ALBUM BY ALBUM

LED BY SUPERCAR-LOVING ECO WARRIOR JAY KAY, WE LOOK AT THE BAND WHO’VE MERGED 70S FUNKY SOUL WITH DISCO AND ELECTRO

STEVE HARNELL

THIS IS FUNK WITH A POLITICAL EDGE THAT RECONNECTED WITH SOCIALLY- CONSCIOUS 70S SOUL

Acid Jazz was already a well established and much-loved global movement by the time that Jamiroquai, helmed by the self-proclaimed “cat in the hat” Jay Kay, swaggered on to the scene in the early 90s. His band may have ticked all of the retro soul/funk boxes but Kay’s headline-generating early interviews and eco warriorthemed songs took them to another level. Kay was the ringleader of an ever-evolving line-up and his identity as a frontman and songwriter dominates Jamiroquai’s legacy.

Debut single When You Gonna Learn?, didgeridoo intro and all, was an anti-corporate ecological anthem that grabbed the public’s attention from the get-go helping to propel the band’s debut album to No.1 on home soil.

Pretty Philly strings ease you in to second single and further LP highlight, Too Young To Die, but its easygoing groove smuggles a passionate anti-war lyric into the mix. The politics continue on the defiant If I Like It, I Do It, which delivers a similar middle finger to the incumbent Government’s anti-rave Criminal Justice Bill as The Prodigy’s Music For The Jilted Generation.

Initial brickbats aimed at Jay Kay labelled him a Stevie Wonder copyist, although as the band’s sound has evolved over the years that criticism has faded as the singer’s love of vintage soul and funk has been found to be wholly authentic.

A respectful nod to Wonder on mid-album pause for breath Music Of The Mind showcases Jamiroquai’s flair for authenticsounding taut jazz-funk grooves.

Hooked Up debuted a recurring Jay Kay lyrical theme, that of music as a drug, set inside a slinky blaxploitation vibe while Whatever It Is, I Just Can’t Stop finds the band returning to the stop-start funky riffs made famous by The Meters. Blow Your Mind, meanwhile, changes gears for a sexy Rhodes keyboard-led ballad.

Jamiroquai’s debut, though, is dominated by concerns more pressing than the bedroom. The title track boasts disco strings and choppy guitars but Jay Kay’s message comes through loud and clear – this is funk with a political edge that reconnected to the socially conscious 70s output of soul music’s most vital artists.

EMERGENCY ON PLANET EARTH

Released 1993

Label Sony Soho 2

Chart Positions

UK No.1 US –

YOU’D NEVER GUESS THAT THE RETURN OF THE SPACE COWBOY HAD SUCH A FRAUGHT GENESIS STORY

A confident evolution that turned the page from their debut, you’d never guess that The Return Of The Space Cowboy had such a fraught genesis story.

With Jay Kay suffering from writer’s block, Second Album Syndrome kicked in with a vengeance as the band laboured to create a follow-up to their million-selling debut LP – vast swathes of material was either scrapped or rewritten entirely.

They overcame that struggle, though, and the resultant album oozes confidence from the ambitious nigh-on nine-minute opener Just Another Story where Jay Kay gives us the full Tarantino treatment on a gritty tale of a teenage criminal. He digs deep for the confessional Half The Man, penned about his twin brother who died shortly after birth. The mournful Sly & The Family Stone-style ballad also doubles up as a simple love song of longing and loss.