Customer Reviews
thumbs up this end! - By: Ben Grimm76, 28 Aug 2008 
My morning Jacket never fail me. I wasn't impressed with Evil Urges on the first couple of listens, I suppose it wasn't what I was expecting if I'm honest but with each listen it grew on me. I now love it with the exception of one song, Highly Suspicious. It's got a nice soul soundin places, sometimes to my ears sounds a little Lenny Kravitz/Prince like on some of the songs. Yeah, Great Album & Great live band if you get a chance to see them. Worth a buy!
I keep going back again and again - By: K. Wright, 01 Aug 2008 
I don't understand the number of critical reviews of this album. I think there are some truly wonderful songs on here, & for me, it's the one album I've returned to again & again over the last few weeks. Tracks like I'm Amazed, Aluminum Park, Thank You Too, Remnants, Smokin' From Shootin. I could go on & on. There are only really two or three tracks on here that I would have jettisoned, & they aren't really bad, just not very memorable. I even enjoy Highly Suspicious!
I agree with another reviewer that the spontaneous shouts & yelps that suggest this was a 'livein the studio' recording sound slightly contrived. But that's a minor complaint.
Overall, I love the variety of styles, the songwriting, the fabulous musicianship... I have trouble picking out some of the lyrics but I'll get them eventually.
I have never been disappointed by an MMJ album, & I'm not disappointed by this one either. Highly recommended.
Unintelligent experimentation - By: MRSCRY, 23 Jul 2008 
How was THIS the album that turned My Morning Jacket into a band that could play Radio City Music Hall, Red Rocks, & Madison Square Garden?! Even weirder was all the press they got right before this album came out, as if it was going to be a masterpiece or something. Where was all the press when they came out with GOOD music? I usually love when a band moves onto something newin their songwriting, & "Z" was an excellent example of not making the same old album all over again & bringing the listener something fresh & exciting... but the new "ideas" on this album are shallow & lousy... don't expand yourself if you can't do it, MMJ.
Naive Over Indulgence - By: Buddy Mason, 13 Jul 2008 As a huge fan of My Morning Jacket, I was eagerly anticipating Evil Urges, having listened relentlessly to It Still Moves & Z & purchased all the earlier albums too. The reverb drenched vocals, existential lyrics, beautiful melodies balanced superbly with some heavy guitar work, have drawn comparisons with Neil Young, but despite the grand nature of their sound, a playful exuberance is never too far around the corner & its that ability not to take themselves too seriously, which has made them so listenable. I can pretty much put them on at any time of dayin any mood & their music fits. That fine balance of intensity & playfulness has been tipped very firmlyin the playfulness direction & that harmony they've achievedin the past, is not to be foundin this latest effort from them, Evil Urges. I get the feeling that with success & perhaps a lot of sex, Jim James has decided to just have some light hearted fun, making an album that could even be a homage to Princein its attempt at sexiness. It sounds like it was madein the space of an evening (a friday night on the piss most probably), rather than the manifestation of years of profound introspective thought. The track Highly Suspicious made me want to adopt the brace position. I hope, like the morning after a night out, they will wake up smiling, but suitably ashamed & ready to start being serious again. I hope it sells though & wish them nothing but the best. I'm seeing them live next week & I just pray they play some of the old stuff!
BOLD, BAFFLING, and BRILLIANT. - By: Paul McColm., 20 Jun 2008 Other My Morning Jacket albums have hinted at the bands eclectic approach to their music & influences, but none of their studio albums have ventured this far into new territory.Evil Urges is the sound of a band at its most playfully creative, & the results are a joyous mix of the expected & the slightly surreal.Like the Flaming Lips before them My Morning Jacket are not afraid to take chances & hope their audience keeps up.
Perhaps the most controversial track is "Highly Suspicious" which steals from Prince, with added oddnessin its chorus.However this is just one surprise as Evil Urges builds to the climatic modern space rock epic "Good Intentions" that closes this uplifting, but mind boggling set of songs.It takes guts to break so completely from accepted norms, & the joy of Evil Urges isin its willingness to do just that.The main comparison i can think of is to imagine Neil Young emerging as a young talent today with 50 years of rock history to work with,i reckon he would be producing music not dissimilar to this, which is the highest praise i can give.
With the success of bands like My Morning Jacket, Death Cab For Cutie, & Modest Mouse, American left field pop has not looked this healthy since the early Nineties, & is really showing the way for creative musicin this new century.
