Jamiroquai is a British funk music act lead by Jay Kay, born Jason Luís Cheetham, a supremely charismatic lead with a powerful singing voice. This collective maintains quite a rank on my list of all-time favorite musical acts, and although their tour together may be on the trailing end, I expect them to maintain a seat there indefinitely. This band, formed in 1992, came to find international success with their record “Virtual Insanity.” This record served as their breakthrough skyrocketing their international influence.
My history with this group goes back to MTV back in the 90s. Before I caught the school bus in the morning I always had some time to decompress where I typically watched morning cartoons and as I got a bit older, music videos on MTV. Among these videos I came across “Virtual Insanity” with Jay Kay “dance-walking” along a moving floor.
It made a lasting impression–enough for me to eventually find and purchase their album Traveling Without Moving (1996). Traveling Without Moving was actually their third album. If memory serves, I did follow this album with Synkronized (1999) in high school. I recall a conversation I had with a classmate regarding the movie Center Stage and its use of their most popular single “Canned Heat” around the time. I don’t readily remember when I acquired A Funk Odyssey (2001) but I imagine I got the album before (or while) going back in time to their previous albums, during college:
- Emergency on Planet Earth (1993)
- The Return of the Space Cowboy (1994)
So by college I was five albums deep with Jamiroquai. I remember playing World of Warcraft while listening to these albums… and I played a lot of World of Warcraft in college. There were a number of hit singles as well as deep cuts of note within this record library–too many to even discuss, really.
Their sixth album Dynamite (2005) is special to me because I remember getting it as a birthday gift from my then girlfriend–now wife. It was an international compact disc shipped from England if I remember properly. This album was fantastic and had several standout tracks. These singles, listed here, were all solid picks:
- Feels Just Like It Should
- Seven Days in Sunny June
- (Don’t) Give Hate a Chance
So, Jamiroquai released a barrage of albums in the 90s with their youthful enthusiasm, but ultimately their releases slowed down after around 2005. It was not until I was a working professional in 2010 that they released seventh album Rock Dust Light Star. The album was boosted by lead single “White Knuckle Ride”.
It was not until after their eighth album Automaton (2017) was released that I experienced their live performance in New York, September 8, 2018 (as in featured photo). It was a wet evening but I still remember it fondly. They ended up playing hit after hit from their accomplished record repertoire. As far as this eighth album goes, it is a solid offering from the troupe. My favorite tracks are “Cloud 9” and “Superfresh”.
At this point I am unaware of any activity with the group–they are not touring and I don’t believe they are working on another album. After 8 albums, they may be ready to retire from music. We will see.