My Morning Jacket: Okonos [ATO]
Chord, Issue 40 (November 2006)
Jess Hemerly
September 2006
 

[Fans of 70s psychedelic and My Morning Jacket take note.]

My Morning Jacket is one of few bands that both hippies and hipsters can rock out to guilt-free. The Kentucky quintet's latest endeavor is a live album called Okonos, the accompanying soundtrack to a live DVD to be released in October. Okonos is basically a two-CD greatest hits album recorded live at the famed Fillmore in San Francisco. Fans will hear all of their favorites, from newer tracks like "Wordless Chorus" and "Gideon" to hits from It Still Moves like "Mahgeetah" (which sounds more than ever like Kermit the Frog is singing) and a beautiful version of "Golden." It's a great album, but except for the audience noise and the occasional vocal ad lib in the form of an extended moan-scream, it doesn't feel very live. First reason for this is that My Morning Jacket plays so impeccably live it sounds like it's miming studio versions. Second reason is that the show was specifically engineered for the recording, so all of the imperfections that make a live recording a live recording are not there. But considering it's a two-disc album and my only real complaint is that it's not "live" enough, well... it's fantastic.