Z (My Morning Jacket album)

Z is the fourth studio album by psychedelic rock band My Morning Jacket. This collection features a much spacier and more polished sound than previous releases, making heavy use of synthesizers throughout and incorporating reggae and dub influences. The heavy reverb that was a defining characteristic of the band's prior recordings is largely absent. The songs on the album are more focused and shorter compared to the band's previous albums.

Z
A blue and black drawing of three birds performing an operation on a fourth bird. The fourth bird has a small city in its stomach instead of organs
Studio album by
My Morning Jacket
ReleasedOctober 4, 2005 (2005-10-04)
StudioAllaire Studios, Shokan, New York, United States
Genre
Length47:00
LabelATO
Producer
My Morning Jacket chronology
Acoustic Citsuoca
(2004)		 Z
(2005)		 Evil Urges
(2008)
Singles from Z
  1. "Off the Record"
    Released: 2005
  2. "Gideon"
    Released: 2006

A double-live album, Okonokos, was recorded at the end of the Z Tour and was released on September 26, 2006; it features live versions of eight of Z's 10 songs.

In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 457 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The magazine has also ranked the album 31st on its list of the 100 best albums of the 2000s and 23rd of the 40 greatest stoner albums ever.

Background and production

In September 2003, My Morning Jacket released its third album It Still Moves.[4] It was the band's first album to be released by ATO Records.[5] It Still Moves was well received by critics and peaked at number two on the Heatseekers Albums in the United States.[4][6] During the subsequent tour, guitarist Johnny Quaid and keyboardist Danny Cash quit the band on amicable terms, and were replaced by guitarist Carl Broemel and keyboardist Bo Koster.[7] Drummer Patrick Hallahan said that while the arrival of new members put the band in an awkward position, it was also a liberating experience. "We thought, 'Let's take ourselves out of our element.'"[5]

For the next My Morning Jacket album, the band members wanted to experiment with unique arrangements and a greater usage of musical soundscapes when compared to their previous albums.[8] Vocalist Jim James said the band went out of their comfort zone, and decided to record the album at the remote Allaire Studios in the Catskill Mountains instead of in their hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. According to bassist Tom Blankenship: "We had been talking for years about really locking ourselves in when we did an album, and now there was no excuse but to be in the studio all the time. You'd wake up and have breakfast and grab your coffee and walk into the control room."[9]

Z was the first My Morning Jacket album to have a professional producer. James had previously produced every album, which he said was out of pride.[8] Before the recording sessions began, James met producer John Leckie, who was known for his work with bands such as Pink Floyd and Radiohead. Leckie was also a tape operator on the George Harrison album All Things Must Pass, one of James' favorite albums.[10] James said Leckie's perspective as an outsider played a pivotal role in the production of the album. According to James: "Sometimes when everybody in the band is just there, you know, people don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, or you might think that it was a good take because everyone is tired. We really learned the value of having another ear there."[8]

Composition

This album was seen by reviewers as a shift in the musical genre of the band and vocal style of James, in part due to working with John Leckie and the inclusion of genres such as reggae on "Off the Record".[11][12]

Digital rights management

The CD was one of the more high-profile releases in 2005 featuring digital rights management technology to prohibit owners from playing the music on a computer or creating digital copies. United States pressings of this CD contain MediaMax CD-3 by SunnComm.[13] The band's manager, Mike Martinovich, expressed their dissatisfaction with the technology and it was abandoned on subsequent releases.[14] The band themselves provided information on their website about how to bypass the software, and also offered to burn individual copies of the album for fans, free of copy-protection software.[15]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic90/100[16]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[17]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[2]
The Guardian[18]
Los Angeles Times[19]
Mojo[20]
NME9/10[21]
Pitchfork7.6/10[11]
Q[22]
Rolling Stone[23]
SpinA−[24]

The album was the second highest rated album of 2005 according to Metacritic, behind Sufjan Stevens' Illinois; the album has a total score of 90 out of 100.[25]

Technically, both Z and Illinois were tied for the highest Metacritic rating in 2005, with a score of 90 each. However, the score for Illinois was based on a larger overall number of reviews: 40, compared to 31 for Z.[26]

Online music magazine Pitchfork Media placed Z at number 146 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s, calling it My Morning Jacket's OK Computer.[27] In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 457 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[28] The magazine has also ranked the album 31st on its list of the 100 best albums of the 2000s[29] and 23rd of the 40 greatest stoner albums ever.[30] In March 2022, the album ranked at number 1 on WFPK Louisville's "Top 500 Albums of the 2000's Countdown" which was conducted by a public poll.[31]

Track listing

All songs written by Jim James, except where noted:

  1. "Wordless Chorus" – 4:12
  2. "It Beats 4 U" – 3:46
  3. "Gideon" – 3:39
  4. "What a Wonderful Man" – 2:25
  5. "Off the Record" (James, Tom Blankenship, Patrick Hallahan) – 5:33
  6. "Into the Woods" – 5:21
  7. "Anytime" – 3:56
  8. "Lay Low" – 6:05
  9. "Knot Comes Loose" – 4:02
  10. "Dondante" – 8:01

The U.S. and Japanese pressing of the album contains the B-side "Chills"; digital copies include the other b-side "How Could I Know" (length 5:27) as well.

Personnel

My Morning Jacket

Additional musicians and technical personnel

Artwork

  • Katie Beach
  • Guy Burwel
  • Nicolai Denchev
  • Mike Fulkerson
  • Brandon Jones
  • Kathleen Lolley

Release history
Release formats for Z
Region Date Label Format Catalog
Worldwide October 4, 2005 (2005-10-04) Badman LP 947
United States ATO/RCA Compact Disc 71067
Europe BMG 21448
United States ATO 21601
Japan BMG 21448
2006 24078†
United States 2008 ATO LP 8808821601
United States August 21, 2020[32] ATO 2×LP, purple vinyl†

†This edition includes the bonus track "Chills"

References
  1. "My Morning Jacket: Z | Tiny Mix Tapes". tinymixtapes.com. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
  2. Sinclair, Tom (October 3, 2005). "Z". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on June 30, 2019. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  3. Weiss, Jeff (April 16, 2008). "Why My Morning Jacket Is the Best Live Band in the World". LA Weekly. Retrieved September 15, 2019.
  4. Leahey, Andrew (n.d.). "My Morning Jacket Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  5. Wappler, Margaret (April 26, 2008). "My Morning Jacket weathers it". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  6. Staff (June 24, 2005). "My Morning Jacket Stretches Out On 'Z'". Billboard. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  7. Dansby, Andrew (January 21, 2004). "Two Quit My Morning Jacket". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  8. Johnson, Brian F. (October 1, 2005). "My Morning Jacket takes a less-is-more approach with latest, Z". Marquee. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  9. Rogulewski, Charley (October 11, 2005). "My Morning Jacket Rise Up". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  10. Morse, Steve (October 14, 2005). "My Morning Jacket wears its diverse influences well". The Boston Globe. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  11. Deusner, Stephen M. (October 6, 2005). "My Morning Jacket: Z". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on February 2, 2009. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  12. Mendelsohn, Jason; Klinger, Eric (June 19, 2015). "Counterblaance: My Morning Jacket – Z". PopMatters. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  13. "Are You Infected by Sony-BMG's Rootkit?". Electronic Frontier Foundation. 8 November 2005. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
  14. Brian Hiatt (2005-12-31). "Copy-Protection Troubles Grow". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2009-02-02. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
  15. James Montgomery (2005-12-16). "My Morning Jacket Tackle Copy-Protection Software Problems - By Burning CDs For Fans". MTV. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
  16. "Reviews for Z by My Morning Jacket". Metacritic. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  17. Loftus, Johnny. "Z – My Morning Jacket". AllMusic. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  18. Peschek, David (October 21, 2005). "My Morning Jacket, Z". The Guardian. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
  19. Cromelin, Richard (October 2, 2005). "It's easy to like cut of this Jacket". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
  20. "My Morning Jacket: Z". Mojo (143): 96. October 2005.
  21. Martin, Rick (October 25, 2005). "My Morning Jacket: Z". NME. Archived from the original on October 6, 2015. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
  22. "My Morning Jacket: Z". Q (232): 127. November 2005.
  23. Fricke, David (October 20, 2005). "My Morning Jacket: Z". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on January 30, 2010. Retrieved September 20, 2012.
  24. Beaujon, Andrew (October 2005). "My Morning Macket: Z". Spin. 21 (10): 133. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
  25. "My Morning Jacket: Z (2005)". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
  26. "Best Music and Albums for 2005". Metacritic. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  27. "The Top 200 Albums of the 2000s: 200-151". Pitchfork Media. September 28, 2009. Archived from the original on October 2, 2009. Retrieved October 1, 2009.
  28. Wenner, Jann S., ed. (2012). Rolling Stone - Special Collectors Issue - The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. USA: Wenner Media Specials. ISBN 978-7098934196
  29. "100 Best Albums of the 2000s". Rolling Stone. 18 July 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  30. "The 40 Greatest Stoner Albums". Rolling Stone. 7 June 2013. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  31. Meredith, Kyle (25 March 2022). "Top 500 Albums of the 2000's Countdown". WFPK.org.
  32. Bloom, Madison (August 5, 2020). "My Morning Jacket Announce Vinyl Reissue of 2005 Album Z". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
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