Jamiroquai

Synkronized

a few rants

Review Score:

(4/10)
A dissapointment compared to previous albums.

Technically: Compared with the last 3 albums, this one got way too saturated in the mastering process (turn down those volume levels about 15db!). You can watch the excessive clipping on a spectrum analyzer or oscilliscope (both included with Winamp) on all of the songs, and you can especially hear it on Black Capricorn Day and Soul Education.

Artistically: Jay Kay made a mistake ditching bassist Stuart Zender for Nick Fieff. Fieff's basslines sound too bland/synthetic/generic throughout the entire album. The album itself seems commercialized and the band is approaching the status of "premanufactured, just add water", like so many contemporary bands (N'SYNC, Eminem, Brittany Spears, Spice Girls, etc..)

What happened since Emergency? People I have talked to who like Jamiroquai mostly got into them for the messages and social/environmental/political challenges in their music like When You Gonna Learn or Manifest Destiny. About the only thing that comes remotely close to these caliber of songs is Planet Home. But now I am starting to wonder if they included that song only to keep from being accused of selling out.

I recommend to buying from the used CD bin.

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