Evil Urges

Evil Urges
Studio album by
My Morning Jacket
ReleasedJune 10, 2008[1]
RecordedAvatar Studios, New York City November 2007[2]
Genre
Length55:39
LabelATO (US/Canada)
Rough Trade (UK)
Spunk (Australia)
Producer
My Morning Jacket chronology
Z
(2005) 		Evil Urges
(2008) 		Circuital
(2011)
Singles from Evil Urges
  1. "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Pt. 2"
    Released: 2008
  2. "I'm Amazed"
    Released: 2008

Evil Urges is the fifth studio album by My Morning Jacket. It was released by ATO Records on June 10, 2008.[3] The album was nominated for the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album, ultimately losing to Radiohead's In Rainbows.[4]

Writing and recording

Writing began in Colorado, while recording was done in Manhattan.[5] According to producer Joe Chiccarelli, 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".[6] After looking into various options including Vancouver and San Francisco, the band eventually decided to record in New York.[6]

Singer and lead songwriter Jim James said that the band wanted to get away from "normal rock and roll sounds" and emulate more of the band's live sound.[7] Many of the songs were previewed at the 2008 South by Southwest music festival.[8]

Promotion

My Morning Jacket played "I'm Amazed" and "Evil Urges" on Saturday Night Live on May 10, 2008.[9] At the Bonnaroo Music Festival 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 was titled "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream" and featured the songs "Highly Suspicious" and "Look at You."[10]

On November 22, 2009, the American Dad! 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."[11]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic67/100[12]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[13]
The A.V. ClubB[14]
Entertainment WeeklyA[15]
The Guardian[16]
Mojo[17]
Pitchfork4.7/10[18]
Q[19]
Rolling Stone[20]
Spin[21]
Uncut[22]

Evil Urges received mostly positive reviews from contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 67, based on 31 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[12]

Accolades

Publication Country Accolade Year Rank
Rolling Stone US 50 Best Albums of the Year 2008 No. 4[23]
Spin US 40 Best Albums of the Year 2008 No. 16[24]
Paste (magazine) US 50 Best Albums of the Year 2008 No. 16[25]
Blender (magazine) US 33 Best Albums of the Year 2008 No. 12[26]
WXPN Philadelphia US 50 Best Albums of the Year 2008 No. 4
WERS Boston US 50 Best Albums of the Year 2008 No. 10
Q UK 50 Best Albums of the Year 2008 No. 4[27]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Jim James, except where noted

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Evil Urges"Breakdown: My Morning Jacket5:14
2."Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Pt. 1" 3:51
3."Highly Suspicious" 3:07
4."I'm Amazed" 4:35
5."Thank You Too!" 4:29
6."Sec Walkin" 3:37
7."Two Halves" 2:36
8."Librarian" 4:18
9."Look at You" 3:30
10."Aluminum Park" 3:58
11."Remnants" 3:04
12."Smokin from Shootin" 5:07
13."Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Pt. 2" 8:14
14."Good Intentions" 0:06
Total length:55:39

Personnel

My Morning Jacket

  • Jim James – vocals, guitars, bass, drums, percussion, Omnichord
  • Tom "Two Tone Tommy" Blakenship – bass
  • Patrick Hallahan – drums, percussion
  • Carl Broemel – 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 – mastering
  • Artie Smith – drum tech
  • David Campbell – string arrangements

Assistance

  • Rick Kwan, Colin Suzuki, Will Hensley, Kyle Mc Innis, Lowell Reynolds, Andy Taub

Charts

Chart performance for Evil Urges
Chart (2008) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[28] 56
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[29] 34
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[30] 80
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[31] 55
US Billboard 200[32] 9

References

  1. ^ "Evil Urges". My Morning Jacket Official Discography. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  2. ^ May 2008 Issue of Spin, contains interview and new information on Evil Urges.
  3. ^ "Pitchfork: My Morning Jacket Reveal Album Title". Archived from the original on 2007-07-24. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
  4. ^ "Exploring The Alternative Field Nominees". Grammy.com. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  5. ^ Cohen, Jonathan (9 April 2008). "Video Preview: My Morning Jacket On 'Evil Urges'". Billboard.com. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Interview with Joe Chiccarelli". HitQuarters. 14 June 2010. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved Aug 17, 2010.
  7. ^ Rolling Stone 1050, 2008-04-17, p. 30
  8. ^ "SXSW 2008: My Morning Jacket". Npr.org. 13 March 2008. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  9. ^ "Saturday Night Live: Shia Lebeouf/My Morning Jacket - TV.com". Archived from the original on 2008-05-14. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
  10. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-10-07. Retrieved 2008-10-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. ^ Whitney Pastorek. "'American Dad' to welcome My Morning Jacket: Two-Tone Tommy gives us the scoop!". Ew.com. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  12. ^ a b "Reviews for Evil Urges by My Morning Jacket". Metacritic. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  13. ^ Leahey, Andrew. "Evil Urges – My Morning Jacket". AllMusic. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  14. ^ Petrusich, Amanda (June 9, 2008). "My Morning Jacket: Evil Urges". The A.V. Club. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  15. ^ Pastorek, Whitney (May 30, 2008). "Evil Urges". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  16. ^ Simpson, Dave (June 6, 2008). "My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges". The Guardian. London. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  17. ^ "My Morning Jacket: Evil Urges". Mojo (176): 108. July 2008.
  18. ^ Harvey, Eric (June 9, 2008). "My Morning Jacket: Evil Urges". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  19. ^ "My Morning Jacket: Evil Urges". Q (264): 108. July 2008.
  20. ^ Hermes, Will (June 12, 2008). "Evil Urges". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  21. ^ Zimmerman, Shannon (June 2008). "Free as a Bird". Spin. 24 (6): 103. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  22. ^ Richards, Sam (June 5, 2008). "My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges". Uncut. Archived from the original on April 28, 2015. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  23. ^ "News". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on December 27, 2008. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  24. ^ "The 40 Best Albums of 2008". Spin.com. 1 January 2009. Archived from the original on 17 December 2008. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  25. ^ "Signs of Life 2008: Best Music". Paste. 13 November 2008. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  26. ^ Winistorfer, Andrew. "Blender's Top 33 albums of 2008". Prefix Magazine. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  27. ^ "The 50 Best Albums of 2008". Q. January 2009: 82. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  28. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 198.
  29. ^ "Ultratop.be – My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
  30. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
  31. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
  32. ^ "My Morning Jacket Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved August 30, 2022.