Jamiroquai

Funk Odyssey

Circa 1979

Review Score:

(8/10)
I have been a fan of Jamiroquai since I first heard "Return of the Space Cowboy". Back in the day, Jay Kay and Co were actually a funk band; and a damn good one as well. Over the course of Travelling Without Moving and Synkronized, we saw the band rise to superstardom (and Grammy nominations) only to fall apart with the departure of brilliant bassist Zender.

Popularity and band politics aside, the music that Jamiroquai have been making has changed greatly since "Emergency on Planet Earth". Back in the day, Jay Kay was compared to Stevie Wonder since the songs had a social consciousness about them and the sounded like they could very well be lost songs from an "Innervisions" era Stevie. As time progressed, they have given up their acid jazz roots (ie have become less funk-soul) and have embraced disco beats. I can hear voices crying out in the wilderness the words on everyone's lips;

SELLOUTS!!!

But that is where you would be wrong. What is happening to the band is more interesting than simply selling out. Instead of staying the same they are changing, but they are changing in a way that befits their retro-styling; the are evolving like a band during the 1970s ala Earth, Wind and Fire.

First, the begin as an experimental funk band (even utilising a didgeridoo) on their first album, master this style on Space Cowboy, reach the pinnacle of this style with "Virtual Insanity" and then within a blink of an eye the transition begins as the begin the disco vibes with "Cosmic Girl", continue it throughout Synkronized (especially "Canned Heat") and eventually find this new style fully developed on Funk Odyssey. The sound has changed from circa 1972 Stevie to circa 1979 Michael Jackson ("Off The Wall" era).

In fact, a comparison of "Off The Wall" with "Funk Odyssey" finds some similarities. "You Give Me Something" could be a long lost cousin of MJ's title track "Off The Wall". "Workin' Day and Night" could be very well related to "Little L". Black Crow is the most early Jamiroquai of the new material and on Jackson's album he features a Stevie Wonder song.

So, the point of Jamiroquai's change should not be commercial success (though it has happened). The thing to watch is just how the sound has evolved as a band DID during the 1970s. In 100 years or more, people may look back at the development of the band and assume that they must have been a 70s band since they began as a legitimate funk band and slowly became a popular disco group. This gets my thumbs up (for the record, I prefer Return of the Space Cowboy but I am open to change).

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