My Morning Jacket - Okonokos

Even in the glory days of the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd, Southern rock was stigmatized for being… Southern. To this day, you can hardly walk into a Yankee bar without hearing some doodlehead with mac for brains calling out a sarcastic request for “Freebird.” That might change now, with My Morning Jacket’s brilliant double live record, Okonokos. This music not only stands with the giants of the past, but rivals contemporaries such as Radiohead and Flaming Lips, bringing the South’s raging guitars, sweeping dynamics, and passionate vocals into the 21st century. The first disc of the set is a little weighted down with material from 2005's Z, and doesn’t truly come alive until the fourth track, an incendiary version of “One Big Holiday” that shows off the top-flight musicianship of each band member. Just when you thought this kind of music only existed anymore in the meanderings of third rate jam bands….a tight arrangement like this comes along and takes your breath away. But the real excitement is saved for the latter disc, on which the band stretches out into the furthermost reaches of psychedelia without dropping a beat. Okonokos is a rich vein of musical treasure, with hardly any repetition of ideas. There is so much music here that it takes a while to assimilate it all. So put it on and start listening. I’m willing to bet that you haven’t been to a concert like this in a long, long time. [www.mymorningjacket.com]