Customer Reviews

At Dawn [Vinyl]

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A recent MOJO alerted me to My Morning Jacket. Though "At Dawn" is a couple of years old, it has just been released on this side of the Atlantic.

A dreamy, soaring collection of songs, "At Dawn" is achingly beautiful and the title is oh so appropriate; there is a slightly unreal edge to the songs, they seem to shimmer in the new day's light. Beautifully arranged and played the songs are a delight. Melodic, hypnotic and arresting the songs have a lived in, yet brand new, feel. The key, however, is Jim James.

His voice pushes the songs right to the edge, investing them with a thrilling and stirring emotional depth. He has one of those rare voices - part country, part rock, part soul - that is a mix of ability and emotion. Think vintage Rick Danko and Richard Manuel.

CDs can be fraught things: all too often a band with 40 great minutes releases 74 mediocre minutes, because, well, they can. It's rare to find a full length - or as good as full length - CD that sustains through a full hour and a quarter.

"At Dawn" zips by.

Hints of Mercury Rev, Lambchop and Flaming Lips weave in and out of the mix, alongside nods to Neil Young and Bob Dylan (and - in mood, if not in sound - "Music from Big Pink" and "The Band").

A very American collection, "At Dawn" is absorbing, engrossing and hugely, hugely entertaining.

Don't miss this early moring call.

Having seen My Morning Jacket live a couple of times, both as a full band and as the Jim James solo act, I was eager to hear this album. This, MMJ's second full length, is a truly great follow-up to The Tennessee Fire. It is a little more laid back, a little more country-influenced, but not so much as to depart from their signature mix of pop, rock, and alt-country. The best part of this new album is that a second cd is included with the original versions of the songs as laid down by Jim with just his guitar. It offers us the chance to hear how the band sounds as a whole and as Jim's solo project. The bottom line is: if you like melancholy music with just enough fun and happiness to keep you interested, if you like melody and amazing vocal work, if you like good, earthy music, this is for you. However, if you're not very much into country, I recommend you start with their first LP, The Tennessee Fire, and work your way into this one. Wonderful music all around.

Figured this review section could use some non-Kentucky commentary, though it's certainly good to see that the band still has a strong regional following after all this time.

This album [drew] me in, as none other really has in a very long time. I've been very jaded lately about new music, not that any that I listen to is very poor: more like, none of it stands out very far in my mind, lately. This one is different, somehow....first of all, Jim's voice is just about as good as it gets for the kind of twang he puts into his performances. It's utterly fitting of the style of down-home music they play, and yet it's not a pure-country voice by a stretch. (Like the voice of someone who is country whether they like it or not, sort of like I am by heritage.) Anyway, the man has pipes and he makes very dynamic use of it throughout this long (73 minutes!) album. Secondly, the production on this album is superior....fans of the Tennessee Fire will notice a HUGE difference between the way the band sounds here and how they sounded in their official debut. Of course, you should not be too discouraged to get TF if you enjoy this album, for the simple fact of its brilliance will always surpass whatever they were financially lacking during the recording of the album. But, At Dawn is a much better introduction for the new listener in my opinion, and it also has a little more rock action in it.

I digress, as always. Simply put, if you are not completely urbanized beyond your own control, or too fascinated with American Idol to give real music a chance, you WILL find a reason to love this album....& this statement is coming from a HUGE Aphex Twin / Philip Glass fanatic of many many years, so I know what I'm talking about. Good art doesn't require a specific genre or one particular artist, good music only requires real pathos and the raw talent to back it up, and these guys prove that yes, even country-rock can be artful and sincere at its best - although a little reggae never hurt anybody either.

My Morning Jacket has rapidly evolved over its 4 albums, and the evolution is fascinating to follow. Its 1999 debut album "Tennessee Fire" was a journey into Americana, almost entirely based on dreamy, accoustic songs.

The band's second album "At Dawn" (14 tracks, 74 min.), issued in 2001, eloaborates on the themes explored in "Tennessee Fire" in many songs such as the title track, "Lowdown" and others. But the band expands its sound greatly, introducing the electric guitar on the brooding "Honest Man", an all-out rocker on "Strangulation" and even a slight reggae sound on "Phone Went West", forshadowing the "Off the Record" song on last year's "Z" album. In retrospect, this album is the perfectly logical middle link between "Tennessee Fire" and its next album "It Still Moves", and a great album at that, albeit somewhat overlong at 74 min. Nevertheless, it's a must for any MMJ fan and it certainly won't disappoint the casual fan or any fan of great music.

My Morning Jacket continues to ascend the ranks in the music biz. It builds its reputation not just with great album after gret album, but with amazing live shows. When I saw the band most recently, at Bonnaroo earlier this month, it put on an epic, monstrous really, 3 hour set that started at midnight. It brought the house down with its tireless energy and great song selection (both originals and covers). MMJ will be heard of for many years to come, no question.

If you read my title, it sounds like I may be strange or just looking to be goofy, but after I saw My Morning jacket this year at Bonnaroo, I'm not totally convinced that Jim James and the rest of the crew is entirely human. The sound of Jim James and the dynamic sound of the band in full is beyond anything that should ever be possible from a mear mortal human being. The album, AT DAWN, has been one of my favorite five albums of all time for well over a year now, but it's an album that may possibly grow on a person for years, or maybe lifetimes, or maybe even reincarnated lives, etc. It hits the soul in ways I didn't think possible. I really don't think (aside from MMJ themselves) that any album will ever be made again that reaches this deeply into the human spiritual core. This album leaves me trembling and feeling reborn after every listen. I was late getting into My Morning Jacket, and now I can't stop thinking about them and it's almost odd how integrated their music is with my life. Appropriately enough, they have possibly the most fitting song in the history of life to describe how I feel about Jim James and the way the music makes me feel. To take an exact quote from the song "The Way That He Sings":

"Why does my mind blow to bits every time they play that song?

It's just the way that he sings,

not the words that he says, or the band.

Im in love with this soul, it's a meaning that I understand."

Those lines are the most appropriate lines I have ever heard. Because it's the way I feel every time I hear every part of that song, and of the album. Of course, I do love the lyrics and the band, etc, but there is something in the way that he sings that blows my mind to bits. Every song on this album is so beautiful and hypnotic that it could arguably stand out on any other album in music history. Please give this album many chances, and realize that it may take several listens before you even can get to the next level of the greatness of this album. I heard it almost four or five times, casually, before it started to hit me, and then one day, I immediately named it one of my favorite five albums; now it's my number one without any doubts. Only this band could top the effort of At Dawn. I really can't say any more about this album other than that it is just simply the most beautiful thing I have ever encountered in my life. This album is special, and the band is as much. I've only seen them twice, but please see them after you get familiar with at least a couple of their albums, and I promise you will come back home and play their albums more religiously than a priest reads a verse before mass.

My Morning Jacket has become my favorite band because of this cd. If you were only recently introduced to them through Z as I was you definitely will be interested in this cd. It's really cool to see how they have progresed as a band and you can see the potential that is fulfilled on Z in At Dawn. Some of the best tracks are "The way that he sings" "death is the easy way" "Hopefully" "Xmas Curtain" and "Phone Went West". They are the reason I'm going to Banaroo this summer. Enjoy!

My Morning Jacket brings the best of the old Pop sounds (sometime reminiscent of the Beach Boys for me) and the best of what's new in alternative country such as Ryan Adams/Whiskeytown and Wilco. If you like alt. pop or country, you will probably enjoy this album, and it's a great album to make the transition from one genre to the other also. The lyrics often speak of more depressing or melancholy scenes, but the music always keeps you just happy enough and interested enough to want to hear his story out. Almost like your a caring friend who's listening. Highly recommend this album, check out this little known band soon.

Before whole heartedly embracing the electric guitars, My Morning Jacket released two albums that had a greater emphasis on their roots, and on the subtleties of acoustic arrangements.

This album, At Dawn, is the second of these, and displays a more mature level of songwriting from Jim James.

The sprawling opener (and title track) builds and builds with James' voice drenched in reverb and engulfing the listener. The punchy "Low down" is twang-rock perfection complete with 'Oh ooh woah!!!'s at the end!

The album ranges from intimate, sparse acoustic numbers to jammed out blues rockers, all with that lo-fi aesthetic that gives the band their autheticity. The production is muddy at times, but you really feel like you're watching them play in a huge iron shed in the middle of nowhere.

And that sounds great to me!

I came across these guys in the Oxford American Music Issue sampler. I kept playing "Evelyn Is Real" over & over again till I could get my hands on this. You could spend alot of time namedropping with yourself in the vain attempt of pinning their sound down. Big Star's bleaker moments. Early REM's Southern charms. Lyrical chicanery on par with Vic Chesnutt & Will Oldham. There's even a little "Freebird" Skynnard in them. Frontman, Jim James sounds like a cross between Neil Young & some Blue Grass keener with one foot in the fire. And man, does he like his reverb. I swear he has it cranked to 11.

The opening cut rumbles on in then bursts into James' haunting wail. The last line you hear is, "when my knife rises/their life ends/ and my life starts again". A statement of purpose if I ever heard one. Loitering with intent.

"The Way That He Sings" features a vocal chant that brings 80's one-hit Wonders, The Dream Academy to mind. Anybody remember their tune, "Life In A Northern Town"? Deliberate accident or homage, the rest of the song bears no resemblence. The lines "it's not the words that he sings...or the band...it's a meaning I understand" pretty much sums up my feelings about this group.

The drunken Blues swagger of "Honest Man" captures them in Rolling Stones mode and "Hopefully" will break your heart, if you have one to break. "Phone Out West" is about as radio friendly as it gets, giving guys like Wilco a run for their acclaim. They bring it all down to a solitary banjo on "If It Smashes Down" but "Bermuda Highway" never fails to stop me in my tracks. The dreamy melancholia of it all gets me every time.

Lately, friends & associates have been preaching the joys of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. I'll take AT DAWN or TENNESEE FIRE over it any day.

this cd is so beautiful in such a subtle way that when you finally realize this, it destroys you. i had to listen to it at least five times before i could even come to this conclusion. my reactions from the intial listen was that the cd was sparse and the songs were meandering leading to nowhere. but after repeated listenings i realized that the songs were just fleshed out and each were individual masterpieces. the songs are not depressing but they invoke a melancholy mood that makes it good sulking music. jim james does not have a voice that will be immediately loved but there's something about his drawl. honestly, it's best put in james' own words from track 3. "why does my mind blow to bits everytime they play that song, it's just the way that he sings, it's not the words that he says, or the band...." i'm sure he was singing about somebody else's song, but to me he's singing about my reaction to his songs.[....] the 30 second clips do not justify the genius behind these songs, which are on average 5 minutes a piece. at my local record store they had a stack of these cds that no one would buy. what a shame.....