Jamiroquai – The one with the Hats is back
Well, he’s back.
The band that is Jamiroquai have announced their return to the limelight after 14 years in the darkness.
During month of March 2017, Jamiroquai (The Band) announced their latest album called “Automatron”, and this would be the follow-up to their previous album called Dust Light Star.
The album called “Automatron” will be the band's 8th Studio album release.
To complement the release of “Automatron” the group decided to go on a world tour that took in places such as Tokyo and Seoul in addition to all the major cities in Europe.
Jay Kay Jamiroquai BBC Breakfast 2017 – interview!
However, within North American cities these tour dates were not included until now.
The Coachella Festival has already confirmed that Jamiroquai (The Band) will be playing on the dates that are – April 13th to 20th April 2018.
With the Coachella festival, it seemed only like a matter of time before other dates would be found for the group to play in other major American cities.
And this came to fruition when it was announced that the band would be playing at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, California, USA.
Already pre-sale of tickets for the show has begun – that dates were – 18th January 2018.
Jamiroquai is a British jazz, soul, and funk band formed in 1992.
They are fronted by a lead singer known as Jason Kay (Aka Jay Kay). They have been going for 26 years now and have confirmed highly profiled fans of their music such as well – Pharell Williams and Stevie Wonder to boot.
The band has become the most prominent leader of the London-based funk/acid jazz movement, which included groups such as Incognito, the James Taylor Quartet, and the Brand New Heavies.
Their later albums have seen them touch on other musical influences such as pop, rock, electronica, and even drum and bass music!
The band's name has always become a talking point during interviews and between music fans alike. However, it appears that the name came from this.
The band name is a mixture of the two. "jam" and Iroquois, which is a Native American tribe.
Over the years the lineup of Jamiroquai has changed quite radically.
However the original line was composed of – Jason Kay (Vocals), Toby Smith (Keyboards), Stuart Zender (Bass player), Nick Van Gelder ( Drums), and Wallis Buchanan ( Didgeridoo).
As I mentioned above that Jason Kay is the frontman of Jamiroquai.
He decided to form the band after an unsuccessful attempt to become the singer of the Brand New Heavies.
He is occasionally referred to as 'Jamiroquai', due to the misconception that the band is a solo artist.
I remember reading a London-based magazine called “Free” magazine, which later changed its name to “Touch Magazine”.
They gave us the “Low down” about this new group and its debut single called “When are gonna learn” which came out during the year 1992.
It was given a really good write-up, and one to look out for.
So I went ahead and made sure that I got a copy from an Ipswich-based record store called “Andy’s Record store”.
I purchased the 12-inch format of the record and I am glad that I did so.
Had a lovely blend of Soul/Jazz and Funk vibes just running through the single And the vocalist had a really nice voice.
You can check out the single for yourself if you want.
Please check out the official youtube Video of the single here below.
Jamiroquai - When You Gonna Learn? (Official Music Video) – 1992
The single “When are you gonna learn? was a massive success. So much so that Jamiroquai signed an eight-album record deal withSony Music Entertainment.
The first Sony album, Emergency on Planet Earth, was released in 1993 and reached the UK albums chart at no. 1.
It was followed in 1994 by the album known as The Return of the Space Cowboy.
The album's single "Space Cowboy" entered at number 17 on the UK chart and reached no.1 on the US Dance Chart.
I like many others loved the remix version of the song better than the original of the track called “Space Cowboy”.
The original version featured the bass playing of Steve Zender and is known as “The Stoned Again mix”.
The mix that I and many others love is this one. It was done by David Morales, the House music, DJ/producer from the US.
I had to get it when it first came out in 1994.
It was played everywhere. Every bar, every nightclub, just everywhere during the summer of 1994.
Please listen to this version below yourself.
Space Cowboy – DAVID MORALES REMIX – 1994
Their popularity at the time was assured within Europe and in Japan.
But Jamiroquai needed to crack the American music market.
And they did with this album.
The album in question is known as “Travelling without Moving” released during the year of 1996.
It went to number 24 on the USA album 200 chart and reached as high as number 2 on the album charts in the Uk.
It featured two monster tracks from the album; Virtual Insanity is one and Cosmic Girl is the other.
With regards to the single called “Virtual Insanity,” the music video was directed by Jonathan Glazer.
It won video of the year in 1997 at the MTV video music awards which further helped the music single succeed in the charts.
Please listen to the explanation of how Music director Jonathan Glazer went about creating it.
Jonathan Glazer - The Making of Jamiroquai's Virtual Insanity - (Release August 1996)
The single called “Deeper Underground” was released in the year 1998 due to the popularity of the group.
The single is featured in the movie called “GODZILLA”.
It was around this time that the original bassist - Stuart Zender left the band during the production of the album called “Synkronized” which was released in 1999.
He was replaced by the new bassist called Nick Fyffe to record the new sessions.
The album's success in the USA was troubled due to press coverage, that involved the band as a whole turning down a million-dollar offer to play at a concert on New Year's Eve of 1999.
When Jason Kay was accused of assaulting a tabloid photographer (These charges were later dropped).
Their follow-up album was called A Funk Odyssey and was issued in September 2001.
The first release single from the album was called "Little L".
This single reached the Top 100 on many charts worldwide and became their biggest-selling dance hit to date.
Co-songwriter and keyboardist Toby Smith left the band though in 2002.
Jamiroquai decided to release a compilation album called Late Night Tales: Jamiroquai in 2003 under Azuli Records (UK).
It contains a selection of the band's soul, funk, and disco influences.
The band's sixth album, titled Dynamite, was released on 20 June 2005. This album did well and reached No. 3 on the UK charts at the time.
The first single, "Feels Just Like It Should", was released early in June 2015.
It was followed up by "Seven Days in Sunny June" (August 2005); and "(Don't) Give Hate a Chance" (November 2005).
In fact, the single called "Seven days in sunny June" is considered by many fans of the group their favorite.
The reason given is that this song moves the group's sound back to their humble "Acid Jazz sound" which made them famous in the first place.
Written by Jason Kay and the new keyboard player to the group at the time - Matt Johnson. Sees this played at most live gigs that Jamiroquai plays at.
This was the 2nd album release from the album called - Dynamite.
Jamiroquai - Seven Days in Sunny June - 2005
In March 2006, Jamiroquai announced that they would be switching their allegiance from Sony Records to Columbia Records.
The official website of Jamiroquai - Jamiroquai announced their switch to Columbia Records - In March 2006
With this change soon came a greatest hits album collection, called - High Times: Singles 1992–2006 which was released in November 2006 and marked the end of Kay's eight-album contract with Sony Records.
Jamiroquai stated that the compilation album was released purely out of contractual obligation with Sony Records.
Jamiroquai's Jay Kay is angry and isn't going to take it anymore Nov 2005
The album reached the number 1 spot in the UK album chart after its first week of release and featured two new tracks such as, "Runaway" and "Radio" in 2006.
In fact, in September 2006, the music single called "Runaway" was created. It was given its first play by Uk Radio stations in October 2006.
After leaving Sony Records, the band began to work on their Seventh studio album (in addition to various collaborations and side-projects).
In February 2007, Jamiroquai performed at the record-breaking called Gig in the Sky, in association with Sony Ericsson.
In January 2008, the band confirmed that the recording process for their latest album had begun.
According to the news item, eleven tracks had already been written for the new album, with more to come.
The first known track for the 7th album, called "White knuckle Ride”, was performed live and confirmed by Kay himself to be on the new album via his being on the BBC Radio 1 show – The Chris Moyes show – September 2010.
Their seventh album, Rock Dust Light Star, was released in November 2010 under Mercury Records/Universal Records.
The album sold 220,000 copies worldwide within the first two months of release.
On 16 January 2017, Jamiroquai released an online short teaser video from their eighth studio album Automaton.
Billboard magazine article about Jamiroquai's 8th album - Jamiroquai released an online short teaser video from their eighth studio album Automaton – 16th Jan 2017
A day later, the band announced a 10-date Spring & Summer 2017 Festival tour of Asia & Europe due to start on 25 May 2017 in Tokyo, Japan, and end on 5 August 2017 in Sudoeste, Portugal; additionally, it included shows in South Korea, Greece, and the Netherlands.
Jamiroquai released another online teaser video for the album called Automaton, with all twelve track titles from the album; and was officially issued on 31 March 2017.
The first single that was released from the album was called Automaton.
The single was a Disco, Electronic, Funk, and Pop hybrid that surprised everyone when it was first released.
“The inspiration for Automaton is in recognition of the rise of artificial intelligence and technology in our world today and how we as humans are beginning to forget the more pleasant, simple, and eloquent things in life and in our environment including our relationship with one another as human beings,” stated Jason Kay
http://www.vulture.com/2017/01/jamiroquai-returns-with-new-song-automaton.html
Around mid-May 2017, Jason Kay seriously injured his spine, requiring surgery; this led to the indefinite cancellation of several upcoming tour dates.
Some of them were rescheduled, while the band resumed touring in July.
Jamiroquai SPINE INJURY in 2017
In January 2018, the band released another song from the album called, "Now We Are Alone", originally an out-take from the album Automaton; which was made available for streaming on the band's official YouTube page.
Jamiroquai - "Now We Are Alone" - 2018
Another release from the same album was called – “Cloud 9”; and was released on 22 February 2017.
All of the singles that were did reasonably well and many fans of the band were glad to see them back in action.
However for me (This is just my opinion) I still rate their early material back in the early to Mid-1990s as the group's most successful period.
Out of all the singles that I love from this group these would be the three. I still play them from time to time, to be honest.
Two of the tracks come from the year 1993.
The one track is from the year 2005.
At first, when I heard both of them I thought that they were Stevie Wonder compositions.
They sounded so Jazzy and funky and had that Stevie Wonder vibe about them.
The first one was:
Jamiroquai – “Too Young to die” - 1993.
The second one was:
Jamiroquai – “Blow to your Mind” – 1993
The third one was this:
Jamiroquai - Seven Days in Sunny June - 2005
I also have to confess that I loved this track from their album called Automation as well; which is Night out in the Jungle - 2018.
This goes to prove that Jamiroquai still keeps that funky feel to their music even though they are experimenting with “Electronic Vibes” as well.
Night out in the Jungle - 2018
Jamiroquai is a British institution that has managed to get its sound around the world where people will always give them listen.
Their frontman that is Jason Kay gives the band the image with the natty headwear that he wore over the years.
However, one must give them credit for creating a sound that seems to stand the test of time.
Well, That is my take on it. What do you think?
Have you seen him live since he released the album that is called Automaton
Did he leave up to the hype? If you did please let us know.
I myself have never seen the band perform live – but I have a number of records.
So I and many others would love to find out your opinion on the band performing live.
Come please tell us your opinion don’t be shy???
Well, that's all folks for me now anyway.
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Dj Mistri and the Electric Soul Show © www.electricsoulshow.com
