Jamiroquai

I have four Jamiroquai albums from the nineties/early 2000s - 

Emergency On Planet Earth - 1993 

When You Gonna Learn (Digeridoo)/Too Young To Die/Hooked Up/If I Like It, I Do It/Music Of The Mind/Emergency On Planet Earth/Whatever It Is, I Just Can't Stop/Blow Your Mind/Revolution 1993Didgin' Out

The Return Of The Space Cowboy - 1994

Just Another Story/Stillness In Time/Half The Man/Light Years/Manifest Destiny/The Kids/Mr. Moon/Scam/Journey To Arnhemland/Morning Glory/Space Cowboy

Synkronized - 1999 

Canned Heat/Planet Home/Black Capricorn Day/Soul Education/Falling/Destitute Illusion/Supersonic/Butterfly/Where Do We Go From Here?/King For A Day

A Funk Odyssey - 2001 

Feel So Good/Little L/You Give Me Something/Corner Of The Earth/Love Foolosophy/Stop Don't Panic/Black Crow/Main Vein/Twenty Zero One

I find it difficult to write any detailed analysis of them, track by track, in that a) they are albums I dabble in every now and again as opposed to listen to regularly and b) they are not from my classic era or particularly my musical thing, really (too digital). That said, whenever I listen to them, or any tracks from them appear on random, I like what I hear. 

Theirs is an invigorating brand of spacey, digital funk with so many Songs In The Key Of Life era Stevie Wonder influences cropping on song after song (such as Too Young To Die) that they are impossible to list. I'll just mention Wonder's As and I Wish as starting refrrence points. Bad boy singer Jay Kay liked a bit of funked up, psychedelic rap too, (check out Just Another Story on the Return Of The Space Cowboy) and blissed out instrumental stuff like Music Of The Mind from Emergency on Planet Earth. 

They also utilise a fair few world music sounds too, particularly the didgeridoo on the first album's When You Gonna Learn (Didgeridoo) and the excellently funky Didgin' Out. They dip into psychedelic samba on Corner Of The Earth, freaky grungy dance on Supersonic and good old fashioned soulful romance on Falling, so there is a certain amount of variety contained within the same basic framework. 

Overall, though, it is the more sophisticated last two albums from this foursome that are my favourites. Canned Heat is probably the best known and most catchy of the songs, Planet Home and Black Capricorn Day are good ones too. Sorry for not being more detailed on this batch of albums....

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