Z is the album that helped me crossover from a traditional jam band fan to someone who started to take notice of what was going on outside of my chosen neighborhood and enjoy the seemingly endless bounty of the music world around me. Five years after hearing the album that changed me from an eager music fan to a man obsessed with finding the newest and the best all at once, the ten songs still inspire chills. Before you know what a band, author or radio personality looks/sounds like and simply know them by name, it’s natural to develop some pre-conceived notions about the artist’s appearance, attitude, background, etc. From the name My Morning Jacket, I had ignorantly thought for a time that they were an emo-punk band and never bothered looking further. To think that I was only a few thousand feet away during the "Return To Thunderdome" show in 2004 at Bonnaroo is regrettable, but I probably wasn't ready for it, and after all, first impressions are important. Having only heard a handful of other songs before picking up Z (Golden, and dingey bootlegs of Strangulation, & Steam Engine – three of my favorites still today), I was pretty much a blank slate when it came to these guys, although those songs undoubtedly helped turn me towards Z. Here’s an attempt at recollecting first impressions from hearing Z on its release day October 4, 2005 after picking up the album at Tower Records (sign of the times) to prepare myself for my first MMJ show later that weekend at Nashville’s City Hall (which is sadly now an Urban Outfitters).
Side One
Hearing the cathartic wash of “Wordless Chorus” for the first time was akin to a baptism, opening my eyes to an entirely exceptional sound that sounded like I’ve always pictured heaven to look. “Gideon” was just heroic, majestic, soaring, impressively great, in a word, epic. The inviting reggae intro of “Off The Record” was the bait that hooked me in. Like a number of classic tunes of better days’ past, on one side it has a radio-ready pop sensibility, putting the casual listener at ease with a familiar air like a seat at the old bus stop, and then, without warning, takes an uncertain drift walk down the dark end of the street, with a sonic exploration of uncharted and disorienting territory.
Side Two
Now completely off the farm, the deranged “Into The Woods” rattled the skull like an inner-brain Fantasia sideshow and the tour bus to the end of the alphabet had fully detoured. Track 6 also provided me with an opportunity to play this really weird song with the incredible outro that talked about “kittens on fire” and “babies in blenders”, for certain friends with a weird sense of humor. After the shiftiness subsides, there's “Anytime", which is the type of agreeable rock song that just about anyone could nod to, oddly upbeat and steady amongst such a strange album chock full of dark and spectral elements. The raging tempo throttled straight through the stretched-out classic rocker “Lay Low”, a song that will make your neck sore for some reason. Kind of like the anticipatory, narcotic calm before a deeply profound and impactful moment that will last forever, there’s “Knot Comes Loose”, a loungey and gentle piano drifter that hits like ton of bricks. “Dondante” comes from a dark place lyrically, beginning with an almost inaudible and austere drum crawl before building towards one of the more torrential onslaughts of aural intensity I’ve ever heard unleashed on a record. The extended explosion of syncopated psychedelic euphoria is brought on by a moment of vocal exposition that has James could trademark as his own. Finally, the tide sets back to its original delicate state a lustrous saxophone steers the ship back home. Things, for the better, have never quite been the same.
Later in the week in a packed house that held just over a thousand, I saw a fivesome of shaggy looking animals in ragged t-shirts with a sign offering “FREE CRACK” on the speaker and a wild-eyed frontman wielding a flying-V and, still to this day, bringing the loudest sound I’ve ever heard. 5 years, a couple of life-affirming Bonnaroo performances, and a trip up to Madison Square Garden later, I still can’t really get enough.
My Morning Jacket -- Dondante (Fantasia)
Here are a few covers and a couple B-Sides MMJ may dive into tonight:
Chills
Where To Begin
Attitude
Tonight I Wanna Celebrate With U
Dancing In The Moonlight
Wonderful Tonight
Loving Cup
Northern Sky
Careless Whisper
A Quick One While He's Away
Celebration
The Man In Me
Highway to Hell
Hot Burrito
Older Guys
Still Feeling Blue
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Setlists from Terminal 5
Z :: 10.22.2010
Wordless Chorus
It Beats 4 U
Gideon
What A Wonderful Man
Off The Record
Into The Woods
Anytime
Lay Low
Knot Comes Loose
Dondante
Encore
Chills
Lullabys, Legends and Lies (Shel Silverstein tribute)
Where To Begin
How Do You Know
Hit It and Quit It (Parliament)
A Quick One While He’s Away (The Who)
I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man (Prince)
Careless Whisper (George Michael)
==========================================
It Still Moves :: 10.21.2010
1. Mahgeetah
2. Dancefloors
3. Golden
4. Masterplan
5. One Big Holiday
6. I Will Sing You Songs
7. Easy Morning Rebel
8. Run Thru
9. Rollin Back
10. Just One Thing
11. Steam Engine
12. One In The Same
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13. Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You (Bob Dylan)
14. How Could I Know
15. Sooner
16. Head Held High (The Velvet Underground)
17. It Makes No Difference (The Band)
18. All Night Long (Lionel Richie)
===================================
At Dawn :: 10.19.2010
1. At Dawn
2. Lowdown
3. The Way That He Sings
4. Death Is My Sleezy Pay
5. Hopefully
6. Bermuda Highway
7. Honest Man
8. X-mas Curtain
9. Just Because I Do
10. If It Smashes Down
11. I Needed It Most
12. Phone Went West
13. Strangulation!
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14. How The Gods Kill (Danzig)
15. O Is The One That is Real
16. Come Closer
17. Miss You (The Rolling Stones)
18. Cobra
19. Black Sabbath (Black Sabbath)
======================================
The Tennessee Fire :: 10.18.2010
1. Heartbreakin Man
2. They Ran
3. The Bear
4. Nashville To Kentucky
5. Old September Blues
6. If All Else Fails (live debut)
7. It’s About Twilight Now (last played 2006)
8. Evelyn Is Not Real
9. War Begun
10. Picture Of You (last played 2006)
11. I Will Be There When You Die
12. The Dark
13. By My Car
14. Butch Cassidy
15. I Think I’m Going To Hell
E:
16. I Just Wanted To Say (Does Christmas Fiasco Style)
17. Rocket Man (Elton John, last played 2001)
18. Weeks Go By Like Days (last played 2000)
19. Tyrone (Erykah Badu)
20. White Rabbit (The Great Society)
21. Hot Legs (Rod Stewart, last played 2000)
22. Lil Billy (last played 2002)
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And...finally some videos from last night's encore following the performance of It Still Moves
All Night Long (Lionel Richie)
Head Held High (Velvet Underground)
It Makes No Difference (The Band)
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