High Times: Singles 1992-2006

A new era in Jamiroquai’s creative work

In early 1990s there appeared a new band in Great Britain with an intriguingly strange name Jamiroquai. The band was then signed to the Acid Jazz label, and soon the name of the recording company stood for a whole musical direction, which the band since had adhered to. Its first single was When You Gonna Learn? It brought a worldwide popularity to front man Jay Kay and his band of musicians. Charismatic and stylish, the singer also possesses extraordinary vocal skills and ability to create unusual melodies, simultaneously catchy and complicated. Later Jamiroquai signed an eight-album record deal with Sony BMG Music Entertainment, and the first album to be released was 1993’s Emergency On Planet Earth; its themes of social consciousness, performed against a jazzy background attracted the audience at once, and the following record The Return Of The Space Cowboy was remarkable for a funkier sounding and new psychedelic elements. This year it’s already the turn for Jamiroquai’s eighth album High Times: Singles 1992-2006, a long-expected collection of the most popular singles. The album closes a whole chapter of Jay Kay’s life and symbolizes the beginning of a new era in the band’s creative work.

High Times: Singles 1992-2006 offers only the best

Jay Kay has been long delaying the release of such record, for he did not want it to consist of only some lucky songs and the rest fillers. Today Jamiroquai has got so many songs worthy of being included into the best collection, that the 19-tracks album High Times: Singles 1992-2006 is hardly enough to satisfy the fans. The record starts with the very first song that presented Jamiroquai to the audience, When You Gonna Learn, addressing to people with advice to be wiser and conscious of their deeds. Too Young To Die is the hit that has been remaining in charts for several weeks. This song expresses a protest against unfair wars and has touched the hearts of many listeners. A very emotional composition Emergency On Planet Earth is from Jamiroquai’s debut album, again calling everybody to pay attention to what is happening in the world. Such songs as Virtual Insanity and Deeper Underground are probably the most famous among numerous Jamiroquai’s creations. Ethereal composition Space Cowboy has become very popular on various radios, while comparatively recent songs Love Foolosophy, Feels Like it Should and (Don’t) Give Hate A Chance are well known to a younger generation. Yet Jamiroquai has saved surprise for the final – two splendid novel tracks: disco-styled composition Runaway and a funny rock number Radio are sure to make you ecstatic. On the whole, from the beginning and till the very end High Times: Singles 1992-2006 offers only the best.

Worrisome truthfulness of Jamiroquai’s music

Jay Kay assured the listeners long ago that each time Jamiroquai releases an album it becomes a hit. High Times: Singles 1992-2006 includes the most outstanding songs that have somehow influenced the whole music industry and remained in many people’s memory forever, though one cannot find here King For A Day and You Give Me Something. New songs add a special value to this record, hinting at the fact that the band is already working on the following creation, and is ready to start a new period in its career. What has always differed Jamiroquai from other bands is the lyrical honesty, Jay Kay’s texts that often deal with some urgent problems and sometimes even turn out to have predicted the future. Nothing is able to change the singer’s opinion and prevent him from giving his music a worrisome truthfulness. Today the front man of Jamiroquai is only 37 years old and his wit gets only sharper as the time passes. Jamiroquai has become the symbol of the British acid jazz movement and the band that has never turned from the direction chosen at the beginning of its work. Listening to High Times: Singles 1992-2006 one can estimate each of the collective members’ evident professional growth and be glad that they are going to present us with immortal creations further on.