Z

Mojo - 5 stars out of 5 - "Z is ruthlessly honed....The pedal steel tickling the edges of the lovely testimonial 'The Knot Comes Loose' has been assimilated into a worldlier musical context that magnifies the epic romance at the group's heart." Magnet - "The moody atmospherics are ultimately shattered by a catharsis of crescendoing guitars and gut-wrenching vocals, yielding what's arguably the most powerful My Morning Jacket performance to date." Spin - "Z imagines a dance floor covered in sawdust and a musty smell wafting from under the board....For every moment of ambient weirdness, there's a blast of rock guitar..." - Grade: A- Entertainment Weekly - "...They evoke the musical essence of various titans while achieving a wholly distinctive sound of their own...." - Grade: A- Rolling Stone - 4 stars out of 5 - "America is a lot closer to getting its own Radiohead, and it isn't Wilco...." Mojo - Ranked #5 in Mojo's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2005" - "New conviction imbued the band's heady, metaphysical rock'n'soul..." Spin - Ranked #13 in Spin's "40 Best Albums Of 2005" - "[B]eautiful melodies, fizzy dual-guitar jams, soaring soul-man falsettos, convincing reggae grooves - and an unexpected shout out to Madonna." Magnet - Ranked #18 in Magnet's "The 20 Best Albums Of 2005" - "Z finds My Morning Jacket at the end of the road, leaning forward, embracing drum clicks and glitzy keyboards like never before." NME - "My Morning Jacket have created a work of stunningly expansive ambition. Z is nothing less than a masterpiece." Mojo - 5 (out of 5) Instant Classic "The Kentucky quintet's new album is a religious experience on every level. It's the stuff of revelation." Mojo (10/05, p.96) - 5 (out of 5) - "...five guys from Kentucky have revived big music's pulse and given true believers a reason to smile again." Paste - "Everything from blue-eyed soul and Crazy Horse stomps to the Jacket's trademark spacey textures fill Z's 46 minutes, yet the album sounds decidedly different from its predecessors, and remains one of their best."

'Z' is the fourth album by Tennessee Americana stalwarts My Morning Jacket, and their second for a major label. Once again, Jim James and his band have managed to weave a sound that mixes psychedelia, classic rock and country into a Phil Spector-esque wall of sound without losing any of the sophistication of the original arrangements, putting the band on a par with their contemporaries Grandaddy and The Flaming Lips. Includes the single 'Off The Record'.|