Quantcast

Call for Papers: PopMatters Celebrates The Jam in Massive Special Section

Music
cover art

Jamiroquai

Rock Dust Light Star

(Mercury; US: 9 Nov 2010; UK: 1 Nov 2010)

Whenever Jamiroquai comes up in conversation, the words “guilty” and “pleasure” are almost guaranteed to follow. But what’s there to feel guilty about? What Jamiroquai does isn’t hurting anyone, except maybe whatever birds have sacrificed their lush plumage for frontman Jay Kay’s goofy trademark hats.


Jamiroquai is sort of like M*A*S*H, the classic sitcom which squeezed 11 seasons of television out of a three year war. Jamiroquai’s retro-funk sound, nearly two decades along, still mines much of its sound from a period in the mid-‘70s when funk made the coke slide into disco. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, because fans of any artist are fickle, wishing for artistic development on one hand and longing for the sounds of the glory days on the other.


Witness “All Good in the Hood”, (I’ve seen footage of the tony mansion in which Kay and his fleet of sports cars resides, and it’s hardly a “hood”) with its insistent Larry Graham bass and four on the floor dance rhythm.


Even the slow jams (“Blue Skies”) sound either dated or classic, likely depending on whether you love or loathe Jamiroquai. It’s also where the album really stumbles, as there’s way too much of the half-speed stuff. It’s as though Kay’s age is catching up with him, and he needs more breaks in the live set where he can get away with not running up and down a conveyor belt.


There are a few minor tweaks to the Jamiroquai template, like the noisy riffage of “Hurtin’”. But even when injecting a new flavor, Kay and Co. still seem hopelessly devoted to the ‘70s.


Here’s the thing: Like every Jamiroquai album, Rock Dust Light Star is a ton of fun. It shows virtually no development, no nods to anything but its own core sound and nothing to distinguish it from all the albums that came before. And yet it’s still exactly what Jamiroquai should be. Kay still sounds great, and the hired hands that make up the rest of Jamiroquai hit all the right notes in keeping the message unvarnished. Lead single “White Knuckle Ride” could have come from any album in the band’s canon, but so what? It’s ridiculously infectious.


The cover, which features Kay in a hat that looks like it fell off the epaulet of one of Elton John’s old stage outfits, is probably meant to feel like a party. It shows the frontman on stage, facing away from a massive crowd. And maybe that’s meant to come off as inclusive, but what it really feels like—especially with the security-lined chasm between the edge of the crowd and the lighted catwalk on which Kay presumably shimmies—is separation. And that’s okay, because Jamiroquai never wanted to get into your pants anyway. They were always about hitting the dancefloor, even way back when they had a guy playing didgeridoo and feigned political consciousness in their lyrics.


Rock Dust Light Star is thankfully much smoother than its clumsy title. It’s the seventh straight album of mostly identical music released by Jamiroquai, and what else could anyone really want from these guys?

Rating:

Crispin Kott is a father, writer/editor, drummer and gadfly living in Brooklyn, NY. You can find some of his published professional work unprofessionally archived at crispinkott.blogspot.com


Media
Related Articles
18 Jan 2007
Any listener who recognizes that iconic figure with the horns and out-turned feet can attest to Jamiroquai's intoxicating fusion of grooves for the body and mind. This is a must in the discriminating music listener's collection.
15 Jan 2007
The band's danceable sound is best served on this compilation. And, if it leads you to discover any of the soul/funk bands that Jay Kay and co. were influenced by, that's even more of a good thing.
23 Sep 2005
Another 21st century rehash of classic soul, served with a side of disco kitsch.
By Kirsten Koba
10 Sep 2001
Comments
Now on PopMatters
The Walkmen: Heaven (Reviews) [Tue, 2:00 am]
King Tuff: King Tuff (Reviews) [Tue, 2:00 am]
Lake Street Dive: Fun Machine EP (Capsule Reviews) [Tue, 2:00 am]
Theresa Andersson: Street Parade (Reviews) [Tue, 2:00 am]
AlunaGeorge: You Know You Like It EP (Capsule Reviews) [Tue, 2:00 am]
Mean Jeans: Mean Jeans on Mars (Reviews) [Tue, 2:00 am]
Yarn: Almost Home (Capsule Reviews) [Tue, 2:00 am]
Lee Bannon: Fantastic Plastic (Reviews) [Tue, 2:00 am]
Devil May Cry: HD Collection (Reviews) [Tue, 1:00 am]
'Battleship': What Did You Expect? (Short Ends and Leader) [Mon, 2:00 pm]
East Meets Least: 'Thirteen Women' (Short Ends and Leader) [Fri, 4:00 pm]
'Man to Man' is an Early Talkie that's Not Stagey at All (Short Ends and Leader) [Fri, 4:00 pm]
  1. The Top 10 Overplayed Songs You Hate by Artists You Love (Sound Affects)
  2. Tea with 'Sherlock': Investigating the Investigators (Features)
  3. Sunk? This 'Battleship' Stunk! (Short Ends and Leader)
  4. Tenacious D: Rize of the Fenix (Reviews)
  5. Top Ten Lost Midwest Punk Singles (Sound Affects)
  6. 10 Pieces of Cinematic Art That Require Revisiting (Short Ends and Leader)
  7. Like 'Doom', In Heels (Moving Pixels)
  8. Punk Rock's Pet Sounds: An Interview with Bomb the Music Industry! (Features)
  9. She's a Rainbow: A Tribute to Donna Summer (Features)
  10. Counterbalance No. 82: U2's 'Achtung Baby' (Sound Affects)
  11. 'Albatross': A Not-So-Weighty Coming-of-Age Meets Mid-Life-Crisis Film (Reviews)
  12. Counterbalance No. 83: The Stooges' 'Fun House' (Sound Affects)
  13. We Will Avenge Them Or… Be Avenged?: The Individual in the US Experience (Features)
  14. Go Goth!: Ranking the Burton/Depp Collaborations (Short Ends and Leader)
  15. The Queen and Her Crayons: An Interview With Donna Summer (Features)
  16. The Best Canadian Records of the Year? The Fun Agony of Voting for the Polaris Prize Long List (Sound Affects)
  17. Flash Points: Mommy's Breast, Marriage Equality and Why Chipotle Is King (Features)
  18. Something’s Wrong with the Black Widow! (Graphic Novelties)
  19. Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death (Columns)
  20. Killer Mike: R.A.P. Music (Reviews)
  21. Sherlock Holmes, Dirk Gently and the Case of the Eccentric Detective (Columns)
  22. Early Summer 2012 New Music Playlist (Mixed Media)
  23. In Support of Supports (Moving Pixels)
  24. In Defense Of... Rock Radio: A Force in Popular Culture (Columns)
  25. Flash Points: Chicks, Sluts and Facebook (Features)
  26. The Cult: Choice of Weapon (Reviews)
  27. Garbage: Not Your Kind of People (Reviews)
  28. Willie Nelson: Heroes (Reviews)
  29. 'People's Pornography': The Mundanities of Pornography and Surveillance Culture (Reviews)
  30. Like a Jack London Story on Steroids: 'The Grey' (Reviews)
PM Picks
Music Archive
Announcements
Ratings

10 - The Best of the Best

9 - Very Nearly Perfect

8 - Excellent

7 - Damn Good

6 - Good

5 - Average

4 - Unexceptional

3 - Weak

2 - Seriously Flawed

1 - Terrible

© 1999-2012 PopMatters.com. All rights reserved.
PopMatters.com™ and PopMatters™ are trademarks
of PopMatters Media, Inc.

PopMatters is wholly independently owned and operated.
PopMatters is a member of BUZZMEDIA Music, MOG and Guardian Select.