''Evil Urges'' is the fifth studio album by
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 ...
. It was released by
ATO Records on June 10, 2008.
The album was nominated for the 2008
Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album
The Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums in the alternative genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Ho ...
, ultimately losing to
Radiohead's ''
In Rainbows
''In Rainbows'' is the seventh studio album by the English rock band Radiohead. It was self-released on 10 October 2007 as a pay-what-you-want download, followed by a physical release internationally through XL Recordings and in North Americ ...
''.
Writing and recording
Writing began in Colorado, while recording was done in Manhattan. According to producer
Joe Chiccarelli
Joe or JOE may refer to:
Arts
Film and television
* ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle
* ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage
* ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971
* ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...
, the demos he was sent, which were "very groove-oriented with hints of old-fashioned R&B", suggested a more urban record than previous albums, and as such he recommended the band record in an urban environment that had some "life and vitality".
After looking into various options including
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...
and San Francisco, the band eventually decided to record in New York.
Singer and lead songwriter
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 that the band wanted to get away from "normal rock and roll sounds" and emulate more of the band's live sound. Many of the songs were previewed at the 2008
South by Southwest
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...
music festival.
Promotion
My Morning Jacket played "
I'm Amazed" and "Evil Urges" on ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serve ...
'' on May 10, 2008. At the
Bonnaroo Music Festival
The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is an American annual four-day music festival developed and founded by Superfly Presents and AC Entertainment. Since its first year in 2002, it has been held at what is now Great Stage Park on a farm in M ...
in June 2008, the band played a near four hour set, playing all songs on the album except "Look at You" and "Remnants".
The season six premiere of The CW's teen drama ''
One Tree Hill One Tree Hill may refer to:
* "One Tree Hill" (song), a 1987 song by U2 referencing One Tree Hill, New Zealand volcanic peak
* ''One Tree Hill'' (TV series), a 2003–2012 American drama series named for the U2 song
** ''One Tree Hill'' (soundtr ...
'' was titled "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream" and featured the songs "Highly Suspicious" and "Look at You."
On November 22, 2009, the ''
American Dad!
''American Dad!'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Since 2014, the series has been airing new episodes on TBS. ''American Dad!'' is the first television ...
'' episode "
My Morning Straitjacket" featured the band members playing themselves. The episode utilised four songs from ''Evil Urges'': "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Part 2", "I'm Amazed", "Highly Suspicious" and "Remnants."
Critical reception
''Evil Urges'' received mostly positive reviews from contemporary music critics. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that 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 average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a
normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...
score of 67, based on 31 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".
Accolades
Track listing
Personnel
My Morning Jacket
*
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, guitars, bass, drums, percussion, Omnichord
* Tom "Two Tone Tommy" Blakenship – bass
* Patrick Hallahan – drums, percussion
*
Carl Broemel
Carl Broemel (born January 30, 1974) is an American Rock music, 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 ...
– guitars, vocals, pedal steel, lap steel
* Bo Koster – keyboards, programming, vocals, piano, synthesizers, organ, Rhodes, percussion
Additional personnel
* Jim James, Joe Chiccarelli – production
* Michael Brauer – mixing
*
Bob Ludwig
Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Quee ...
– mastering
* Artie Smith – drum tech
*
David Campbell – string arrangements
Assistance
* Rick Kwan, Colin Suzuki, Will Hensley, Kyle Mc Innis, Lowell Reynolds, Andy Taub
Charts
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
2008 albums
My Morning Jacket albums
Rough Trade Records albums
ATO Records albums
Albums produced by Jim James
Albums produced by Joe Chiccarelli