This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Everyone knows that to make it in rock ’n’ roll, you need a haircut and an attitude. Everybody, that is, but Kentucky post-rootsers My Morning Jacket.
So far, it doesn’t seem to be doing them any harm. Oh sure, they get a lot of ink over their locks — but only because this hirsute foursome could give The Kings Of Leon a run for the money at a Hillbilly Hair Growoff. And as for attitude, well, these guys aren’t exactly trying to sound hipper than thou on their third disc It Still Moves. Hippier than thou is more like it. Leader Jim James’ songs evoke a whole slew of ’60s icons and identities — the sweeping beauty of CSN, the gnarly nasal roots-rock of Neil Young and Crazy Horse, the groovy Americana of The Band, the psychedelic jams of The Grateful Dead and even the orchestral pop of Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys. But even as he walks in the footsteps of his heroes, James manages to blaze his own trail, melding his influences into a powerful, transfixing hybrid that straddles generations as well as genres, positioning the band as contemporaries of Flaming Lips and Wilco. Looks like they just might be hip enough to make it after all. Even if they don’t do anything about that hair.
