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iPoriel
Joined: 20 Oct 2016
Posts: 22
Location: Fouesnant, France
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 Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 23:13 |
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Just listen to the full album (after the Paris show !).
A little bit disappointed on some track but general impression is very good  |
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FunkyVibes
Joined: 28 Oct 2009
Posts: 364
Location: Eugene, Oregon
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| Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 23:19 |
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Solid album. The worst I can say about the lesser tracks is that they're meh and not something I immediately skip over.
3.5/5
First listen through, and my top tracks are Shake It On, Automaton, Summer Girl, Nights Out, Vitamin & Carla. Lots of other tracks range from meh to meh+
Some of them I think could've been improved with better lyrics, like We Can Do It, which I enjoy musically, but the repetitive lyrics bring it down.
Shake It On suffers from some dumb lyrics and obvious rhymes.
Overall, I'd put this album above RDLS as a whole. However, I think RDLS contains several tracks that surpass anything on this album, like Two Completely Different Things & Fast Persuader.
My main criticisms, aside from weak lyrics, would be that none of the songs reach the heights of former album tracks and the production while superior to RDLS leaves me kind of underwhelmed because of how flat it sounds. I don't hear the hard grooving PHAT sound prominent in past albums like RotSC or Synk or even AFO. Additionally, the poor dynamic range negatively impacts the already flat production. The DR measurements come in at 7. I'm hoping that an early promo with better dynamic range might be out there.
Lastly, I think people should really stop "expecting a return to form" for Jamiroquai. As it stands, all that's left is JK and Derrick. This album does not sounds like the work of a passionate group of cohesive musicians working toward a singular artistic expression. It sounds like session musicians brought together to assemble a new album and the results are fair. |
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Dye
Correspondent & Expert
Joined: 16 Nov 2003
Posts: 5146
Location: Planet Home; Buenos Aires, Argentina
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 00:04 |
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I just enjoyed it.
Didn't have time to scrutinize every single bit of musical information ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Maybe I'll agree on further listenings, but after seven long years I just wanted to enjoy it. |
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zeioIIDX
Joined: 07 Sep 2007
Posts: 239
Location: Biloxi, MS
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 00:47 |
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My friend just texted me saying the album was leaked, which was news to me since normally I'm the one telling him about new Jamiroquai stuff. This is great since I still have the signed version of the album coming in the mail soon still. Can't wait!
| Freddie Hg wrote: |
| Well if Dye loves it, it must be gold! Can't wait to hear it (waiting till Friday). You've been around this forum about as long as I have, and I trust your taste here. |
Gotta say, I agree lol.
Disclaimer: The little thoughts I've gathered below on all the tracks (minus Automaton and Cloud 9) is based purely on the music itself, I actually didn't spend much time deciphering lyrics at the moment. I'll get around to doing that this weekend when I listen to the album more.
Shake It On starts out with a great 80s sci-fi style synth with the keyboard chiming in every few beats while Jay builds up the track with his vocals. Then the main melody/chorus drops and is overlaid with some thick and distorted guitar it seems. After this, the track goes into a great 70s disco feel, complete with the punctuation of strings such as disco is so known for lol. The backup singers are great in this! Near the end, we get some spacey keyboard goodness and feel the full force of Paul's bass licks. Funky, funky, funky!
Superfresh is great too although it starts out a bit slow/long. Like, "Come on already and get that beat going!" lol. But once it finally does, I dare you to listen to this without tapping your feet or bobbing your head...at the very least. I like how some of the tracks on this album seem to seamlessly hop back and forth between incorporating a little bit of a modern, digital feel (like Automaton) while moving back into that more natural, funky disco groove sound. There's even some Daft-Punk style vocoder in this track and it works. This is just a great dance track, that's for sure.
Hot Property demands your attention immediately with a thumping bass line and crisp drums pulling the track along. Once that distorted, sci-fi synth joins in, I can't help but groove along with a bouncing body and fingers snapping along. Also, this song is that little clip that was uploaded to Instagram a while back where the record was put on and we got to hear 1-2 seconds of that funky guitar. That's one of my favorite moments of the track (near the middle). It goes into a little breakdown of pure accentuated funkiness, punchy drums, and cosmic synths emanating everywhere which gets your body moving towards the fading out of the track. Love it!
I think Something About You is SDISJ's groovier little sister. It starts out real groovy and then hops into these little bits that sound like they were ripped right out of a Michael Jackson track from the 80s. Especially the second half of the track, I'm not even kidding. In fact, I can imagine MJ singing this while pop-locking and moonwalking lol. This will be an amazing track to cruise to along the waterfront while the sun is setting 
Summer Girl is a bit softer than the rest of the tracks on this album, it's got a laid back vibe to it. Something you'd listen to on a breezy summer day while relaxing outside enjoying the gentle sun rays against your skin and the lush greenery around you as cars cruise by in the distance and colorful kites are flying high, lazily dotting the azure blue sky. This is more of a "breather" track but it's still properly funky with bongos and a disco feel throughout and strings that make you wanna sway back and forth in your seat.
Nights Out In the Jungle enjoyable because it has Jay showing off his hip hop chops and the track features ringing bells and animal noises. It reminds me of early in the band's career, when they'd play live. Sometimes they'd go into that whole jungle interlude with Jay on stage making bird noises and the band used to have a DJ back then as well so there were hip hop-esque record scratches and adlibs aplenty lol. I think it's a cool throwback to that. And whoever said the vocals are similar to Everybody's Going to the Moon was spot on. When the song seems to start carrying on too long, it jumps into a twinkly Arabian type of deal with monkey sounds. This track is very different from what we would expect of the band these days but it still has that underlying groove we are familiar with and it gets a bit easier to swallow and enjoy on repeated listens. If the entire album is the equivalent of a box of Boston Baked Beans (the American candy, which consists of peanuts coated in a sweet, hard, candy shell) then I liken this track to that rare moment you inevitably get the surprise of biting into a Boston Baked Bean with a stale peanut inside lol. It's not quite off-putting enough to have to spit out but it throws you for a loop when it first happens and you continue chewing anyway because that sweet candy shell flavor still shines through. Me and my analogies lol.
Dr. Buzz is effing amazing. It starts off with this deep and grungy sound like the beginning of Deeper Underground (but nowhere near as long haha). Then the bouncy bass says hello and Jay's echo-y voice joins in with this lovely, contemplative synth groove. Halfway through, it funks the place up with this ethereal 70s keyboard bit and some nice scats of "Bada-ba-ba, bada-bada". When that saxophone solo came in out of nowhere near the end and that synth section came on afterward, followed by the guitar solo, I was knocked on my ASS. Sooooo good. They even incorporate the sounds of a police radio near the end because of the song's subject matter. This is something I'd enjoy nodding to on a calm, late night car drive. That's all I can really say at this point lol, I really, really love this track. It feels like it would have been right at home on The Return of the Space Cowboy.
We Can Do It seems to be another "breather" track similar to Summer Girl in that it's got a more laid back vibe to it. After listening to We Can Do It a few times over, it's grown on me. That bass line and the percussion really does it for me. Oh and that organ? Love it. I also really like Jay's throwback to the track Drifting Along when he says "We're super cruisin'.....oh yeah!" with that reggae feel lol.
If anyone here is into video games, Vitamin has that spaced out vibe of the music from Phantasy Star Online. Which I looooove. Also has a somewhat similar percussion style as the track Travelling Without Moving while giving the feel of She's A Fast Persuader. The interloping strings throughout with the horns is just magical. I know that's corny but damn, this track just drips and oozes pure funk and groove. Digging the jazzy piano that comes in a little over halfway into the track too. We even get some spacey "wah-wah" sounds reminiscent of stuff from Return of the Space Cowboy! This track could have been on Travelling Without Moving or Synkronized, easily.
Carla caught me off guard after hearing that short sample in that interview video the other day. This one is so groovy with deep synths and "wah-wah" style guitar licks in the background. I like the crystally punctuation and chimes during the verses and chorus too. It's a very sweet and heartfelt track which hits me in the chest because I have a daughter myself so the track just resonates with me on a different level. I can see Jay getting emotional while belting this out live as he contemplates how far he's come in life while looking out over the dancing, clapping crowd who helped support the band all these years and got him to where he is today which has given him the resources needed to provide for his daughter. Great closer for the album.
Oddly enough, I didn't have that sentiment that others have stated where the tracks seem to end right when they wanna hear more. For me, the tracks have the perfect duration and they are very well-contained. Jamiroquai are known for typically having a marvelous bridge to a lot of their songs that sometimes switches things up or climaxes and then the rest of the track reverts back to the previous style. Other times, their tracks build and climax at the bridge but then continue with that momentum for the last part of the track so I understand why some people aren't too keen on that since the band seems to enjoy really jamming out near the end of some of their tracks lol. I do admit, I would love to hear extended versions of stuff like Vitamin and Something About You.
I enjoy Automaton more than I ever enjoyed Rock Dust Light Star  I know the user FunkyVibes mentioned that the songs don't quite have the complexity musically as past albums (the earlier ones especially) and even the lyrics are not as "meaningful" I suppose and while I definitely see those points and agree to a degree (lol), I still personally enjoy Automaton for what it is. I do wonder though, I remember reading an article last year stating that Jay was writing a sequel of sorts to the track Emergency on Planet Earth for the album Automaton and I wonder where that is. I vaguely recall people mentioning that website with the quote was a hoax but I'm not sure. The band has gone through changes, as many bands do, by bringing on different musicians as others leave over the years. And of course the frontman Jay Kay has changed as a person and grown so I guess he only really sings about what he really feels like singing about, which makes sense. We know he still feels strongly about certain humanitarian things around the world and various plights of the human race...but the lyrical content is definitely not the same as it was on their earlier albums. Different times plus the band early on was a seriously young group. Very early 20 year olds who had something to prove while also having what I assume would be a much higher drive at the time to succeed and make it in the industry. I don't know, I'll always love Jamiroquai and I know it's a broken record at this point but whenever we as fans have that urge to hear classic Jamiroquai, we can go back and pop in the CDs of the first few albums and satisfy that. Jay is getting older lol, it's obviously why we don't see him breakout at concerts with those mind melting moves he used to do all the time. These days, it's just the swaying hips, stage strutting Jay Kay but that's to be expected honestly. He isn't 21 anymore. I'll always be thankful for the fact that Jay and the band is still passionate about making music.
Oh, and I take back what I said a couple pages ago: This might actually be the first Jamiroquai album where I end up not skipping a single track. Granted, sometimes I might not be in the mood to hear a certain track or two but overall, yeah...I can see myself listening to this in its entirety majority of the time. That even includes Nights Out In the Jungle 
_________________
If it ain't no natural law, then you can keep your regulations. 'Cause if I like it, I do it.
Last edited by zeioIIDX on Thu Mar 30, 2017 12:16; edited 56 times in total |
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robotscantadlib
Joined: 28 May 2005
Posts: 242
Location: san francisco
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 01:06 |
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| FunkyVibes wrote: |
Lastly, I think people should really stop "expecting a return to form" for Jamiroquai. As it stands, all that's left is JK and Derrick. This album does not sounds like the work of a passionate group of cohesive musicians working toward a singular artistic expression. It sounds like session musicians brought together to assemble a new album and the results are fair. |
I'm holding off on listening to it, but wanted to say that I agree with this sentiment. After maybe Synkronized, it started really becoming the Jay Kay show, and now it's the Jay and Matt production/songwriting team. It worked while Toby was with them - the songs had much more massive scope. The band was either more involved closer to start to finish or Toby was just that good. Could be a little column A, little column B. |
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nitric
Joined: 23 Aug 2010
Posts: 42
Location: Brazil
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 01:18 |
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I gave it one listen.
Well, if the North Americans don't like Disco Music, they're not gonna like... It's pure Disco/Funk from 70s and it's good!!!
This is a very Bass focused album which means that Paul really surprised on this one and made a great job.
Also, like it or not, JK/Matt Production is very complex and creative (don't be fooled by the simplicity of Cloud 9).
I don't think they made a good choice with the singles because there are better ones in album.
Highlights: Vitamin, Shake it on, Superfresh.
Weaker ones: We can Do it and Night in.the Jungle (crazy one!)
Overall, it does have a much better feeling than RDLS.
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Fernando Freire |
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ari1989
Joined: 13 Dec 2016
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 03:08 |
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i cant seem to find a downloadlink that works  maybe i'm just hopeless haha
can someone private message me - thanks guys
glad to hear so many positive reviews - i'm excited |
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kellte2
Joined: 17 Mar 2005
Posts: 110
Location: Washington, DC
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 03:10 |
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Shake it on makes this album worth it. I almost wanted to stop listening to the rest of the album after first hearing that song.
What. A. Track.
Last edited by kellte2 on Thu Mar 30, 2017 04:30; edited 1 time in total |
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ari1989
Joined: 13 Dec 2016
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 04:21 |
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ok so hands down the best album since AFO! love it |
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Gonza-Arg
Joined: 27 Mar 2005
Posts: 1680
Location: Argentina
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 05:23 |
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Hello everyone!
Came back from the dead to say:
Massive album |
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Vincenzo89
Joined: 01 Oct 2005
Posts: 360
Location: Naples, Italy
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 11:26 |
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I need extended version of something about you and vitamin ! |
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Zsoma
Joined: 23 Nov 2004
Posts: 1369
Location: Hungary
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 11:49 |
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| Vincenzo89 wrote: |
| I need extended version of something about you and vitamin ! |
Exactly, SAY could have been a classic song if they ditched the verse theme from 38s and extended the final one minute from 2:50 |
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Tlum
Joined: 12 Sep 2004
Posts: 627
Location: Prague, Czech Republic
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 11:54 |
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| Tlum wrote: |
| Some songs ending are in the place where I would like to listen to them farther so I really hope they will have some extended mixes of them (for example Something About You, Vitamin) |
Happy that I am not the only one here!!! |
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Zsoma
Joined: 23 Nov 2004
Posts: 1369
Location: Hungary
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 12:04 |
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| Tlum wrote: |
| Tlum wrote: |
| Some songs ending are in the place where I would like to listen to them farther so I really hope they will have some extended mixes of them (for example Something About You, Vitamin) |
Happy that I am not the only one here!!! |
I don't get the purpose of the dissonance inside the tracks which seem to be a concept of the whole album, there's a terrible futuristic verse, maybe a bridge, then a more JMQish chorus and when it gets interesting in the outro the track is cut... |
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andrezferreira
Joined: 14 Jul 2016
Posts: 5
Location: Indaiatuba, Brazil
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 12:31 |
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HOLY fucking Yes!!! Its the best album I listen in years!
Jay Kay is a Genius! Matt Johnson overwelmed me.
Such a huge production. Such great tracks. JAMIROQUAI is reinvented again.
You can see lots of influences in this work: PRINCE, GAP BAND, DEXTER WANSEL, DONNA SUMMER, ZAPP, STEVIE WONDER but with Jay`s own way..
THANK YOU JAY KAY AND THE REST OF THE BAND!
In my opinion this album is better then AFO 8) 8O :D |
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