Z (My Morning Jacket album)
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''Z'' is the fourth studio album by
psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...
band
My Morning Jacket My Morning Jacket is an American rock band formed in Louisville, Kentucky in 1998. The band consists of vocalist/guitarist Jim James, bassist Tom Blankenship, drummer Patrick Hallahan, guitarist Carl Broemel, and keyboardist Bo Koster. The ba ...
. This collection features a much spacier and more polished sound than previous releases, making heavy use of
synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
s throughout and incorporating
reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
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. A double-live album, ''
Okonokos ''Okonokos'' is a live album and concert film by the American band My Morning Jacket released on October 31, 2006. The album was recorded during the band's fall 2005 Z Tour, over two nights at The Fillmore in San Francisco, California. This is th ...
'', was recorded at the end of the Z Tour and was released on September 26, 2006; it features live versions of eight of ''Zs 10 songs. In 2012, ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' ranked the album at number 457 on its list of
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indust ...
. 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 ''It Still Moves'' is the third album by the rock band My Morning Jacket. The album garnered positive reviews and is often considered the band's best work alongside '' Z''. The song "Run Thru" is included in ''Rolling Stone's'' "100 Greatest Guita ...
''. It was the band's first album to be released by ATO Records. ''It Still Moves'' was well received by critics and peaked at number two on the
Heatseekers Albums Top Heatseekers are "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new an ...
in the United States. During the subsequent tour, guitarist Johnny Quaid and keyboardist Danny Cash quit the band on amicable terms, and were replaced by guitarist
Carl Broemel Carl Broemel (born January 30, 1974) is an American rock musician. He currently plays guitar, pedal steel guitar, saxophone and sings back-up vocals for the Louisville, Kentucky band My Morning Jacket. He played guitar in the pop/rock band Old Pik ...
and keyboardist Bo Koster. 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.'" For the next My Morning Jacket album, the band members wanted to experiment with unique arrangements and a greater usage of musical
soundscapes A soundscape is the acoustic environment as perceived by humans, in context. The term was originally coined by Michael Southworth, and popularised by R. Murray Schafer. There is a varied history of the use of soundscape depending on discipline, ...
when compared to their previous albums. Vocalist
Jim James James Edward Olliges Jr. (born April 27, 1978), professionally known as Jim James or Yim Yames, is an American vocalist, guitarist, producer, and primary songwriter of the rock band My Morning Jacket. He has also released several solo albums. ...
said the band went out of their comfort zone, and decided to record the album at the remote Allaire Studios in the
Catskill Mountains The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas c ...
instead of in their hometown of
Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
. According to bassist
Tom Blankenship Tom Blankenship (born February 7, 1978) is an American indie rock musician. He is the bass guitar-player for the Louisville, Kentucky band My Morning Jacket. Equipment *Fender Precision Bass The Fender Precision Bass (often shortened to "P- ...
: "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." ''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. Before the recording sessions began, James met producer
John Leckie John William Leckie (born 23 October 1949) is an English record producer and recording engineer. His production credits include Magazine's ''Real Life'' (1978), XTC's ''White Music'' (1978) and Dukes of Stratosphear's '' 25 O'Clock'' (1985), t ...
, who was known for his work with bands such as
Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...
and
Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...
. Leckie was also a tape operator on the
George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...
album ''
All Things Must Pass ''All Things Must Pass'' is the third studio album by English rock musician George Harrison. Released as a triple album in November 1970, it was Harrison's first solo work after the break-up of the Beatles in April that year. It includes the h ...
'', one of James' favorite albums. 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."


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 John William Leckie (born 23 October 1949) is an English record producer and recording engineer. His production credits include Magazine's ''Real Life'' (1978), XTC's ''White Music'' (1978) and Dukes of Stratosphear's '' 25 O'Clock'' (1985), t ...
and the inclusion of genres such as
reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
on " Off the Record".


Digital rights management

The CD was one of the more high-profile releases in 2005 featuring
digital rights management Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures (TPM) such as access control technologies can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. ...
technology to prohibit owners from playing the music on a computer or creating digital copies.
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
pressings of this CD contain
MediaMax CD-3 MediaMax CD-3 is a software package created by SunnComm which was sold as a form of copy protection for compact discs. It was used by the record label RCA Records/ BMG, and targets both Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Elected officials and comp ...
by SunnComm. The band's manager, Mike Martinovich, expressed their dissatisfaction with the technology and it was abandoned on subsequent releases. 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.


Critical reception

The album was the second highest rated album of 2005 according to
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, behind
Sufjan Stevens Sufjan Stevens ( ; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released nine solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nomi ...
' ''
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
''; the album has a total score of 90 out of 100. Technically, both ''Z'' and ''Illinois'' were tied for the highest
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
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''. Online music magazine
Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...
placed ''Z'' at number 146 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s, calling it My Morning Jacket's ''
OK Computer ''OK Computer'' is the third studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released in Japan on 21 May 1997 and in the UK on 16 June 1997. Radiohead self-produced the album with Nigel Godrich, an arrangement they have used for their subsequ ...
''. In 2012, ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' ranked the album at number 457 on its list of
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indust ...
.Wenner, Jann S., ed. (2012). Rolling Stone - Special Collectors Issue - The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. USA: Wenner Media Specials. 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. 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.


Track listing

All songs written by Jim James, except where noted: #"Wordless Chorus" – 4:12 #"It Beats 4 U" – 3:46 #"Gideon" – 3:39 #"What a Wonderful Man" – 2:25 #" Off the Record" (James,
Tom Blankenship Tom Blankenship (born February 7, 1978) is an American indie rock musician. He is the bass guitar-player for the Louisville, Kentucky band My Morning Jacket. Equipment *Fender Precision Bass The Fender Precision Bass (often shortened to "P- ...
,
Patrick Hallahan My Morning Jacket is an American rock band formed in Louisville, Kentucky in 1998. The band consists of vocalist/guitarist Jim James, bassist Tom Blankenship, drummer Patrick Hallahan, guitarist Carl Broemel, and keyboardist Bo Koster. The ...
) – 5:33 #"Into the Woods" – 5:21 #"Anytime" – 3:56 #"Lay Low" – 6:05 #"Knot Comes Loose" – 4:02 #"Dondante" – 8:01 The U.S. and Japanese pressing of the album contains the
B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
"Chills"; digital copies include the other b-side "How Could I Know" (length 5:27) as well.


Personnel

My Morning Jacket *
Tom Blankenship Tom Blankenship (born February 7, 1978) is an American indie rock musician. He is the bass guitar-player for the Louisville, Kentucky band My Morning Jacket. Equipment *Fender Precision Bass The Fender Precision Bass (often shortened to "P- ...
 – bass guitar *
Carl Broemel Carl Broemel (born January 30, 1974) is an American rock musician. He currently plays guitar, pedal steel guitar, saxophone and sings back-up vocals for the Louisville, Kentucky band My Morning Jacket. He played guitar in the pop/rock band Old Pik ...
 – guitar, saxophone on "Dondante" *
Patrick Hallahan My Morning Jacket is an American rock band formed in Louisville, Kentucky in 1998. The band consists of vocalist/guitarist Jim James, bassist Tom Blankenship, drummer Patrick Hallahan, guitarist Carl Broemel, and keyboardist Bo Koster. The ...
 – drums *
Jim James James Edward Olliges Jr. (born April 27, 1978), professionally known as Jim James or Yim Yames, is an American vocalist, guitarist, producer, and primary songwriter of the rock band My Morning Jacket. He has also released several solo albums. ...
 – vocals,
lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
and
Rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...
s, and
production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...
* Bo Koster – keyboards Additional musicians and technical personnel *
Andrew Bird Andrew Wegman Bird (born July 11, 1973) is an American indie rock multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. Since 1996, he has released 16 studio albums, as well as several live albums and EPs, spanning various genres including swing musi ...
 –
strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...
, and whistles on "Gideon", "Into the Woods", and "It Beats 4 U" *
John Leckie John William Leckie (born 23 October 1949) is an English record producer and recording engineer. His production credits include Magazine's ''Real Life'' (1978), XTC's ''White Music'' (1978) and Dukes of Stratosphear's '' 25 O'Clock'' (1985), t ...
 – production *
M. Ward Matthew Stephen Ward (born October 4, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist from Portland, Oregon. Ward's solo work is a mixture of folk and blues-inspired Americana analog recordings; he has released ten studio albums since 19 ...
 – acoustic guitar and choirs on "Into the Woods" Artwork *Katie Beach *Guy Burwel *Nicolai Denchev *Mike Fulkerson *Brandon Jones *Kathleen Lolley


Release history

†This edition includes the bonus track "Chills"


References


External links

* * * {{Authority control 2005 albums Albums produced by Jim James Albums produced by John Leckie ATO Records albums Bertelsmann Music Group albums Jam band albums My Morning Jacket albums Southern rock albums Space rock albums