can be very taxing when attempting to capture the essence of what it's like being there as a concertgoer in that exact moment. A double-disc album, Okonokos was recorded last November during a two-night stint at The Fillmore in San Francisco, while touring in support of their latest release Z, which was on many critics' year-end top ten lists. Okonokos exhibits the majestic semblance of MMJ's live shows and proves that they are not a jam band but instead a band that just knows how to jam.

Disc one's opening salvo, the bubbly "Wordless Chorus," warms up the album with front man Jim James' falsetto-laden "ahhhs" and "whooos," then segues into the creaking "It Beats 4 U." The first two tracks sort of taxi the runway for the disc, but it is with the epic "Gideon" that it truly takes off and sounds like James is singing all alone at the peak of a mountain in a deserted land, trying to establish contact when he hits that high note. Any listener who has had the privilege of witnessing a live MMJ show knows that "One Big Holiday" is among their most empowering live numbers and tells the seasoned music aficionado that My Morning Jacket was made for the era of vinyl, when the dual onslaught of guitars from James and guitarist Carl Broemel hits the listener's ears.

Also on the set list is the early Elton John-ish "What a Wonderful Man" with a tad of a baroque tone and "Off the Record," which begins with some rock-steady dub funk before gliding into some ambient martini lounge space pop. Drummer Patrick Hallahan makes his presence felt when "Lay Low" comes around with his thudding and reverberating bass drum tremors before the extended electric guitar overdrive is throttled.

Whereas the first disc showcases MMJ's raw energy, disc 2 exhibits their more somber and bittersweet side. The first two openers are among the band's chilliest and moodiest songs in their catalogue. Its maiden ditty is the eleven-minute crescendo "Dondante" with James' elastic bellowing and a rather mournful saxophone infusion provided by Broemel as Bo Koester's keyboard licks just outright fizz on "Run Thru." It is with this disc's tracks that most of the fans probably had their lighters in the air and became utterly mesmerized. A My Morning Jacket show wouldn't be the same without a hypnotic barn-burner, and they provide one no less than stellar with the upbeat, down-home Kentucky feel of "Dancefloors."

One of the many aspects that can render a live album a turkey is the sonic augmentation given to it post-concert. However, it seems as if mixer Michael Brauer (Paul McCartney, Coldplay) and the album's mastering by veteran Bob Ludwig (Tool, Nirvana) have done with Okonokos what Tom Down did in 1971 for the Allman Brothers on At Fillmore East and what his counterpart Bob Johnston did in 1968 for Johnny Cash's At Folsom Prison. He's captured the entire essence of the band's live synergy and the dexterity among the crowd regarding how they connect with the music. With Okonokos My Morning Jacket has established the precise middle-ground that exists between studio album and live album, which always rings true no matter what format you hear them.

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/entertainment/music/15695146.htm

Critic's pick
My Morning Jacket

Okonokos

The booklet accompanying this two-disc concert album by My Morning Jacket, Louisville indie-rockers turned major-label genre jumpers, suggests the sort of dark humor that is just one of the band's more inviting attributes.

The notes, in this case, are obituaries. My gosh, they're all dead! And they all kicked off at the age of 27. And they all have secret culinary fetishes, like the "late" drummer Patrick Hallahan's penchant for "thick, sticky ribs" and the "late" frontman Jim James' chain of "Sub Red" sandwich stores.

While we can't say much about the dietary politics of My Morning Jacket, we can emphatically state the band is very much alive on Okonokos. It's a big, greasy psychedelic smorgasbord that lifts the veil once and for all on James' celebratory moodpieces and combustible rock 'n' roll.

As with any MMJ record, Okonokos deceives — at least, initially — with subtleties. The opening Wordless Chorus builds on the studio version from last year's sublime Z album with its warm pulse of keyboards and fuzzy, almost meditative vocal backdrop. Then James ignites with yelps and hollers that suggest a soul revival is in the offing.

Similarly, another Z gem, Gideon — which the band performed recently on Late Show with David Letterman with tuxes and strings, no less — bounces about with a merry guitar groove and keyboard wash until James builds to shrieks and shouts that set the tune ablaze.

The psychedelics kick in for I Think I'm Going to Hell, a snail's-pace burst of blues energy colored by slide guitar runs that wrap around the melody like a python and vocals from James that seem to echo from out of a cave.

Dancefloors later reflects a party at full throttle with a Southern slab of guitars, Fender keyboards and blasts of organic rock glee that are as outward in their presentation as the more studied melodies of Dondante (well, at least some of them) are cerebral.

Granted, Okonokos doesn't provide the great sense of musical discovery that some concert albums do. But then, My Morning Jacket has long been a sort of open experiment. Its eccentricities — specifically, the way it shifts from an almost plaintive neo-psychedelic atmosphere with a preference for reverb to an intuitive guitar beast —have been on display too long to come off now as a surprise.

Instead, this is a document of celebration. Louisvillians can rightly view it as postcard home from pals who now command an international fan base. But Okonokos is more than that. It is a document of music in motion — a sound collage of great electric warmth and cheery distinction that lives very much in the moment.

WALTER TUNIS, CONTRIBUTING MUSIC CRITIC

http://www.homegrownmusic.net/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=MMJ5&Category_Code=MMJ

The epic, otherworldly sound of MMJ is masterfully captured on this soaring 2-CD live set! Okonokos is a creative concept by singer Jim James, and it is as much a question as it is an answer. OK, No? So, OK? No, so, OK? It's whatever you want it to be, and it rocks! This is sure to go down as the consummate MMJ collection. The contents are just unbelievably addictive, from the ripping rage of "One Big Holiday" to the majestic one-two combo of "Run Thru" and "At Dawn," right to the celestial glimmer of "Wordless Chorus" and "I Will Sing You Songs." With such a diverse and memorable canon of songs, it's no wonder MMJ have become the hottest band of 2006.

http://cougs.org/wordpress2/?p=31

My Morning Jacket - Okonokos

First live album from one of the best bands out there. Kentucky fried Radiohead if they were going through a heavy Neil Young phase. If you haven't heard them yet, this should be a good sampler.

http://www.dailyfreepress.com/media/storage/paper87/news/2006/10/05/Muse/My.Morning.Jacket.Okonokos-2333954.shtml?norewrite200610091125&sourcedomain=www.dailyfreepress.com

(remember..just one person's opinion :-)

My Morning Jacket is supposedly one of the best acts to catch in concert, but their first two-disc live album, Okonokos, doesn't do that reputation any favors. The sound is raw, more casual and less polished than MMJ's studio recordings. Most of the band's slow jams and lazy riffs echo through San Francisco's infamous Fillmore West endlessly and without purpose. This especially hinders the first disc with aimless "Lay Low" and "Donate" sitting back to back. MMJ fans will probably have better luck with the Okonokos concert DVD that hits shelves on Halloween. Maybe the combination of sight and sound will seal the band's live reputation. Grade: B-

-- Laura Hayner, Muse Staff

Quotehttp://www.dailyfreepress.com/media/storage/paper87/news/2006/10/05/Muse/My.Morning.Jacket.Okonokos-2333954.shtml?norewrite200610091125&sourcedomain=www.dailyfreepress.com

(remember..just one person's opinion :-)

My Morning Jacket is supposedly one of the best acts to catch in concert, but their first two-disc live album, Okonokos, doesn't do that reputation any favors. The sound is raw, more casual and less polished than MMJ's studio recordings. Most of the band's slow jams and lazy riffs echo through San Francisco's infamous Fillmore West endlessly and without purpose. This especially hinders the first disc with aimless "Lay Low" and "Donate" sitting back to back. MMJ fans will probably have better luck with the Okonokos concert DVD that hits shelves on Halloween. Maybe the combination of sight and sound will seal the band's live reputation. Grade: B-

-- Laura Hayner, Muse Staff

OK, let's analyze this worthless piece of crap that Laura calls a review.

Let's start with the sentence This especially hinders the first disc with aimless "Lay Low" and "Donate" sitting back to back.

"Donate"  is not even on the first CD, and since she is calling it "Donate" we know that she is probably just listening to her buddies ipod for 5 or 10 minutes.  So from a review that has a total of six sentences, we have one sentence that couldn't be more inaccurate.  Get a effin' clue Laura.  Aimless Dondante?  Please.

Next, The sound is raw, more casual and less polished than MMJ's studio recordings.  OK so this live album is less polished than the studio recordings. Duh!  It's a live album!

Most of the band's slow jams and lazy riffs echo through San Francisco's infamous Fillmore West endlessly and without purpose.

Endlessly and without purpose?  Lazy riffs?  
[size=18]LAZY?[/size]

I'm sorry, anyone can have an opinion, but my opinion of Laura's taste in music, writing skills, accuracy and general being is low.

Her "article" is lazy and aimless.

http://www.glidemagazine.com/2/reviews1463.html

My Morning Jacket
Okonokos
Shane Handler
Tuesday, October 10, 2006  
 
For bands that define themselves in the live setting, it's always been a challenge to replicate that stage karma into the studio. But for My Morning Jacket, who have already wowed critics and fans with their past two studio releases (It Still Moves, Z), a live album should be an easy A. So to make the grade, My Morning Jacket have released their first double-live album, Okonokos, a companion album to their upcoming DVD of the same name.

Instead of reinventing the reverb, My Morning Jacket kicks off Okonokos with the same opening trio of Z ("Wordless Chorus," "It Beats For You," "Gideon"), with the addition of crowd roars. Upon listening to Okonokos, one catches a glimpse of a band molding twangy classics from It Sill Moves - "One Big Holiday," "Golden," "Dancefloors" and "Mahgeetah" - into a body of work that can get sell out shows for years. Add the more contemporary sound of Z into the mix along with "oldies" - "At Dawn," "The Way That He Sings, "Lowdown" - and Okononos immediately serves as a greatest hits album. Frontman Jim James continues to spearhead a territory where indie, jam, and southern rock collide, fusing flashes of Radiohead, Wilco and the Grateful Dead together into an exhilarating live show. No matter the comparisons, this jacket proves hard to wear out, as My Morning Jacket pulls off another winner with Okonokos.
 

http://www.cdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=3495

My Morning Jacket - Okonokos
Richard Hughes

Like the recent Wilco live album, Kicking Television, so to does Okonokos find a band in transition. A band at the top of their game live, but a band that is trying to shake off their original image and re-establish themselves as something more... With the greatest of ease, My Morning Jacket has achieved that with this collection.

From their reverb heavy and country influenced beginnings, MMJ have developed their sound with each successive release with the main man Jim James becoming a heavily sought-after collaborator and highly rated songwriter. Each new album finds the reverb being toned down but their music direction and influences getting bigger and more grandiose. Recent album Z saw them spin off in funky, keyboard driven directions that not even their longest serving fans could have foreseen.

Which brings us to Okonokos, recorded during their last set of live dates they won't tell us which gig this is as they wanted to make it mysterious, but it doesn't matter WHEN this was recorded, it's just amazing that it actually WAS. Every song on this double-disc collection breathes with an amazing fire and energy that I can only imagine a MMJ concert to be like (I've had tickets to see them twice but they've cancelled each time). It brims with James' vocal dynamics from his high pitched yowl to his low rumbling grumble whilst singing their grand and moving lyrics. Versions of Dondante, Gideon and It Beats For You are augmented versions of the originals, the added atmosphere allows them to breath in a manner you never thought possible.

The songs here are how MMJ sound now - there's little or no reverb on the vocals and the overly country-tinged musicality of their songs has almost disappeared. This is how a proper rock n roll band should sound: loud and proud. Run Thru sounds like a distant relative to the original recorded version, the drums thump and crash along whilst the guitars chime and force the feedback tinged chords back through a hazy atmosphere of electricity. They don't hide behind anything, the guitar solos standout especially as rapturous, eloquent noise that, with Neil Young mellowing with age, may well surpass his legendary fuzz-rock solos.

This album is an amazing listen and an incredible live document for a band that are finding influence, skill and music so moving and impressive that you long for them to go on and on. Like any good concert, once the band have finished they leave you wanting more.

Was anyone else disapointed that RollingStone didn't mention Okonokos? I wonder if they'll at least mention the DVD next time around?

Honestly, I'm so annoyed at RS Mag and how it's so fucking focused on circle jerking half-assed artists (Justin Timberlake in a wet t-shirt? What the fuck!?) and half assed journalism based on (retardedly biased) political articles, that I'm almost HAPPY that they haven't made more than a brief mention of My Morning Jacket... cause they'd probably say MMJ was weak.

I'm sure they'll make a mention of it at some point.  Rolling Stone is a pretty big fan of My Morning Jacket, I think.  I believe they had Z as the #6 album of 2005.  As far as Justin Timberlake goes, he is about the closest thing you can get these days to what Michael Jackson was back in his prime.  I'm not saying he is as good as MJ was back then, but if you like that kind of pop music, he is the best thing going right now.

They ranked Z in a RS Magazine? Woah. Excuse me while I shut up and dig around for that back issue. Any idea which issue it was?

 8)

As far as Justin Timberlake goes... if he's the posterboy for pop these days, that's just a shame... cause you know he ain't coming out with a Thriller anytime soon.

I remember when Z came out, they gave it a fairly long review, and had a full page write up on them in the issue before that one.  It was probably the year end issue, when they rank the 50 best albums of the year, that they ranked Z #6.  I imagine they'll at least review the DVD of Okonokos.  If they don't, they need to pull their heads out of their asses.

Ain't nobody making another Thriller...Unless Jim James goes pop, that is.

I think it's Rolling Stone's attitude about reviewing live albums as a whole rather than systematically ignoring Okonokos.

Diehards and casual fans are the only people that would find a review of Okonokos relevant or interesting.

i'm sorry if this horribly out of place and egotistical, but i saw you had mention of "Jacketeer" in your signature Angry, and I was wondering if anyone knows where that phrase originated. I think i may have coined it, I can actually remember the first time i used it, but I just realized I may have started that, and was wondering if perhaps I was wrong.

good lord, that's selfish of me.

QuoteWas anyone else disapointed that RollingStone didn't mention Okonokos? I wonder if they'll at least mention the DVD next time around?

Honestly, I'm so annoyed at RS Mag and how it's so fucking focused on circle jerking half-assed artists (Justin Timberlake in a wet t-shirt? What the fuck!?) and half assed journalism based on (retardedly biased) political articles, that I'm almost HAPPY that they haven't made more than a brief mention of My Morning Jacket... cause they'd probably say MMJ was weak.

like 5 or 6 years ago RS stated they were selling out to become more of a teeny bopper zine.

Quote

like 5 or 6 years ago RS stated they were selling out to become more of a teeny bopper zine.

Uh, yeah.

Something's wrong with all the issues of RS I receive... They're all sticky and smelly... maybe because they're all permeated with pretentious bullshit?

Rolling Stone still has decent film and DVD reviewers, but they are no longer leaders for music - and haven't been for over 15 years.  

Quotei'm sorry if this horribly out of place and egotistical, but i saw you had mention of "Jacketeer" in your signature Angry, and I was wondering if anyone knows where that phrase originated. I think i may have coined it, I can actually remember the first time i used it, but I just realized I may have started that, and was wondering if perhaps I was wrong.

good lord, that's selfish of me.

You're probably not the first person to use the word... I mean, without having noticed the word used before, I just sort of said it whilst talking smack one day.

I totally coined the phrase "innard city owls" for the Lolley art on the Z album, though. That is MY phrase, but I give ya'll permission to use it.

http://charlotte.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A84931

Rock & roll's staple, celebrated:

My Morning Jacket has had an online buzz going for some time that its new live double album, Okonokos (RCA), will finally cement the hirsute "American Radiohead's" rep beyond a doubt and put their thang across to the uninitiated. Well, even if Okonokos doesn't ultimately rival such career changing concert documents as the Allman Brothers Band's At Fillmore East, it's a dazzling recording of a band in peak form (and recorded at the erstwhile Fillmore West). Side 2 surpasses the first, with a breathtaking, epic version of "Dondante," pure sheets of psychedelicized roots sound and a miracle of ringing riffs freefalling into the "Cortez the Killer" zone -- as well as such MMJ standards as "Dancefloors" and set closer "Mahgeeta." Alas, Jim James and his Kaintuck brers are still one breakout single away from the arena stratosphere. For now, they remain a compelling link between Jam Nation and classic rock confessional. Stay tuned for the related concert DVD and 4-LP box set with extras.

http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2006/10/oh_my_konokos.html

4lp box set with EXTRAS!!!!!!

man........I hope the milking song is on it.

3/5 in Q
3/5 in Mojo
4/5 in Uncut

http://www.sunjournal.com/story/180214-3/bsection/Ear_Worm_music_reviews/

Relix Magazine gave a positive review of Okonokos!

I won't post the link, but for what it's worth, I submitted my review of Okonokos to the site I write for and gave it positive marks. Not a masterpiece by any means, but as live albums go, this is one of the better ones released this decade.

http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/11738701/review/12047082/okonokos?source=album_reviews_rssfeed

My Morning Jacket became one of last year's biggest indie-rock success stories with Z, on which the Louisville quintet ditched its meandering, reverb-gobbed backwoods sound in favor of something both more epic and more focused that wedded classic rock to Radiohead sonics. Recorded live at the Fillmore in San Francisco last year, Okonokos swaggers along with lean guitars and big keyboards, cherry-picking tunes from MMJ's early records. Staples like the roadhouse boogie "Dancefloors" take on new exuberance now that their tunes are not drowning in murk, and cuts such as "One Big Holiday" just sound like prime Crazy Horse. Onward, gentle warriors.


CHRISTIAN HOARD

(Posted: Oct 16, 2006)

http://www.last.fm/user/MrModernRock/journal/2006/10/7/241310/

http://www.kykernel.com/media/storage/paper305/news/2006/10/19/Features/English.Group.Brings.Vintage.Samples.To.Life.In.New.Album-2376979.shtml?norewrite200610191229&sourcedomain=www.kykernel.com

My Morning Jacket
Okonokos

I remember interviewing My Morning Jacket's Jim James shortly after It Still Moves came out in late 2003, during which he said "mowing the grass" is influential to his songwriting. Though curious at first, an intense listening experience with previous MMJ records reveals the pastoral tones of rural landscapes with cosmic barnyard psychedelia. The live shots inside the new live 2-disc Okonokos even features dangling stage flora.

Okonokos is another testament of shows you wish you were at, as the two hour, no nonsense tour-de-force successfully documents the Kentucky-boys-do-right at an apex of creativity and popularity. Okonokos affirms why MMJ gradually built a massive fan base, the show, like the records, offer an appeal wide enough to drive a truck through. Filled to the brim with psych rock, stripped down garage sensibilities, touches of Indie rock experimentation, and the all-good vibin' that jamheads can get down with, the Jacket achieves the oft impossible feat of creating substantial music that is also commercially viable.

Recorded at the San Francisco's famed Fillmore West (funny to think that they played Lynagh's in 2002), a venue made notorious by the music of Haight-Ashbury, Okonokos adopts the auditorium's sacred psychedelic milieu. Turning the reverb all the way up, James' grain silo vocals and Carl Broemel's almost angular riffs reveal a newfound enormity to MMJ's already grandiose anthems.

Listening to the show in its entirety, MMJ spends the first 45 minutes of the show playing the songs straight, hitting highlights from Z. Later in the show, the band feeds off the room's exuberance, freewheeling a celestial 11-minute rendition of "Steam Engine" and an orchestrated and bombastic version of "Anytime." Here, the band really showcases their disparate influences, channeling shades of Love, Neil Young, and Galaxie 500.

Okonokos is not just for completists, but rather a great starting point for new MMJ listeners as well as a compelling glimpse into a fine live performance.

Recommended if you dig: Neil Young, Cream, The Flaming Lips

Rating: ***.5

http://www.allgigs.co.uk/Reviews.php?review=EllyRoberts/mymorningjacket-okonokos

"Patrick Hallam"

http://media.www.michigandaily.com/media/storage/paper851/news/2006/10/27/Music/Live-And.Let.Live-2406207.shtml?sourcedomain=www.michigandaily.com&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com

Live and let live
A little bit of sweet Kentucky at the Fillmore West
Lloyd H. Cargo
Posted: 10/27/06
The live album, especially the double live album, is a risky proposition for most bands.

Wilco pulled it off spectacularly last year, with Kicking Television, by letting Nels Cline stretch out over their normally restrained material. My Morning Jacket finds similar success with Okonokos (also to be released as a DVD on Oct. 31) by doing the opposite. Initially MMJ were a band that might actually play "Freebird" if some yokel screamed enough, but their most recent studio effort, Z, went after a much tighter, produced sound with more hooks than their three prior albums combined. No longer is Jim James's voice drenched in reverb, with an epic guitar solo in every song - and that treatment has been extended to the highlights of their back catalogue on this two-plus-hour set.

Fear not, long-time MMJ fans, that doesn't mean that there aren't a ton of face-melting guitar workouts on Okonokos. It just means more attention is being paid to the songs themselves. These dudes still have giant hair and Flying-Vs, but they seem to be distancing themselves from the southern rock aesthetic they were mining on At Dawn, Tennessee Fire, and even It Still Moves. For one, the concert was taped at the famed Fillmore West in San Francisco, pretty damn far from their rural Northern Kentucky base.

They make it clear right off the bat that this is going to be a no frills affair. The crowd noise is minimal and they don't pull out any rarities or obscure covers from their vast catalogue. Most of the songs are selected from their most recent albums, with Z's first three songs being replicated, in order, as the first three songs of Okonokos.

From there it's on to an early highlight, "One Big Holiday." As one instrument comes in after the other, the song builds into a massive groove that climaxes with one hell of a guitar solo. It's prototypical stadium rock, and it never fails to make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end.

As with most concerts, the show drags in some places, but the band avoids killing the momentum by putting ballads back to back. Still, for a band considered one of the best live acts around, Okonokos is lacking that extra little something that makes their concerts so special. Releasing a double live album is ambitious, and this may even make for the best introduction to the band in their catalogue, but it's not quite the home run it might have been.


Okonokos
My Morning Jacket
ATO/RCA


Rating: 3 and 1/2 out of 5 stars

Quote
Initially MMJ were a band that might actually play "Freebird" if some yokel screamed enough

I miss the good ol' days when you could scream Freebird enough so that the band would give in and play it...

http://www.rcarecords.com/images/press/MMJ_Harp_Review.jpg

http://www.scopecreep.com/Rhapsody/2006/10/my-morning-jacket-okonokos.html

http://blogger.xs4all.nl/werksman/archive/2006/11/01/143055.aspx

http://www.lansinglowdown.com/index.php/article/401

'Okonokos' defines My Morning Jacket's identity with soothing sound for listeners
By Trey Scroggin
November 1st, 2006
Rating
    
Details
"Okonokos"
My Morning Jacket

ATO/RCA Records

Lyrics: 4 stars

Music: 5 stars

Vocals: 5 stars

Replay: 4 stars

It moves, grooves, hums and soothes. It lives in the prolific lyrics, the captivating keyboards and the rich, singing guitars. It's "Okonokos," the epic two-disc live cut from My Morning Jacket.

After losing two of the original members just prior to the band's recording of its fourth studio album, "Z" - and just avoiding disaster - MMJ was sent looking for an identity.

With "Okonokos," they found it. Eight of the 10 tracks on "Z" are replayed live on the cut; this time with more definitive style and soul. Building off the album's majestic atmosphere, the live tracks feature the same grandiose feel, rocking the listener from head to toe, bringing them up and letting them down in wave after wave of sheer power.

But My Morning Jacket is more than good old-fashioned '70s jam rock. With roots in Louisville, Ky., MMJ finds musical inspiration from a range of sources. The group has fashioned lyrics after emotional soul singers, guitars that pick on the fringe of twang, rock and country and bass lines that suggest some hip-hop undertones. The resulting sound is one that has appeased both fans of '60s and '70s psychedelic music, as well as modern-day indie and rock 'n' roll fans.

They have a sound that can easily soothe listeners, allowing them to revel in the glorious lyrics and sweet keyboard backing - tracks such as "Gideon" or "Golden." Inspiration is never short at hand - MMJ expertly produces artistic tracks that blend captivating rock 'n' roll and soulful melody, such as "Wordless Chorus" and "It Beats 4 U." And when My Morning Jacket chooses to rock, it brings the whole house down with applause - "Mahgeetah," "One Big Holiday" and "Lay Low."

Perhaps nothing on "Okonokos" says "My Morning Jacket" quite like "Dondante" reworked. Led off by drummer Patrick Hallahan, each player in the five-piece outfit gradually fills in the sound with its own unique piece. Second to join is Jim James on a quietly-plucked guitar and lonely vocals.

After four minutes of beautiful harmony, the remaining three members join full force and launch into a melodic groove that is capped off by a duel of solos from both James and lead guitarist Carl Broemel. Producer John Leckie, who worked with the band on "Z," says the sounds of every song - particularly "Dondante" - are worked to James' voice and the continual reverb with which he experiments.

"Dondante" explores every aspect that makes MMJ unique. The song moves in a way that no music can - reverb at every turn, along with pitch and tempo changes, create a flowing, living object.

Mysterious and majestic - every aspect of the music My Morning Jacket creates contains both - and no single aspect of any song is more important than the other.

Following "Dondante," MMJ pushes on to "Run Thru" - faster paced, widely swinging and a full attack that once again pulls a musical 180 on the listener. Solo after solo and verse followed by chorus, James holds the notes for as long as possible - essentially feeling what he is communicating to his audience.

But while James' music is recorded and available to everyone, he believes My Morning Jacket's music to be largely one-time.

"My Morning Jacket retains some of that pre-recorded vibe. 'What a Wonderful Man' is like an explosion; 'Into the Woods' is like a mist; 'Anytime' is like a fast-moving cloud; 'Gideon' is a cloud that builds up. 'Dondante' is like a series of clouds above a requiem," said James on the band's Web site.

Not quite a review, amazon.com has a blog entry 'The Year Of The Live Album?' that mentions Okonokos:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/plog/post.html/ref=cm_blog_pl/102-1872334-2852162?ie=UTF8&pt=personalBlog&aid=PlogMyCustomersAgent&ot=customer&pd=11624055548 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/plog/post.html/ref=cm_blog_pl/102-1872334-2852162?ie=UTF8&pt=personalBlog&aid=PlogMyCustomersAgent&ot=customer&pd=1162405554.736&pid=PMCAJM38DLD0P3H8at1162401835&iid=AJM38DLD0P3H8)

Let me add my review to the many, soon to be published on a webzine called Intermedia.

My Morning Jacket
Okonokos
Live DVD and Double CD, available separately
On ATO/RCA records

After all the hope and hype that's been heaped upon My Morning Jacket, it's amazing that the band can remain so humble. But somehow, being laid-back about their own fame and fabulousness is part of the group's fascinating gravity, an unpretentious and unassuming allure.

Allow me to summarize the superlative critical chorus: The Louisville, Kentucky quintet known as My Morning Jacket are, among many other extraordinary things, a magical musical combination of apparent opposites, a holy hybrid between roots and reverb, hippie and hipster, rural and urban, southern and northern, Grateful Dead and Radiohead.

To this amazing litany of literary license and juicy juxtapositions, I'd like to add that they're a rock version of visionary mythic creatures, worthy of JRR Tolkien novels, Jim Henson creations, and George Lucas films. That is, lead singer Jim James is a funkified Frodo, a post-punk Muppet, a jam-band Jedi.  

A fan-friendly and earnestly ambitious operation, My Morning Jacket honored this autumn by releasing a live CD in late September, hitting us on Halloween with a live DVD, and culminating the season with a 23-date tour beginning in the southeast in November and concluding on New Year's Eve in San Francisco, at the Fillmore where this concert film and live disc were recorded.

At a time when many other early-to-mid-career peers are teasing their fans with short 60-to-90 minute live sets (made even less palatable by high ticket prices), My Morning Jacket seem to only perform 20-song, two-hour testimonials to the love of their craft and their fanbase. In fact, My Morning Jacket have apparently decided to be a great rock band by any standards, in a manner that defies assumptions and unites categories, that gives fans what they want, what they need, what they paid for.

Okonokos as a name bears a striking resemblance to a tiny town in West Virginia, but apparently, is a phrase that came to lead singer Jim James while sleeping, and he remains open to its actual meaning or interpretation. The film is sandwiched by a surreal subtext conceived by James, situating the show in a magical forest. But essentially, it's a straightforward concert film, almost like a symphony in its musical integrity.

And James refrains from the between-song banter preferred by so many frontmen, his voice a mere instrument among many. This quality reminds us of early REM when Stipe's pipes soared without precise articulation. And today, this is the approach taken by Tool, where Maynard James Keenan's wails decisively woo and wander within the mix rather dominate it.

For a band to sustain our intoxicated attention for an entire studio album—much less a two-disc live set or lengthy DVD—is no small accomplishment in the I-pod age. But some listeners want more than three-minute morsels to add to the mixtape. My Morning Jacket blend classic rock perspiration with modern rock aspiration as though this were what they were born to do. Just a brief visit to the band's online forums, and we feel the fondness found among Deadheads and other hard-core fan communities that subsist without commercialism. Some fans crave the sustained intelligence, ingenuity, and inspiration invoked by only a handful of artists. While a live album could be a kind of joke for some artists, My Morning Jacket are so defined by their shows that such a
record was anticipated and appreciated, inevitable and inspirational.

My Morning Jacket deserve this devotion. And while Okonokos could serve as a greatest hits introduction, featuring as it does the best songs from studio albums Z, It Still Moves, At Dawn, and The Tennessee Fire, most listeners will prefer to treat this rousing set as its own religiously relevant combination, a sacred synthesis more than a mere compilation. Indeed, My Morning Jacket's sound infects people and inspires us to be serious fans more than casual listeners, people who will feel compelled to own the whole collection, not just the latest release, as amazing as that release might be.

Nice shout out to the forum.  We to will try and remain humble in the midst of our new found fame. :-*  Although someone needs to talk to Tom, at the last show I saw him signing autographs and takeing pictures with young girls while they stroked his beard.  I tried to get my picture with him to, but he was all like "sorry man, no pictures with dudes" then his press agent started "restraining" me.  Whatever.

Very nice Anu!  I like it.

Brilliant and astounding! I did not think I could Love this Band any more than I already did but now I am head over heels once again.

That was a wondeful piece to read Anu.  Well written.

"funkified Frodo, a post-punk Muppet, a jam-band Jedi. "
Holy Crap that's poetic.  

http://www.statepress.com/issues/2006/11/07/arts/698706

Listening live
 by Ashley Harris
 published on Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Recording a live album can be understandably tricky.

You can take the risk of recording only one show, praying that there are no technical hiccups or lyrical brain farts. You can also go the route of spanning over the course of several shows, like Denver-based, ska band Five Iron Frenzy, who picked the best tracks from more than 10 shows during a tour.

It takes a certain type of band with the support of extremely talented producers and mixers to ensure that the sounds - from instruments to vocals and even cheering from the audience - are going on the tape.

If it isn't enough pressure to perform well every night on stage, imagine the kind of stress My Morning Jacket might have been under as they recorded two nights in concert at The Fillmore in San Francisco.

This band is no stranger to live performance, having been around since 1998. Its impressive live show has created so much buzz that the band has been asked to such infamous festivals such as Austin City Limits, Coachella and even four times to the Bonnaroo, a record for the festival.

Take all of these factors and a little bit of luck and you have "Okonokos." With five members, My Morning Jacket pieces together perfectly on this album, creating a seamless recording that features a wide array of songs from the band's eight-year history, including "Steam Engine," "The Way That He Sings" and ending disc two with "Mahgeetah."

However, many say the true essence of a live show is exactly that - the show. That is why not only did My Morning Jacket release the aural aspect on Sept. 26, but the visual aspect with a subsequent DVD on Oct. 31.

It's impossible to not take in the entire experience in whatever way reaches you best, and for fans, or even people curious about the band, the insight that either the DVD, CD or both give you is enough to truly encompass the all-encompassing music of My Morning Jacket.

Reach the reporter at: ashley.e.harris@asu.edu.

http://www.harpmagazine.com/reviews/movie_reviews/detail.cfm?article_id=4884

QuoteNice shout out to the forum.  We to will try and remain humble in the midst of our new found fame. :-*  Although someone needs to talk to Tom, at the last show I saw him signing autographs and takeing pictures with young girls while they stroked his beard.  I tried to get my picture with him to, but he was all like "sorry man, no pictures with dudes" then his press agent started "restraining" me.  Whatever.

dude, that's bs and you know it.

talk to my agent, fool.

http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=151952#rating

My Morning Jacket
Okonokos
BY DEBBIE MICHAUD
Published 11.08.06
 
 My Morning Jacket's lead singer Jim James howls like a dog at the moon. His rich, reverb-heavy voice combined with the band's Southern rock-infused instrumentation forms songs so seemingly organic, it's hard to tell where the songs begin and end. For Okonokos, the group's latest release, My Morning Jacket recorded live at San Francisco's Fillmore over two days in November 2005 and the band's energy translates spectacularly. At the time, MMJ was supporting its second major-label album, Z, which offered more experimentation. My Morning Jacket modernizes classic rock's all-too-familiar guitar-heavy trademarks with a foray into an electronic, and sometimes ambient, realm ("Wordless Chorus," "Donate"). It's an invigorating fusion of Skynyrd and Radiohead resulting in unpredictable, dance-friendly jams such as "Off the Record" and "Run Thru." MMJ has expanded its territory from Kentucky into outer space with the kind of rock 'n' roll that an astronaut could bounce around to in zero gravity. 3 stars

My Morning Jacket plays the Tabernacle Sun., Nov. 12.

http://www.sundaypaper.com/AE/Music/MusicArchives/tabid/218/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/2060/111206-CD-Reviews.aspx
CD REVIEWS
My Morning Jacket
"Okonokos"
(ATO)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MY MORNING JACKET
Sun. Nov. 12
The Tabernacle
404-659-9022
www.livenation.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
My Morning Jacket's tour for its 2005 album, "Z," stopped at San Francisco's Fillmore West for what would become the Lexington, Ky. Quintet's first official live recording. Of course, one disc just isn't adequate to contain the complex, sprawling intensity of a typical My Morning Jacket performance. Even this double-disc set doesn't entirely capture the band's grandeur; add the associated DVD and you're almost there.
    
Most of the disparate elements that form the band's sound are here: the alternatively sludgy and lilting guitars; the ethereal vocals of frontman Jim Jones; the prog-rock, country and reggae strains that tear and tug at the songs; and especially the sweeping melodies at the heart of this American music. Only the occasional '70s cover of an Elton John or Bread song, usually included in live shows, is MIA.
  
Not surprisingly, "Okonokos" goes heavy on the recent material, but older tracks such as 2001's "It Still Moves" and "The Way that he Sings," along with "I Think I'm Going to Hell" from the band's 1999 debut, also benefit from the taut yet expansive attack. Indie-rock's most hirsute group shows plenty of tenderness under that hair, as James slides into his falsetto and the band shifts gracefully from wispy strums to thunderous Who-styled chords on the 11 minute "Dondero." Not since the prime of  Neil Young and Crazy Horse has a band managed to work dynamics so effectively. When guitarist Carl Broemel blows sweet sax to close the song, the effect—like the entire show—is galvanizing. 3.5 STARS—Hal Horowitz u

Ha Dondero!  It keeps evolving.  It's like that game you play when your a kid, whispering something in a circle and seeing what comes out the other end.

http://www.interference.com/stories/id168280.html

Review: My Morning Jacket, 'Okonokos' Live DVD and Double CD*
 
By Andy Smith
2006.11

After all the hope and hype that's been heaped upon My Morning Jacket, it's amazing that the band can remain so humble. But somehow, being laid-back about their own fame and fabulousness is part of the group's fascinating appeal, an unpretentious and unassuming allure.

Allow me to summarize the superlative critical chorus: The Louisville, Kentucky quintet known as My Morning Jacket are, among many other extraordinary things, a magical musical combination of apparent opposites, a holy hybrid between roots and reverb, hippie and hipster, rural and urban, southern and northern, Grateful Dead and Radiohead.

To this amazing litany of literary license and juicy juxtapositions, I'd like to add that they're a rock version of visionary mythic creatures, worthy of JRR Tolkien novels, Jim Henson creations, and George Lucas films. That is, lead singer Jim James is a funkified Frodo, a post-punk Muppet, a jam-band Jedi.

A fan-friendly and earnestly ambitious operation, My Morning Jacket have honored this autumn by releasing a live CD in late September, hitting us on Halloween with a live DVD, and culminating the season with a 23-date tour beginning in the southeast in November and concluding on New Year's Eve in San Francisco, at the Fillmore where this concert film and live disc were recorded.

At a time when many other early-to-mid-career peers are teasing their fans with short 60-to-90 minute live sets (made even less palatable by high ticket prices), My Morning Jacket seem to only perform 20-song, two-hour testimonials to the love of their craft and their fanbase. In fact, My Morning Jacket have apparently decided to be a great rock band by any standards, in a manner that defies assumptions and unites categories, that gives fans what they want, what they need, what they paid for.

"Okonokos" as a name bears a striking resemblance to a tiny town in West Virginia, but apparently, is a phrase that came to James while sleeping, and he remains open to its actual meaning or interpretation. The film is sandwiched by a surreal subtext conceived by James, situating the show in a magical forest. But essentially, it's a straightforward concert film, almost like a symphony in its musical integrity.

And James refrains from the between-song banter preferred by so many frontmen, his voice a mere instrument among many. This quality reminds us of early REM when Michael Stipe's pipes soared without precise articulation. And today, this is the approach taken by Tool, where Maynard James Keenan's wails decisively woo and wander within the mix rather dominate it.

For a band to sustain our intoxicated attention for an entire studio album—much less a two-disc live set or lengthy DVD—is no small accomplishment in the iPod age. But some listeners want more than three-minute morsels to add to the mixtape. My Morning Jacket blends classic rock perspiration with modern rock aspiration as though this were what they were born to do. Just a brief visit to the band's online forums, and we feel the fondness found among Deadheads and other hard-core fan communities that subsist without commercialism. Some fans crave the sustained intelligence, ingenuity, and inspiration invoked by only a handful of artists. While a live album could be a kind of joke for some artists, My Morning Jacket are so defined by their shows that such a record was anticipated and appreciated, inevitable and inspirational.

My Morning Jacket deserves this devotion. And while "Okonokos" could serve as a greatest hits introduction, featuring as it does the best songs from studio albums "Z," "It Still Moves, At Dawn," and "The Tennessee Fire," most listeners will prefer to treat this rousing set as its own religiously relevant combination, a sacred synthesis more than a mere compilation. Indeed, My Morning Jacket's sound infects people and inspires us to be serious fans more than casual listeners, people who will feel compelled to own the whole collection, not just the latest release, as amazing as that release might be.

For more information on My Morning Jacket, please visit the official website and MySpace page. "Okonokos" was released on ATO Records in September, and "Okonokos: The Concert" was released October 31st.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061111/SCENE04/61111008

Album Review
MMJ should be seen and and heard
DVD captures live MMJ experience
By Jeffrey Lee Puckett
jpuckett@courier-journal.com
Courier-Journal Critic
By Jeffrey Lee Puckett
jpuckett@courier-journal.com
Courier-Journal Critic

This is the best time to be a My Morning Jacket fan since the days when you could head over to Barretones and catch them for $5 on a Saturday night.


Less than a month ago the band released "Okonokos: Double Live Album," a 21-track gem that nearly crackles with energy. It also does the nearly impossible by capturing the supernatural spirit of a My Morning Jacket show without benefit of the band's well-known visuals: hair and sweat flying, singer Jim James always on the verge of levitation, Patrick Hallahan punishing his drums with a gleeful fury.

Now we have all of that, plus a bloodthirsty bear.

"Okonokos: Live Concert Film" is primarily footage from the same two-night stand at San Francisco's Fillmore West, and the show's visual excitement overwhelms the already electric CD. This is the MMJ that fans have come to love: an unadulterated rock 'n' roll band in what amounts to a state of ecstasy.

The film is beautifully shot, and the stage, an imaginary forest that may or may not represent a place called Okonokos, is gorgeous. It's kind of like watching a campfire performance straight out of "Where the Wild Things Are" (James apparently dreamed it all, but you can never tell with that guy; he's tricky).

Additional scenes — involving period costumes, an alpaca and a killer bear — were shot in Louisville at the Peterson-Dumesnil House, Headliners Music Hall and Joe Creason Park. There isn't exactly a plot, but you're likely to spot a few friends wandering around in bowler hats or being dismembered.

Three songs on the CD were omitted from the DVD, so fans of "I Think I'm Going to Hell," "At Dawn" and "Dancefloors" may have a beef, plus there are no extras. Then again, just watch "Run Thru" a couple of times at concert-level volume and any complaints will disappear.


Jeffrey Lee Puckett is SCENE's pop music editor.

Online: Find past album and concert reviews, or ask Jeffrey Lee a question, at www.courier-journal.com/music

http://mog.com/Dean_Browell/blog_post/24389

I agree with reviewer Hal Horowitz.  "Dondero" and 2001's "It Still Moves" are both great songs.  In "Dondero," of course, Jim James' tells the inspiring tale of the inventor of the Mexican Hat Dance.

http://music.riverfronttimes.com/Issues/2006-11-15/music/critics5.html?src=music_rss

The RFT is my local free entertainment rag.  Not sure what I think about that review. :-/

The all-important (in belgium that is) magazine HUMO just gave OKONOKOS a blistering review and a 4star maximum.

It made me glow...



(I know we're behind, I know  :) )

http://www.spin.com/reviews/2006/11/0611_mmj/

My Morning Jacket
Okonokos
(ATO/RCA)
November 22, 2006

Blaze up and sit back -- it's rock at its space-jammiest.
 
MMJ in Okonokos
My Morning Jacket effectively channel both Southern rock riff logic and the off-planet Pink Floyd – no surprise they played a three-hour set at Bonnaroo this year. Naturally, a double live CD recorded at San Francisco's Fillmore was a historical inevitability. Okonokos finds them in full into-the-stargate mode, blowing out songs and jamming till dawn. An aesthetic-and-career-defining set, it's the album they were destined to make. JOE GROSS

Quotehttp://www.interference.com/stories/id168280.html

Review: My Morning Jacket, 'Okonokos' Live DVD and Double CD*

By Andy Smith
2006.11

After all the hope and hype that's been heaped upon My Morning Jacket, it's amazing that the band can remain so humble. But somehow, being laid-back about their own fame and fabulousness is part of the group's fascinating appeal, an unpretentious and unassuming allure.

Allow me to summarize the superlative critical chorus: The Louisville, Kentucky quintet known as My Morning Jacket are, among many other extraordinary things, a magical musical combination of apparent opposites, a holy hybrid between roots and reverb, hippie and hipster, rural and urban, southern and northern, Grateful Dead and Radiohead.

To this amazing litany of literary license and juicy juxtapositions, I'd like to add that they're a rock version of visionary mythic creatures, worthy of JRR Tolkien novels, Jim Henson creations, and George Lucas films. That is, lead singer Jim James is a funkified Frodo, a post-punk Muppet, a jam-band Jedi.

A fan-friendly and earnestly ambitious operation, My Morning Jacket have honored this autumn by releasing a live CD in late September, hitting us on Halloween with a live DVD, and culminating the season with a 23-date tour beginning in the southeast in November and concluding on New Year's Eve in San Francisco, at the Fillmore where this concert film and live disc were recorded.

At a time when many other early-to-mid-career peers are teasing their fans with short 60-to-90 minute live sets (made even less palatable by high ticket prices), My Morning Jacket seem to only perform 20-song, two-hour testimonials to the love of their craft and their fanbase. In fact, My Morning Jacket have apparently decided to be a great rock band by any standards, in a manner that defies assumptions and unites categories, that gives fans what they want, what they need, what they paid for.

"Okonokos" as a name bears a striking resemblance to a tiny town in West Virginia, but apparently, is a phrase that came to James while sleeping, and he remains open to its actual meaning or interpretation. The film is sandwiched by a surreal subtext conceived by James, situating the show in a magical forest. But essentially, it's a straightforward concert film, almost like a symphony in its musical integrity.

And James refrains from the between-song banter preferred by so many frontmen, his voice a mere instrument among many. This quality reminds us of early REM when Michael Stipe's pipes soared without precise articulation. And today, this is the approach taken by Tool, where Maynard James Keenan's wails decisively woo and wander within the mix rather dominate it.

For a band to sustain our intoxicated attention for an entire studio album—much less a two-disc live set or lengthy DVD—is no small accomplishment in the iPod age. But some listeners want more than three-minute morsels to add to the mixtape. My Morning Jacket blends classic rock perspiration with modern rock aspiration as though this were what they were born to do. Just a brief visit to the band's online forums, and we feel the fondness found among Deadheads and other hard-core fan communities that subsist without commercialism. Some fans crave the sustained intelligence, ingenuity, and inspiration invoked by only a handful of artists. While a live album could be a kind of joke for some artists, My Morning Jacket are so defined by their shows that such a record was anticipated and appreciated, inevitable and inspirational.

My Morning Jacket deserves this devotion. And while "Okonokos" could serve as a greatest hits introduction, featuring as it does the best songs from studio albums "Z," "It Still Moves, At Dawn," and "The Tennessee Fire," most listeners will prefer to treat this rousing set as its own religiously relevant combination, a sacred synthesis more than a mere compilation. Indeed, My Morning Jacket's sound infects people and inspires us to be serious fans more than casual listeners, people who will feel compelled to own the whole collection, not just the latest release, as amazing as that release might be.

For more information on My Morning Jacket, please visit the official website and MySpace page. "Okonokos" was released on ATO Records in September, and "Okonokos: The Concert" was released October 31st.

I kinda like this one the best. ;D

http://winnipegsun.com/Entertainment/Music/2006/11/24/2473870-sun.html

My Morning Jacket

Okonokos

ATO-RCA | 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 in this hirsute Louisville outfit's live DVD Okonokos. A visually striking performance staged at the Fillmore, the superb-sounding set features 18 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 long-haired boys -- but also with a lot more skill, subtlety and grace than you probably anticipated.

I kinda know the dude who wrote this positive Okonokos review:

http://www.jambands.ca/sanctuary/showtopic.php?tid/235335/

Nice work Jaimoe!

QuoteI kinda know the dude who wrote this positive Okonokos review:

http://www.jambands.ca/sanctuary/showtopic.php?tid/235335/

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/11/25/142603.php

Music DVD Review: My Morning Jacket - Okonokos - The Concert

Written by Glen Boyd
Published November 25, 2006

Oh my God, this is great stuff.

And I have to thank the friend that pulled my ass out of a sling earlier this week by scoring us tickets to My Morning Jacket's show here next January. Based on this incredible live DVD, I have absolutely no doubt we are in for something special.

I seriously doubt that My Morning Jacket is a band that has a hit single anywhere in their immediate future, although I have to admit that songs like "What A Wonderful Man" and the riff-heavy "Off The Record" have a certain hookiness about them — at least in the case of "Off The Record" anyway, before it drifts off into a sort of Pink Floyd "Echoes" never-never land.

My Morning Jacket's reputation as a formidable live band — if there was ever any doubt — was pretty much cemented with a career-making three-hour set at last year's Bonnaroo Festival where they pretty much blew everyone from Tom Petty to Radiohead (playing new material nonetheless) away.

Of My Morning Jacket's reputation as a live band — based on what is captured here — all I will say is this: For anyone who has ever missed being carried away to another place by music, get ready to be welcomed home.

For most of the tracks here, things begin with singer-songwriter Jim James' soaring falsetto vocals building into a cascading crecendo of layer upon layer of the most gloriously clashing guitars, bass, and drums you have heard in what seems like forever.

Honest to God, you could get lost in this stuff. I swear, these guys are this good.

The DVD is also visually striking. It begins with a guest being taken out of a posh champagne party into a forest and to the concert by a llama, of all things. My Morning Jacket's stage setup basically is a dizzying set of lights set within the forest.

If I am somewhat short on details in this review, I apologize. Needless to say, this is a great DVD where My Morning Jacket's incredible music just took me off to another place altogether. If I could sum up, I would simply do so by saying their reputation as an incredible live band is absolutely justified. Think of the places that something like Ummagumma-era Pink Floyd took you, and you'd start to get the idea. Yet, you'd be nowhere close.

All I know is I can't wait to see them.

This is great stuff. Just watch out for the bear attack at the end.

So happy I bought the live album,  ;D. Rarely does the live match up the the studio but I suppose when you've got vocals like Jim you could sing in a bucket and you'd still sound amazing.  Just makes me want to go to a gig all the more only problem I'm in Scotland...don't suppose anyone could talk the boys into doing a Scottish tour...worth a try!

http://www.cokemachineglow.com/reviews/mmj_okonokos2006.html

Okonokos is the first live record by The Greatest Fucking Live Band On The Planet, but it's a solid ten points shy of last year's first live record by a just-pretty-good live band. Both Okonokos and Wilco's Kicking Television feature set lists culled from their respective band's two most recent releases, and both feature clean, robust production (arguably appropriate for a live recording) and dynamic pacing (of paramount importance for a live recording). Both go on for a little too long, in a good way. Both prominently feature the stunned roar of an audience. Both have big guitar solos. Both reinterpret the respective band's catalogue, either through rearrangement ("Xmas Curtain") or recontextualization.


I'm just posting a snippet, but I love that first line sooooo much 8)

PASTE Magazine

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No Depression

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No Depression

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QuoteNo Depression

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

  >:(

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

Quote

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!!!!!!!!!!!!

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

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

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.

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.

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  ;)

(http://static.flickr.com/130/321322582_bc301695b8.jpg)

Quoteand 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.  

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:

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

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

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

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

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

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

QuoteWe 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 ;)

Quote

QuoteWe 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.

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

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

Quote
dirty boogie

yeah.
8-)

http://www.vailtrail.com/article/20070122/VALLEYLIFE/70122001

My Morning Jacket, Okonokos


Listen Up!


Charlie Owen
January 22, 2007

My Morning Jacket is one of the few bands that completely changed my perception once I saw them play live. Their energy is hard to capture on disc, but their stage performance blew my mind, which is why I thought that it would be a good idea to revisit Okonokos, the band's double-disc album that was recorded during their 2005 tour for the Z album at the Fillmore in San Francisco.

Okonokos is an epic journey through the history of the band's ever-changing music. Although relying heavily on the spacey aura of Z, their previous album, Okonokos also contains songs from past albums like The Tennessee Fire and At Dawn. MMJ has been playing together for almost 10 years, and although the original line-up has changed, Jim Jame's trademark reverb-heavy vocals remain intact, as well as the distortion-warped guitars, all of which lend to the band's trippy sound.

MMJ's style is so hard to define that it's really not worth the effort. They are not afraid to break boundaries and the effort that they put into their arrangements in the studio and on the stage pay off in dividends. From rock anthems like "One Big Holiday" to the reggae-injected "Off the Record," Okonokos is a roller coaster ride from start to finish. Consisting of 21 tracks and clocking in at more than two hours in length, you can think of it as getting to hear a concert again and again and only having to pay once.

A heavy amount of improv adds to the greater depth that this album achieves over the previous studio albums that have been released. Every song seems to stir a different emotion and you can count on the banshee wailing in "I Think I'm Going to Hell" to just plain rip your heart out.

If you're a super fan, than check out the Okonokos DVD that was released simultaneously with the CD.

How about "if you have a pulse, check out the okonokos dvd"

 ;D

I don't recall seeing this one before. Strange for such a glowing review, he give is 7.5 out of 10  :-/

http://www.prefixmag.com/reviews/cds/M/my-morning-jacket/okonokos/2858

My Morning Jacket
Okonokos

Release Date: September 26, 2006
Label: RCA/ATO
By: John Bohannon
7.5 / 10



I grew up in Louisville, and I know no other town is like it. Not only is it one of the kindest, easiest places to live, but it's also very communal, and that goes for its music scene as well. So when My Morning Jacket went from playing the local coffeehouses to, for example, the stage at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium to record this show for release on DVD, it felt like a big success for the town as well as the band. Okonokos (a two-disc live set as well as a DVD) captures one of the world's best live bands at its peak, but it gives off the feeling that these are still nothing more than a few humble Kentuckians.



Despite being slapped with the Southern-rock and jam-band tags, My Morning Jacket transcends these critical pigeonholes. On 2005's wonderful Z, the band explored reggae and electronic music and surf rock and even certain elements of soul. Previous albums contained songs that could blow your speakers ("Run Thru" off 2003's It Still Moves) and songs that could rip your heart out ("I Will Be There When You Die" off 1999's Tennessee Fire). It doesn't come off as contrived or unoriginal, and this exploration is a big part of what makes My Morning Jacket's live performance so powerful.



On stage, the band members-led by singer and songwriter Jim James-seem joyful and humble and take in the crowd and have an almost childlike sense of humor. All of that comes through on the Okonokos DVD. They rip through versions of "Phone Went West," "The Way That He Sings," and numerous tracks off Z that resonate through your soul, chased by the echo of James's howl.



My Morning Jacket connects with its audience night after night in a way that some bands strive their entire careers for. The flaws are there-an over-exerted voice, a missed guitar note-but Okonokos is a perfect representation of one of the best live bands around.

QuoteThey rip through versions of "Phone Went West,"

They do?  

Is that one of dem dar easter eggs?

http://www.boiseweekly.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A219677

POSTED ON MAY 2, 2007:

My Morning Jacket: Okonokos: The Concert DVD

By Ryan Peck

I have seen the future of rock, and it is a force to be reckoned with. It didn't come packaged in a slick parcel forced upon me by the so-called taste-makers suing college kids for illegal downloads. It came from Netflix. It was a flurry of pentatonic notes, Gibson Flying Vs, kinetic hi-hat rhythms and hair--so much hair. My Morning Jacket has taken the baton that was handed to them by Skynryd, Thin Lizzy and what The Stones wished they could still be, and ran a record-breaking show of endurance and conviction. Arena-sized rock for the theatre-sized venue, Okonokos shows My Morning Jacket up close and rocking.

The music is wrapped in reverb and dynamics that would make Frank Black toss and turn in his sleep. A study in live performance sans the band's name in neon lights, Okonokos is at once rejuvenating and pummeling. Opening with the magnum opus trilogy from their record Z, My Morning Jacket knocks you flat, and then keeps upping the ante. Yeah, maybe I am a little late to the game (the DVD was released in September), but man, there was a long wait on Netflix. If you are a fan of My Morning Jacket, no, more so, if you are a fan of rock music that is not convoluted by image and phoniness, you owe it to yourself to check this DVD out. There are a few lulls in the middle, but with the melody, reverb and interplay, you won't notice it a bit. As raw and beautiful as rock should ever be, Lester Bangs would have broken more than a few pens writing about this astonishing release from a band that used to get their vocal sounds in an old grain silo.

--Ryan Peck

Quote from: sweatboard on Jan 22, 2007, 11:29 AM
Nice article, I also think that Robert Smith and Jim James have a WHOLE lot in common.

I just read this comment, and I have to agree 100%.  The variety in the songs that both Robert Smith and Jim James write just blows me away.  Definitely a couple of my favorite song writers.

Wow, 8 years between posts on this thread.
You must have been doing some serious digging, sillyboob.
But, really, there's never enough you can say about Okonokos. :beer:

Been listening/watching this a lot lately. It still never ceases to amaze me how great this band is. October cant come soon enough.  :cheesy:

Maybe for the 10 year anniversary they'll release a special edition (Blu Ray!) that includes all the other songs from the SF concerts?  :bath:

was at a record store on long island yesterday and saw this on vinyl for $150. did a double take.

Quote from: logan5ive on Jun 19, 2015, 06:01 PM
Maybe for the 10 year anniversary they'll release a special edition (Blu Ray!) that includes all the other songs from the SF concerts?  :bath:

Fuuuuuuuck yeeeeeeah!

Quote from: subinai on Jun 20, 2015, 12:04 PM
was at a record store on long island yesterday and saw this on vinyl for $150. did a double take.

Used or New? Actually a good deal for a sealed copy.

Jesus....the greatest live album ever alongside: Europe 72, Skull and Roses, Live at Leeds, How The West Was Won (wish Jimmy Page hadnt edited it so much). its so beautifully done and will only get better when OKONOKOS II gets released and on the same day this gets a 10th anniversary treatment ;) Just an idea Jim ;)

Quote from: MrB on Jul 15, 2015, 09:21 AM

Quote from: subinai on Jun 20, 2015, 12:04 PM
was at a record store on long island yesterday and saw this on vinyl for $150. did a double take.

Used or New? Actually a good deal for a sealed copy.

That is a steal for unsealed. Used ones can easily fetch over $200. Just got mine, supposedly never played, but used for $220, and I'm more than satisfied. I have a British import of Live at Leeds signed by John Entwistle, don't even remember where I found it, purchased over 30 years ago, but I clearly remember him signing it for me. I now have the 2 greatest albums ever, live or otherwise, on vinyl.

Quote from: rincon2 on Jul 25, 2015, 08:27 PM

Quote from: MrB on Jul 15, 2015, 09:21 AM

Quote from: subinai on Jun 20, 2015, 12:04 PM
was at a record store on long island yesterday and saw this on vinyl for $150. did a double take.

Used or New? Actually a good deal for a sealed copy.

That is a steal for unsealed. Used ones can easily fetch over $200. Just got mine, supposedly never played, but used for $220, and I'm more than satisfied. I have a British import of Live at Leeds signed by John Entwistle, don't even remember where I found it, purchased over 30 years ago, but I clearly remember him signing it for me. I now have the 2 greatest albums ever, live or otherwise, on vinyl.

Rincon you lucky mothafucka!!! keep hold o' those bro, dont ever sell them and if you have to, sell them to a Jacketer on here who wont resell :)

Quote from: Lonndown27 on Jul 25, 2015, 08:18 PM
Jesus....the greatest live album ever alongside: Europe 72, Skull and Roses, Live at Leeds, How The West Was Won (wish Jimmy Page hadnt edited it so much). its so beautifully done and will only get better when OKONOKOS II gets released and on the same day this gets a 10th anniversary treatment ;) Just an idea Jim ;)
[/quote

Don't forget bout Little Feat"Waiting for Columbus"(Lowell George in pure form.
It's a monster live LP)
-also a little known tid bit, OBH II opener "Ride like the Wind" was dedicated to the late great Lowell George, by Chistopher Cross on his LP...!   AND
Jerry Garcia Band-"Almost Acoustic" UNBELIEVABLE live LP.

JUST ONE GUYS OPINION...

Quote from: tippitoes22 on Jul 27, 2015, 10:21 PM

Quote from: Lonndown27 on Jul 25, 2015, 08:18 PM
Jesus....the greatest live album ever alongside: Europe 72, Skull and Roses, Live at Leeds, How The West Was Won (wish Jimmy Page hadnt edited it so much). its so beautifully done and will only get better when OKONOKOS II gets released and on the same day this gets a 10th anniversary treatment ;) Just an idea Jim ;)
[/quote

Don't forget bout Little Feat"Waiting for Columbus"(Lowell George in pure form.
It's a monster live LP)
-also a little known tid bit, OBH II opener "Ride like the Wind" was dedicated to the late great Lowell George, by Chistopher Cross on his LP...!   AND
Jerry Garcia Band-"Almost Acoustic" UNBELIEVABLE live LP.

JUST ONE GUYS OPINION...

I LOOOOOOOOVES LIVE LPs :)