My Morning Jacket - Z [Ultradisc One Step LP]

1. Wordless Chorus
2. It Beats 4 U
3. Gideon
4. What A Wonderful Man
5. Off The Record
6. Into The Woods
7. Anytime
8. Laylow
9. Knot Comes Loose
10. Dondante
11. Where To Begin (Bonus Track)

My Morning Jacket found itself at a crossroads as it prepared to record the album that would deliver its long-awaited breakthrough. Two members had already left the band, and their replacements were only gradually settling into the group’s chemistry. The Kentucky ensemble also felt the need to step outside its comfort zone and therefore brought in a professional producer, John Leckie. The result – “Z” – was ranked by Rolling Stone as one of the 500 greatest albums of all time and is often described as My Morning Jacket’s “OK Computer.”

On “Z,” My Morning Jacket focuses entirely on the essentials. The quintet, revitalized by the addition of guitarist Carl Broemel and keyboardist Bo Koster, moves beyond the southern rock and rustic ballads of its earlier LPs and begins to incorporate exotic vocabulary and psychedelic sounds into its repertoire, while also tightening its song structures. The conscious decision to lock themselves away in a studio, cut off from all distractions, led the group to a remote area in the Catskill Mountains. The final piece of the puzzle that brought everything together was Leckie: a veteran of Abbey Road Studios who had worked in various capacities on albums by George Harrison, Pink Floyd, and Wings, Leckie arrived at the sessions with an already impressive résumé as an engineer and producer, including work with The Stone Roses, XTC, Muse, and Radiohead. Leckie’s perspective changed the band’s way of working. “Z” bears witness to the brilliance of that collaboration – with adventurous arrangements and excursions into reggae, R&B, and soul-jazz that take the listener on wondrous journeys to distant galaxies. The songs resemble beams of light passing through a prism and projecting a broad spectrum of colors.

The numbered, strictly limited edition of 2,500 copies from Mobile Fidelity was specially remastered for this release from the original tapes at MoFi’s California studio and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at 45 RPM using the sonically superior UltraDisc One-Step process. A key part of the record’s celebrated appeal and success – John Leckie’s outstanding production, which tempers the group’s trademark reverb and coats the music in organic warmth and cosmic textures – emerges here with previously unheard openness and presence. The records are housed in foil-stamped sleeves. The luxurious box honors the exceptional status of this work with unique artwork created in collaboration with the band: two inserts designed especially for this release by the group itself.

MUSICIANS

Jim James: vocals, lead and rhythm guitars
Tom Blankenship: bass guitar
Carl Broemel: guitar and saxophone on “Dondante”
Patrick Hallahan: drums
Bo Koster: keyboards
Andrew Bird: strings and whistles on “Gideon,” “Into the Woods,” and “It Beats 4 U”
“M.” Ward: acoustic guitar and backing vocals on “Into the Woods”
John Leckie & Jim James: production