All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Entertainment Weekly

The cumulative result is an exhilarating, bone-deep experience--a true album, built for sustained listening.

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100

musicOMH.com

Evil Urges represents the creative peak of a band that has shown glimpses of greatness in the past and will hopefully continue to evolve in the future.

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Spin

Evil Urges is easily MMJ's most accomplished and ambitious record, masterfully sifting through genres.

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Delusions of Adequacy

This is an excellent release from an already accomplished band.

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cokemachineglow

Evil Urges furthers the reveal with confident and imaginative strides, now with 100% less burning kitten jokes.

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Paste Magazine

Evil Urges has a little something for everybody, and at a time when albums often consist of a few peaks and a lot of filler, it’s remarkably consistent, mostly lacking extreme highs and lows.

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Hot Press

Southern rock merchants capture the energy of their live shows on accomplished fifth album.

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Sputnikmusic

As of right now though, Evil Urges is on the top of the heap for 2008.

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Rolling Stone

Evil Urges explodes the band's sound with the same kind of creative leap that Wilco took on "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" and Radiohead took on "Kid A."

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Billboard

The My Morning Jacket frontman cackles, croons, wails, wallops and stomps through the band's fifth and latest great album.

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Tiny Mix Tapes

Picking up where "Z" skidded off, Evil Urges is like a carnival, like life (after all, My Morning Jacket is in cahoots with The Band), like cigarrons, discarded cigarettes dredged from the Cimarron River, and cinnamon sticks in a pot of boiled apples on the stove.

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Blender

The resulting monster is alternately charming and schizo. [July 2008, p.71]

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All Music Guide

Evil Urges ultimately ends the same way it began--with a willingness to explore, to challenge, to poke and prod at My Morning Jacket's past work while creating something entirely new.

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Hartford Courant

With so many stylistic shifts, there's no easy description for the kind of album My Morning Jacket has created, so let's leave it at this: Evil Urges is the sound of a great band that's only getting better.

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The Onion (A.V. Club)

Although Evil Urges never reaches the gut-tickling peaks of 2001's "At Dawn," it still reiterates My Morning Jacket's ability to make music that sounds like everything and nothing at all.

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Filter

Urges is front-loaded with the "new direction" material.... The second half of the album largely abandons techno trickery and soul balladry for the lush alt-country fans have come to expect. [Spring 2008, p.91]

Under The Radar

Evil Urges is bound to wound some listeners, but with a little dedication there are new pleasures to be found within. Submit. Explore. Enjoy. [Summer 2008]

Q Magazine

The Fleetwood Mac-tinged 'Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Part 2' overcomes the overall air of pastiche. [July 2008, p.108]

Mojo

Heard back to back they almost make sense, but the sequencing here amplifies the disjointed feel of an album that facinates and frustrates in equal measure. [July 2008, p.108]

The Guardian

They're not the first current band to find new value in the big sounds and large lapels of Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles, but appear to be doing so without irony and something approaching childlike zeal.

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NOW Magazine

Scattered and uneven, but not without its charms.

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Dot Music

Evil Urges isn't a bad album by any stretch of the imagination but it still manages to fall well short of expectations when applying the benchmark set by this fine band.

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Uncut

If 2005's "Z" flirted with cautiously with funk synths and a more direct pop sound, Evil Urges makes it a full-blown, messy tryst.

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Urb

The album engages after repeats, but initially offers volume's immediacy over intimacy.

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Drowned In Sound

Where the separate parts of the first half didn't gel – the chopping and changing of different styles too much to take in, perhaps, in too short a period--the second part is much easier to handle, and whilst the strong finish isn't enough to stop it falling short of "Z," Evil Urges does find its own place given time.

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Prefix Magazine

Ultimately, though, this is a definite misfire in an otherwise impeccable career.

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PopMatters

Evil Urges sounds like an album that falls short of its mark, committing the whole to a sound that ultimately weakens and breaks down its parts.

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Pitchfork

There are few fiery guitar freakouts, folk-influenced melodies, soaring space-rock bridges, or psychedelic flourishes here; instead, the empty space is mostly filled with serviceable falsetto funk and glassy-eyed yacht-pop.

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Austin Chronicle

As much as Evil Urges indulges, it rarely satisfies.

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Magnet

Forget Evil Urges entirely; call this one Zzz.

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Under The Radar

The best next step would be to return to form as soon as possible and forget these Evil Urges. [Summer 2008]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 51 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Robbie C gave it a6:
Ehhh, I don't know what happened. It's not BAD. It's just not as good as it should be. The past few albums were so solid. This is spotty.

Roman M. gave it a3:
This band hit on a really cool sound with "It Still Moves" and has abandoned it. There is nothing wrong with trying to test your artistic boundaries. However, the latest efforts (including "Z" which was better but still a step downward) are self-indulgent. The lyrics are brutal, the music seems empty, i.e. songs sound like they are missing beats and notes and James has effectively neutered all the soul that was in his voice for some showmanship. Sorry, but this band can do better. The lyrics are really upsetting. Hackneyed attempts at political relevance.

Carla gave it a9:
If you had any interest in the band before now, hopefully you can appreciate how they are trying to expand their sound. It's not as consistent as their other records but if you give it a third, fourth, fifth listen; you'll find more than enough to keep your ears occupied for a long time. I admit that it took the Bonnaroo 08 show for me to finally like "Highly Suspicious." Now, it's one of my favorites!!

Frank G gave it a10:
Takes the sound the band reached for on Z and turns that sound into some beautiful pop songs.

Nick D gave it a9:
After the first couple listens, I probably would've given it a 5 or 6. After a few more listens I would've bumped it up to a 7. Now, after listening to it probably 7-8 times it has finally settled into a solid 9. Each song is highly memorable with a variety of styles covered throughout the album. There's nothing as good as "Mahgeetah" or "One Big Holiday", but the trio of "Touch Me...Pt. 2", "Librarian", and "Sec Walkin" are all top-notch with "Highly Suspicious" being the only clunker (even if it's kinda fun in a dorky way).

Jack C. gave it a6:
As a big MMJ fan, I think this is a decent album. Still, I think it's a really frustrating one. It's a bit of head-scratcher, but not necessarily in the way the band intended. Yes, the first three songs are different and kind of weird, but after that, it's pretty much the most straightforward stuff they've ever done- it's not some big risky album like people keep saying. It's all totally listenable, but surprisingly boring. "Two Halves" sounds like the work of a band that has been washed up for years now. "Thank You, Too," is really a pretty good song, but talk about some cheese. "Look At You" is just boring, don't know how or why it made the cut. The two main rockers- "Aluminum Park" and "Remnants" are all right I guess, but don't even come close to their previous great rockers like "One Big Holiday," "Lay Low," and several others. They're a great live band, but it's hard to imagine them truly feeling this stuff measures up to their previous material when they play a show- go from a timeless tune like "The Way That He Sings" to a forgettable, pretty lameone like "Two Halves"? But, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say this is awful. It's not. The title track is good, as is "I'm Amazed," the last two tracks are also pretty great. "Highly Suspicious" is a horrible song, but it doesn't bother me, because they've always had a bizarre sense of humor that lurks underneath their music. The rest of the album is okay, but frustrating, not because it's so "challenging" or "brave," but because it's pretty boring and faceless.

Matt B gave it a10:
This album will not immediately grab you the way "Z" or "It Still Moves" managed to. However, with repeated listens (and by seeing them play the new material live at Bonnaroo & Radio City) I am convinced that Evil Urges is their best outing yet. They've chucked much of the soloing for tighter lyrics, and better arrangements (Exhibit A: Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt. 2). I welcome the new R&B side of Jim James and look forward to where this sound takes the band next.

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