The long player logs in at 12 tracks, each a fantastic host for Kay's beguiling presence to flex itself throughout the record's spinning time. The album-a heady blend of their own seasoned style and references spanning Electric Light Orchestra, Earth, Wind & Fire and Afrika Bambaataa-feels effortless, but nothing short of kinetic in its execution. Throw in changing tastes, emerging competition and some of Kay's own personal effects, it was the perfect storm to obscure Jamiroquai's impact on dance and R&B music at the end of the 1990s and early 2000s.Īutomaton, Jamiroquai's eighth album, returns the group to the summit of power in the fields of dance, R&B, and post-modern disco that they helped establish and redefine. The former leaned too hard toward studio gloss and the latter attempted to (erroneously) strip back the progress of their 1996 to 2001 stretch. The albums that followed A Funk Odyssey, Dynamite (2005) and Rock Dust Light Star (2010), were accomplished recordings, but ultimately self-conscious. The disco-funk opus was celebrated commercially, but a sect of critics and fans weren't too impressed-they pined for the simpler, band based approach to rhythm and blues synonymous with Jamiroquai's first two records. With the arrival of A Funk Odyssey (2001), their transformation was complete. Starting on Travelling Without Moving (1996), Jamiroquai's music began to mirror the actual evolutionary trek that black music embarked on in the 1970s, cutting funk with disco rhythms. Kay's charisma-as a songwriter, singer and performer-would not be constricted by the aforementioned acid jazz format. But unlike their peers the Brand New Heavies and Incognito, Jamiroquai, under Kay's watchful eye, had bolder artistic ambitions. ![]() From the moment his group Jamiroquai landed with their groundbreaking debut Emergency on Planet Earth (1993), they set the standard for the acid jazz movement which birthed them. Jason Kay could never be accused of being anything less than ambitious, musically speaking.
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