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eg_oreilly
Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Posts: 14
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
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 Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2005 06:39 |
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Return of the prodigal Jamiro fan (Dynamite brought me back)
I haven't felt compelled to talk about Jamiroquai since waaaay back in the Traveling without Moving days. Dynamite has brought me out of the wilderness.
I came to the realization that we'll never get another album like Return of the Space Cowboy (or a song like Stillness in Time or Just Another Story) - the first 3 albums were the product of a BAND. Synkronized, AFO, and Dynamite are the product of a MAN, and a man that doesn't play instruments, so you'll never get the Prince effect from JK. And that's....OK.
It feels like this is the album that JK was trying to make with AFO...and this time he got it right. It's danceable as hell (I hesitate to call it funky - funk and disco are different, people) but with enough tasty morsels of pop/rock to make it an album that keeps your interest even when your ass is not in a place where it can shake. I think the kicker is that unlike the previous 2 albums, this one's got a track that melodically grabs you by the cojones and doesn't let go (Seven Days in Sunny June - I've been listening to it like the aural equivalent of fetish porn all day). Only one skippable track IMHO (Electric Mistress) Clearly the best post-TWM album (though Synkronized is, in retrospect, pretty damn good too) and just a hell of a lot of fun - this will be played on the commute, in the backyard, and at work for the next couple of weeks I'm quite sure.
BTW, am I the only one that hears a strong Jacksons influence on a couple of tracks? Both the vamp out of Give Hate a Chance and particularly the chord change in the middle of the chorus of Time Won't Wait had me scrambling to see where the hell I had "Can You Feel It" by the Jacksons in my collection. Plus of course the "Off the Wall" thing interlaced in Loveblind.
Here's hoping for some North American tour dates...
Cheers y'all |
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jamirokaki
Expert
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Posts: 3472
Location: basque country
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| Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2005 10:30 |
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| Quote: |
| the first 3 albums were the product of a BAND. Synkronized, AFO, and Dynamite are the product of a MAN, and a man that doesn't play instruments |
the MAN who don't play instruments did alone
when you gonna learn
wathever it is i just can't stop
space cowboy
travelling without moving
you are my love
bullet
canned heat
black capricorn day
supersonic
where do we go from here
wolf in sheeps clothing
snooze you loose
main vein
twenty zero one
and co-writed the rest of the songs on the albums, so the only album made mainly by jay it's synkronized, and you don't know about the writing credits on dynamite.
probably more thatn half are cowritten by jay and rob
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***STONED AGAIN*** |
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Milagro
Joined: 18 Mar 2005
Posts: 42
Location: San Jose,California (USA)
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| Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2005 11:07 |
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"Here's hoping for some North American tour dates"
Yeah,let's hope they tour the US! I'm in California and I've never gotten the opportunity to see them in concert. |
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High Times
Joined: 25 Oct 2004
Posts: 744
Location: music written by JK/Toby Smith
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| Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2005 13:48 |
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hi !!
so cool to read your post , mate!!!
its great you decided to return!!!!
you are cool man!!!!!
here's my answer to your post:
i wanted to post my own thread about albums difference
and i'll do it someday; as well now i'll tell you what it was all about,
actually to understand the reason of style changes its enough
to read all interviews with the band which can be found in archive section
on http://www.mtey.com or http://www.jazziroquai.de.vu ...
there is so much information, its enough to write a book about the band.
i am fond of reading old jamiroquai interviews, and
having them in mind i have to say
its not only about the change of band members, i think jay
wants to do more disco tracks than jazz fusion, like in old days.
its obvious if you just read the interviews.
And this is just great.. What has changed is only
music direction, but not quality of music.
its even better this way. Jay showed his talent both in jazz and in disco!!!
its so cool, great, fantastic!!!!! i'm big fan of both these music directions.
actually when i say i love all the albums equally its not because i am just a crazy happy fan.
I love Jay's way of writing and performing music.
he's the best for me.
JAY TOUGHT ME HOW TO FEEL MUSIC,
I WILL BE ALWAYS THANKFUL FOR THAT...
(Toby is the second after Jay for me)
ABOUT ALBUMS:
i love them all: EOPE , TROSC, TWM, Synk, AFO, Dynamite.
everybody loves first 3 albums but why everybody doesnt like Synkronized? !!
it has SUCH GREAT GENIOUS FANTASTIC TRACKS!!!!
BUTTERFLY is as good as Too Young To Die , or When you gonna learn or Space Cowboy.
all entire synkronized is a masterpiece!!! its a tragedy its so much underestimated by many fans!!!
why many old fans dont like AFO?!!!
toby and jay were proud of it, it has SUCH GREAT TRACKS!!
disco anthems which are so simple, genious, punchy , infectious and groovy!!!!
Little L , Love Foolosophy, YGMS sound like disco hymns!!!!!
BlackCrow...simply genious...
ABOUT CHANGE OF BAND'S DIRECTION FROM JAZZ TO DISCO
Jay wanted to play disco funk music, and style and of course sound of the band began to change more and more with every album!!!
jay even once said his mission is to bring back Disco!!!
Toby once said in interview about TWM album that they wanted to make
more dance floor oriented album, and after several disco tunes in TRAVELLING WITHOUT MOVING
percent of disco increases very very much in Synkronized
and even more in A Funk Odyssey.
however it was not only his but also toby's decision who was main co writer very influenced by jazz in childhood and by the way he was influenced not only with Jazz music but also 70s disco music performers. i e it was toby who played all that fantastic jazzy things and since 3rd album he as well as Jay had a wish to play disco music!!!!!
what has happened was only a change of style,
but quality of music ideas remained the same!!!!
Derrick said in interview about synkronized that they wanted to make disco album
influenced by bands 70s disco bands...
derricks tells:
"Synkronized" is all about dipping into the disco revival -- not to capitalize on bell-bottom nostalgia, but to pay tribute to a genre of music the band loves.
"We're all into the disco thing," he says, "the whole band, and not because there's been a revival. It's because we're genuinely interested in the disco-funk thing. We wanted an up-tempo album that we could party to. Play every track, one after the other, and just enjoy it."
"Synkronized" represents a return for Jamiroquai to its London club-scene roots.
"We're doing that party, clubby, disco thing -- so much so, that we're thinking of doing some really small gigs. That's one of my goals for this year, to do some really small gigs," says McKenzie. "They're a lot more intimate and the people there will be right into it."
and ITS SO COOL they continued their disco direction on AFO...
AFO disco tracks were made together with Toby who moved that jazz direction together with jay on first albums ...
they have written such outstanding AFO disco anthems
like LOVE FOOLOSOPHY or LITTLE L together!!!!
about the fact jay doesnt play instruments
tracks on all albums were basicly written by Jay (some were written together with toby who also did tracks programming and on AFO co writers were toby and rob) , produced and arranged also mostly by Jay.
so basicly what we hear is Jay's ideas.
u said he cant play an instrument, which is true, but he sang all the lines he
was hearing in his head to brass players, to strings section, to bassist, sang beat to drummer
AND ASKED THEM TO REPEAT HIS IDEAS ON INSTRUMENTS!
somebody said i think it was Derrick : u feel as you are invited to take part in Jay's
album... He is a musical leader who decides what to play and what not to play.
the fact he doesnt play instrument makes him even more outstanding,
he takes ideas streight out of his head!!!! he is genious!!!!
its written in many interviews.
about Jackson:
when i was a kid in 80s early Jackson was one of my favourite musicians.
album "Off The Wall" is a masterpiece, which is forever in my heart!!!
to tell the truth i cant say i notice anything reminding Jackson harmonies,
but some mood of it do exist there and its just great!!!!!!!!!!!!
thank you for your great letter,
cheers,
High Times
Last edited by High Times on Fri Jun 10, 2005 15:34; edited 7 times in total |
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High Times
Joined: 25 Oct 2004
Posts: 744
Location: music written by JK/Toby Smith
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| Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2005 14:07 |
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| jamirokaki wrote: |
the MAN who don't play instruments did alone
.....
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Jamirokaki, i love you mate!!!!! 
you are such a great dude!!!!!!!! |
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eg_oreilly
Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Posts: 14
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
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| Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2005 18:15 |
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Hey high times. Thanks for the thoughtful reply.
Hopefully nobody thought that I was slagging on JK for his lack of musical skills - while originally I was disappointed with the current direction, I've accepted it now and can judge it on its own merits, which is why I think Dynamite is great, whereas AFO is uneven and inconsistent but with some really good tracks.
I would say a couple of things, though. I think that the argument that the change in sound is just a shift in direction because they like disco music is oversimplifying things. First off, I think that there are definitely some "disco" tracks on the first 2 albums (Blow Your Mind, Mr. Moon), so it's not as if they were doing nothing but jazz-y noodling on those albums. You can still make "disco" tracks but with an organic sound. Secondly, I can't help but think that J figured out that in terms of commercial success, especially worldwide, the dance floor was his best bet & oriented the band in that direction.
You can still make great songs as a bandleader/vocalist (James Brown, anyone?), but there are certain sounds that can only come out of a (quasi) democratic, live-band environment. The last 2-3 minutes of "Just Another Story" is a prime example, much of "Use the Force" is another. My point is only that JK can't make that style of music by himself, he has to cede some creative control to the bandmembers and record in a live environment with minimal overdubs. Since clearly that's not the direction he's going, it means that we won't see tracks like that again. It doesn't make the current style of Jamiroquai music bad, just different, and makes comparisons between the first 2.5 albums (TWM and Cosmic Girl are the beginning of the transformation) and what has followed pretty much pointless.
I think a lot of people have disliked Synkronized and AFO because (like me) they were adjusting to the new style, and some tracks on those albums to this day I still don't like because they are too heavily synthesized - sorry, if I wanted to listen to Basement Jaxx, I'd pick up that album. What always separated Jamiroquai for me was that they made organic-sounding danceable music with pop hooks, not synthetic-sounding music that wasn't enjoyable outside a dance club, and AFO really went too far in that regard (Twenty-zero 1, main vein, etc.)
Having said that, Synkronized has some brilliant tracks ("Where do we go from here" is just fantastic) and so does AFO (I too love Black Crow even though many people bash it). Great tunes for the car, for a party, etc. What we won't get anymore is "headphone music" where each listen brings out a new nuance.
p.s. to Jamirokaki's point about writing credits....I don't put too much stock in that. How many "Lennon/McCartney" songs after Rubber Soul do you think they actually collaborated on? Writing credits are fairly political by their nature. U2 probably handles this the best, all of their "music by" credits simply say "U2". JK may have "written" space cowboy by himself but he didn't tell Stu exactly how to play all of those delicious bass licks.
p.p.s. "Off the Wall" is genius - I'm old enough to remember rollerskating to "Don't Stop til you Get Enough" as a kid....I think that dates me pretty well.
l8rs |
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eg_oreilly
Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Posts: 14
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
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| Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2005 18:17 |
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| Milagro wrote: |
"Here's hoping for some North American tour dates"
Yeah,let's hope they tour the US! I'm in California and I've never gotten the opportunity to see them in concert. |
I traveled to San Francisco in 97 specifically to see them (@ Bimbo's) and it was one of the best shows I've ever seen (the overpowering secondhand cheeba smoke probably didn't hurt my mood). If we ever get lucky enough to see them again over here, the good news is that most likely it'll be in a smallish venue, as opposed to most countries where Jami plays arenas. |
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High Times
Joined: 25 Oct 2004
Posts: 744
Location: music written by JK/Toby Smith
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| Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2005 18:28 |
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hi again!
just wanted to let you know Rob Harris said he likes early Jackson too!!! |
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orientalfolksong
Joined: 07 Jun 2005
Posts: 23
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| Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2005 00:41 |
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Agree 99% with everything you said!
| eg_oreilly wrote: |
| BTW, am I the only one that hears a strong Jacksons influence on a couple of tracks? Both the vamp out of Give Hate a Chance and particularly the chord change in the middle of the chorus of Time Won't Wait had me scrambling to see where the hell I had "Can You Feel It" by the Jacksons in my collection. Plus of course the "Off the Wall" thing interlaced in Loveblind. |
Prrrrrrecisely! Also compare the melody of the chorus for Starchild with the melody for the chorus of Working Day & Night from the same Off the Wall record. |
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jamirokaki
Expert
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Posts: 3472
Location: basque country
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| Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2005 13:11 |
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Jamirokaki, i love you mate!!!!!
you are such a great dude!!!!!!!!
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thanks high times. i love you too 
you're enthusiasm is just like mine some years ago, and now is getting back thanks to you
| Quote: |
p.s. to Jamirokaki's point about writing credits....I don't put too much stock in that. How many "Lennon/McCartney" songs after Rubber Soul do you think they actually collaborated on? Writing credits are fairly political by their nature. U2 probably handles this the best, all of their "music by" credits simply say "U2". JK may have "written" space cowboy by himself but he didn't tell Stu exactly how to play all of those delicious bass licks.
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i don't know nothing about beatles writing credits or about U2 ones (as i hate them) but in fact i believe Jay had given most of the things in songs as space cowboy, ofcourse as a masterplayer Zender give his own style and his own ideas but the main melody of everything on the song is Jay's as you can see in the vocal-keys solo Jay sing on the demo version
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High Times
Joined: 25 Oct 2004
Posts: 744
Location: music written by JK/Toby Smith
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| Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 13:09 |
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hi guys,
we all have read many times Jay cant read instruments...
but i am going to post a new thread prooving the fact that Jay can play both guitar and piano , of course not as cool as real professional guitarists or keyboard players, but good enough to make up best songs in the world !!!
also i am going to proove my words with quotes from interviews.
maybe not so soon as i am very busy last days.  |
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