Z
Two years and a pair of band members have passed since My Morning Jacket'slast album, and the respite seems to have reinvented the Louisville, Ky., band and its leader Jim James. Shelved are the boogie-soaked country and hard-stomping metal of the first three records--assuring that all links to Lynyrd Skynyrd are hereby obsolete--and the sleek maturation of James's wailing, echoing falsetto may have even nullified the Neil Young comparisons. Using the guitar as a complement more than as a weapon, songwriter James has simplified the sound where keyboards take the lead and choruses play like a '70s AM radio. While songs like "Anytime" and "What a Wonderful Man" channel the old MMJ sound, they do so with less chaos and more spontaneity. That's the trend for the record's best: "Wordless Chorus" and its infectious "aaaah" refrain, the Hawaii Five-O-riffed ska of "Off the Record" and aStranglers-minded carnival waltz, "Into the Woods." Serving as a pop-music paradigm that change is good, Z is ambitious, groundbreaking and downright impeccable.--Scott Holter