The 50 Best Albums of 2008

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My Morning Jacket EVIL URGES ATO

Jim James and his bearded crew became the year's mightiest rock band by embracing indie, Southern and hippie rock, but also by transcending what those categories mean. Evil Urges, the Kentucky group's fifth studio album, took My Morning Jacket's pigeonhole-dodging style to wild and crazy new lengths: James indulged in a Prince-style soulman falsetto on the title track, and "Highly Suspicious" stepped to a brittle New Wave funk groove that was nearly unrecognizable as My Morning Jacket — at least until the Lynyrd Skynyrd-flavored multiguitar break kicked in. On Evil Urges, the band pledges loyalty to only one genre: itself.

• View List: The 50 Best Albums of 2008
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