New Tunes: My Morning Jacket’s Evil Urges
Like a good consumer, I waited patiently for the release date of My Morning Jacket’s latest (June 10), and was pleasantly surprised that eMusic had it available on Day One [For the uninitiated, eMusic is a monthly subscription site that specializes in independent labels. I pay $10 a month for 40 downloads. So in essence, I just paid $5.60 for the new MMJ – nice].
A couple years ago, I opined that Nino Moschella’s “Are You For Real” was one of the best Prince songs I’d heard in ages. Well, Evil Urges has a couple of the funkiest Prince songs you’ve heard in a while, too. Listen to the title track, and especially to track 3, “Highly Suspicious”. Jim James is channeling the good ol’ nasty Prince falsetto here. It sounds like Prince fronting Cameo in their prime. Seriously, tell me you don’t hear that. Go to their MySpace now and click on “Highly Suspicious”. Stat.
Quirky, rich and offbeat, the new record is full of Jim and the band blurring the lines between genres: from their brand of southern jam-rock to some serious infusion of funky, soulful grooves. I don’t know how they do it, but My Morning Jacket manages to sound like a great 70’s band from the future. They’re futuristically retro, if I may. I mean, listen to “Thank You Too!”, and the seamless double shot of “Smokin from Shootin” and “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream, Part 2”.
I have great respect for musicians that find a formula that “works” for them, and then continue to morph and tweak it on subsequent albums. Wilco has done it (compare Being There to Summerteeth to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot)… Prince sure did it in the 80’s (especially from Purple Rain to Around the World in a Day – a huge leap). And MMJ is doing it – check out the transitions in atmosphere from It Still Moves to Z to Evil Urges.
Truly a groundbreaking band – and hands down one of the most impressive live acts I’ve ever seen. I look forward to letting this record seep into me.
Buy: Evil Urges
Official Site: MyMorningJacket.comNew Tunes: Alejandro Escovedo’s Real Animal
I’m new to Alejandro Escovedo’s music, but I’ve been familiar with him for years, as a much-respected roots rock singer/songwriter with a huge underground following. Not to mention he’s Sheila E.’s uncle (Sheila’s dad, Pete, is his brother). But I’ve never delved into the music until now. My loss, I know.
Real Animal is Alejandro’s eighth studio album since his acclaimed 1992 debut, Gravity. Prior to that, Alejandro was in San Francisco punk band The Nuns. After a move to Austin, he formed bands Rank and File and True Believers. But it’s his solo work that has garnered the respect of people from Springsteen to Lucinda Williams to Steve Earle.
So my first impressions of the album are very positive. I tend to gravitate toward the slower songs like “Swallows of San Juan”, “Sensitive Boys”, “Hollywood Hills”, and the beautiful “Slow Down”.
the past is gone
but it still lives inside of me
hold on tight
as we slip into this revelryslow down slow down
it’s moving much too fast
can’t live in this moment
when i’m tangled in the pastBut the rockers are growing on me too…the opening track, “Always a Friend” is a straight ahead rocker that Bruce and the E Street Band learned before they brought Alejandro out for an encore in Houston a couple months ago. And songs like “Chelsea Hotel ’78” and the tribute to Iggy Pop – “Real As An Animal” – sound great turned up loud and tearing down the road, making me temporarily forget about $4 gas and 15 miles to the gallon. We all need an escape in this day and age, and this album is a great side trip.
Buy: Real Animal
Official Site: AlejandroEscovedo.comMellencamp and T-Bone Burnett Hook Up
My opinion: if you throw T-Bone Burnett into a project, you’re going to get favorable results. Look at some of the production credits in his resumé:
Los Lobos – How WIll the Wolf Survive?
Wallflowers – Bringing Down the Horse
Counting Crows – August and Everything After
BoDeans – Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams
Elvis Costello – King of America
Robert Plant & Alison Kraus – Raising Sand
Bruce Cockburn – Nothing But a Burning Light and Dart to the Heart
The Soundtrack to O Brother Where Art ThouAnd oh so much more.
One new album bearing the stamp of T-Bone is John Mellencamp‘s Life, Death, Love and Freedom, due out July 15th on the Hear Music / Starbucks label. I have a ton of John’s older stuff, but haven’t really heard much of the stuff he’s put out over the last 10 years or so. And regardless of what John says about “My Country”, the over saturation from the Chevy commercials turned me off to the song immediately.
But this tune has me looking forward to the new album. Mellencamp calls it a collection of “modern electric folk songs”. He also credits Burnett with “finding the soul of each song”. I give Mellencamp credit for hooking up with Burnett – I look forward to hearing the results. They’re off to a great start with this one…
John Mellencamp – My Sweet Love
- Pre-Order: Life, Death, Love and Freedom
- Official Site: JohnMellencamp.com
