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Emergency On Planet Earth

Jamiroquai

1993

Buy At Rough Trade
Emergency On Planet Earth
Album Summary

Emergency on Planet Earth is the debut studio album by English funk and acid jazz band Jamiroquai, released on 14 June 1993 under Sony Soho Square. Prior its release, the band debuted in 1992 with "When You Gonna Learn" under Acid Jazz Records, and front-man Jay Kay was given a major-label deal with Sony Music. The album was produced as Kay formed the band and is characterised by its acid jazz foundations, layers of instrumentation and socially charged lyrics. Critical reviews of the album were generally positive and noted its 1970s stylings. It reached number one in the UK Albums Chart and sold over 1,200,000 copies worldwide. Its single "Too Young to Die" peaked at number 10 in the UK Singles Chart. A remastered version of the album was released in 2013 to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the album's release.

Wikipedia

Rating

3.25

Votes

10652
Genres
Funk

Reviews

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Wed Mar 17 2021
1

“Emergency on Planet Earth” by Jamiroquai (1993) I’ve never heard of this album or this group. Sounds like a white guy trying to make money pretending to be black. And sometimes what it sounds like is exactly what it is. Cultural appropriation at its worst. His faux Stevie Wonder impersonation is embarrassing. Derivative ripoff. I had to skip ahead. It got worse. This album screams. “Look at me! I’m British and I’m so fashionably and counterculturally cool! Buy my CD so I can pay my session musicians!” Good bass player. Nice fluegelhorn. Strings are terrible. There’s a lot that I could say about how poorly this was composed, arranged, performed, mastered, and mixed, but I just don’t want to. Regarding the, ah, lyrics—they lack poetry, and the social commentary is like skipping rocks on a fetid pond. The self awareness in his self aware lyrics is aware of a pretty silly self. “Blow Your Mind” should’ve been titled “Blow Your Alleged Mind”. This album SUCKS. 1/5

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Sat May 22 2021
4

I really enjoyed this album. This is a solid jam/jazz/funk/acid rock offering with lots to dig in to especially if you're musically inclined. The record was joyful and playful and featured impressive musicianship. I especially enjoyed the use of the synth which in no way made the music sound dated (as synths can do). Great record to put on to get people dancing as well.

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Thu Feb 18 2021
3

Don't really have alot to say on this one. It's right in the middle of 3 for me. Nothing that really bothers me per se but nothing that really excites me too much either except maybe the use of the dijeridoo. It just makes me want to listen to Stevie Wonder instead.

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Wed May 12 2021
1

Jamiroquai is an artist I haven't really engaged with before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. This is an album that really draws into focus the fine line between appreciation and appropriation. Unfortunately, I feel like it's more the latter. While the funky grooves are fairly bespoke and well-made, I can't help but feel like the singer is cosplaying as Stevie Wonder circa 1972, and that makes me deeply uncomfortable. Why not just listen to Stevie, instead? The generic "socially conscious" lyrics feel more unintentionally Flight of the Conchords than Marvin Gaye. It's a disservice to all the Black artists they freely lift from. Further, the name (a lazy mashup of jam and Iroquois) and the Indigenous iconography used for the group's buffalo man logo just amplifies my disdain. I'll take a pass. Favourite track: "Blow Your Mind"

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Sun May 23 2021
5

God dammnit this an incredible album. I really struggle to think of any other record that is this interesting AND funky. Out of control momentum that is impossible to stop moving to, I reckon you could power a small Dutch village with the energy this thing emits. Every single track is out of this world but my big highlights are Too Young to Die,and Revolution 1993 (Any track (in the demo) that includes "TAKE IT TO THE BRIDGE" is an obvious 5/5). Fricken sick lead break on Whatever It Is. There's even some bonus cuica in Music Of The Mind. Also my best friend the funky bell sound is back all over it but especially on the opening track and Too Young.

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Thu Jun 10 2021
4

Great album, always loved Jamiroquai

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Fri Jan 14 2022
4

Cet album était de grande, il est en revanche dommage que Jamiroquai se soit endormi sur sa table de mixage. En effet, après 7 sons tous plus impressionnants les uns que les autres, Jami, ayant offert une folle énergie pendant ces plus de 30mn de musique, se trouve en effet un peu las. Le voilà qui se met donc à fermer les yeux quelques secondes pour reprendre ses esprits, mais ces quelques secondes se transformeront en de longues minutes. C'est dommageable, mais n'enlève rien à la qualité de l'album pré-sieste.

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Mon Feb 15 2021
4

I've never listened to Jamiroquai before and had no idea what to expect. But I was very positively surprised! It's an interesting mix of styles, nice to hear some rarely used instruments and a lot of variety.

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Fri Jan 14 2022
4

Après une série catastrophique entamée juste après l'album culte de l'ultra-sexuel Marvin Gaye, la musique de bon goût vient de faire son retour dans le générateur par le biais de Jamiroquai. Pour l'anecdote, à la veille de la sortie de ce premier album, les membres du groupe fêtèrent leur futur succès lors d'une soirée particulièrement arrosée. Malheureusement pour eux, le chanteur ne s'arrêta jamais de gobeloter et s'endormit au petit matin sur la table de mixage allumée le cul à l'air. Résultat des courses : une fin d'album totalement cacophonique doublée d'un xylostome.

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Sat Dec 17 2022
3

An impressively funky debut from the QAnon Shaman, borrowing heavily from Stevie Wonder’s early-mid 70’s output.

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Tue Aug 22 2023
3

I quite liked Jamiroquai when they first appeared with this album. The template is largely based on Stevie Wonder, but given that he hadn't released a good record in over a decade at that point, the funky acid jazz approach was fun, and certainly welcome breather from grunge. The singles are catchy and engaging, but the album drags as it goes on. Eight to ten minute workouts might be fun live, but they tend to outstay their welcome on disc, and the less said about the didgeridoo playing, the better. I did see Jamiroquai at the Sydney Entertainment Centre in 2002. The band was incredibly tight and super professional. I bet they never played a wrong note, and delivered a polished and perfect performance every note. And it was a bit soulless. It was perfectly competent, but never really took off. I mentioned it to my wife, and she has no memory of seeing the show (although she was standing right next to me). And this album is a bit like that; really competent, with good singles, but largely forgettable. Jay Kay was an engaging frontman when this album came out, although as he developed his 'prat in the hat' persona, he became somewhat less likable. I mean, it is hard to take his "peace, love and environment" messages too seriously when all Mr Kay really seemed interested in was shagging models and collecting sports cars (or was it the other way around?). But, as a first start from the gates, they are a cracking and super tight funk band with something to prove, with a charismatic frontman, which felt fun and funky at the time. The singles are pretty damn food, although the album tracks are often not much than a jazzy groove with banal lyrics. Subsequent albums followed the same pattern. I like many Jamiroquai singles and sometimes include them in my DJ sets. But the albums are inessential.

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Tue Oct 11 2022
2

Oof. Jamiroquai is definitely one of those "best in small doses" artist. There's a funk here that's tasty but just too much at an album-level dose. Also, quit it with the scat vocals. Just stop.

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Sun Jan 24 2021
5

Awesomely jazzy and poppy. Such a unique blend.

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Fri Jun 11 2021
5

Loved this- will listen to it again

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Thu Sep 09 2021
5

Funky, politically charged, enjoyable.

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Tue Nov 23 2021
5

Groovin, bumpin, funky, jive, etc. Fantastic

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Tue Nov 23 2021
5

Incredible disco/funk album, start to finish

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Sat Nov 27 2021
5

Groovy, funky and I was literally listening to this two days before it came up in the list. Great musicians playing great songs

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Fri Jan 07 2022
5

I knew I would love this before I even listened!

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Tue Jan 18 2022
5

Best Song: Too Young to Die. Dancy, groovy, with a hint of melancholy lyrics. Absolute jam. Worst Song: There isn't one. Overall: May more lyrically interesting than I expected, full of dark gems mixed with funky, high energy music that makes you want to move. Feels like the dance album for the apocalypse. "Death can seem to bear no relevance Bet you wished you'd danced to the music What you want to do is kill yourself Still you don't dance to the music"

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Wed Jun 23 2021
4

I really enjoyed this album. Modern Jazz with a hip beat.

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Thu Jan 14 2021
4

Fun vibes. Love that Jamiroquai sound!

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Mon Jun 14 2021
4

funky and fresh. I should have been listening to this when it came out. Already warranted a replay.

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Fri Mar 10 2023
4

dancing walking rearranging furniture

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Tue Feb 13 2024
4

Jamiroquai's "Emergency on Planet Earth" is an infectiously groovy mix of funk, jazz, soul and disco. From start to finish there's catchy and infectious Stevie Wonder inspired rhythms. The bass in particular is fantastic. The instrumentation is rich with with added horns and percussions and of course Jay Kay's voice. A wonderful record to relax or dance to. And really, don't get me started on people complaining about cultural appropriation and 'white guy trying to sound black.' Culture is a mosaic, not a monolith, and it is improved, not damaged, when people incorporate pieces from other sounds or cultures that inspired them. How is honoring your favourite artists, in Jamiroquai's case Stevie Wonder, all of a sudden not done? It's an enjoyable funky record, clearly inspired by some of worlds greats.

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Sat Feb 27 2021
3

realtively enjoyable album, even if it was a bit long but the weird noises in some of the songs brought it down

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Mon Apr 26 2021
3

Some great tracks but too many weaker filler tracks for a 4*

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Sat Apr 23 2022
3

Is Jamiroquai good? I didn't know. I assumed they were annoying, but for no good reason. Bold cover. Let's give it a listen. Is that a digeridoo? That's fun. But I'm getting a strong hint of "I wish I were Stevie Wonder". Which I guess fair enough. Love the horns, strings, all the layers really. Sharp and clean. Funky. Having just done the Shaft soundtrack this album suffers in contrast, but still pretty good. Not sure it brings anything new to the table, though, more homage making than ground breaking. As a whole the album also lacks the attitude, joy, spark, conviction, magic, something to really put it over the line for me. I looked up a video to round out my impression and got "Virtual Insanity" which is again clever but not quite there, like if OK Go had just one idea and didn't push it to the point of joy. All the ingredients are there for this to be an enjoyable listen. But they don't quite come together like I want them to. I don't know. Maybe it is the cultural appropriation elephant in the room making me queasy. Without any context I might give this four stars, but I'm sticking with a "pretty good" three star rating because, well, context.

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Mon May 09 2022
3

I thought I was going to enjoy the funk, but it was way too repetitive to enjoy. I think the groovy bass keeps this at 3 stars, however.

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Tue Jul 26 2022
3

Sweet 70s funk repackaged for the 90s kids with vocals from a Stevie Wonder impersonator. The overwrought sloganeering combined with tone-deaf appropriation doesn't hold up well. Also the inclusion of a didgeridoo doesn't make this "world-music inspired", just annoying. Cynicism aside, musically, I love the band's influences as much as they clearly do and they do groove. 3.5 rounded down because Jay Kay is pretty repulsive.

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Sat Sep 03 2022
3

I *hated* this band when I was a kid, didn't see the point and didn't know much of the music they were ripping off. I must have mellowed, because I thought this was ok. Only ok, but there's no way I would have given it more than one star a few years ago!

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Fri Sep 09 2022
3

Nice synth-laced jazzy jams. Maybe a bit too close to Stevie Wonder at times. Would have been a nice contrast to all the Grunge at the time.

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Tue Oct 04 2022
3

Very interesting and surprising album, definitely an aquired taste. The music wasnt bad per se, but the songs went on for too long and the album was almost more fit as background music

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Tue Oct 04 2022
3

I can always appreciate good musicians, but jamming is only enjoyable for the musicians taking part in it, and the songwriting takes a back seat. The vocals were too much of a Stevie Wonder imitation.

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Fri Oct 14 2022
3

very jazzy and funny good good - didn’t feel too underwhelming but maybe my expectations were low. will definitely revisit. highlights: title track, revolution 1993, low 3.5

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Tue Oct 18 2022
3

I was expecting something completely different from Jamiroquai, which speaks to my severe lack of understanding of their genre. I thought they were more 90s alt-pop oriented and I tried a couple of their later songs and none of them were what I had in my head either. I sure wasn’t expecting funk infused acid jazz. I like both elements and I like the fusion. Of the two, I am excited by the funk aspects more. They make me want to get up and dance. I fully understand no one wants to see that, but the music does inspire it. The acid jazz aspects are interesting too, but ultimately they let me down. Jamiroquai just can’t help improvising and grooving as evidenced by 8+ minute Blow Your Mind and 10+ minute Revolution 1993. Had they stuck to tighter arrangements, I would gladly bump this another star. As constructed, it’s an album I’m perfectly happy to listen to, I’d want to dance to it, and get funky.

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Tue Oct 18 2022
3

My panties are unbunched. Not only can I not listen to this album without visualizing that stupid fuzzy hat, I can't even think of the name Jamiroquai without seeing that bizarre choice of headgear. That said, I was able to carry on through the album despite fuzzy-chapeau distractions dancing through my head. And it turned out "Virtual Insanity" was nowhere to be found here. Unless that applies to the crazy dancing behatted man in my daydreams. The fusion of jazz and funk often worked for me, the more disco-y bits not as much. Overall I liked "Emergency On Planet Earth" more than I thought I would.

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Mon Oct 24 2022
3

Stevie Wonder if he were in a jam band. And couldn't play instruments. And couldn't write bangers.

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Sat Dec 10 2022
3

I have listened to Emergency On Planet Earth at least once before, to see what other music Jamiroquai has made besides the track "Virtual Insanity" (which is not on this album). In general, I like Jamiroquai. I'm not sure how to classify his music - it's got some funk to it, but I don't know enough about Funk and related genres to know how to describe this music. I liked the didgeridoo on various tracks ("Diggin' Out" was my highest rated individual track"). I'm willing to hear more from Jamiroquai, but this time through the album wasn't enough to round up to 4 stars.

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Fri Dec 16 2022
3

Danced for a bit then the vocalist started to annoy me a bit

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Sun Jan 08 2023
3

Im torn between 3 and 4 on this one. This was my first listen of Jamiroquai outside of thier "Virtual Imsanity" song. Even that song, I sum up as entertaining at the least. Very reminiscent of Stevie Wonder.

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Thu Mar 23 2023
3

I've taken some time to rate this album. The more I think about Jamiroquai the lower the rating goes. I'm now at a 3. As the music receded, I'm left considering a silly little white guy singing black music, dressed as a native American and preaching environmental messages from behind the wheel of a gas-guzzling supercar. In a few hours I'll probably regret rating it so highly and I'll have to console myself with the memory of the time that photographer broke Jay Kay's nose with an epic headbutt.

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Wed Mar 29 2023
3

Can see why Jan likes this, very funky. That being said the songs can be quite long and other than a few they are quite mediocre so 3/5 for me

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Fri Apr 28 2023
3

I always thought of Jamiroquai as a singles band, but this album proved me wrong. The acid jazz mixed with Jay Kay’s compelling vocals make for an enjoyable spin. They would drive this formula to poppier heights, but this debut is a fresh introduction. It’s a little drawn out at points and doesn’t flow like a cohesive album should, but there are plenty of highlights.

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Mon May 01 2023
3

Funky, positive, but so so SOOOOOO same-ish. Is Jamiroquai's entire catalogue just ONE SONG?!

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Wed May 10 2023
3

This record is so close to a 4 for me. Def I have a lot of familiarity - people around me were listening to Jamiroquai like crazy in those days. Ultimately this record is just missing that key ingredient of a couple of really truly amazing tracks that reel you in and force you to appreciate the deeper aspects of the rest of it. An excellent record but not quite to the level of great.

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Fri Jun 23 2023
3

An interesting mix of styles but falls flat in the middle, yet I bump it up to a 3 instead of going down to a 2

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Thu Jul 20 2023
3

Full of hope for this, but it's not as good as I'd hoped for. The lead singer did make an arse of himself in a coastal town that I taught near many years ago mind.

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Mon Sep 11 2023
3

The other reviews were not kidding, this guy really wants to be Stevie Wonder, but I think he wanted to do so out of inspiration, not to make money off his style. I was hopeful for this album because of this common comparison as well as "acid jazz" being listed within the subgenres, but I sadly found a lot of this album just okay. None of it really had that punch I find Wonder's music to contain, and no real slow tracks had the album start to feel monotonous more than something to get up and dance to. Everything here is solid enough, but I can live with one or two tracks from this guy and don't need a whole album. Also, say it with me everyone! TOO. LONG. Normalize thirty-five minute albums again.

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Thu Oct 19 2023
3

I have something against Jamiroquai, even not being a frequent listener. I don't know what, but I always turn off my brain every time I try to listen to any of their songs. However, respecting the 1001 challenge, I tried this one and surprisingly enjoyed some songs. I still think they sound childish somehow (no explanations, just feelings), but now I can at least listen to 1 of their albums. I'll not try the others. Let's keep this relation in a good status.

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Thu Oct 19 2023
3

I felt pretty neutral on this album. It's a solid jazz album, nothing great nothing bad, but as someone else wrote which I completely agree with, it makes me want to listen to Stevie Wonder instead.

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Wed Oct 25 2023
3

C'est musicalement très solide et très bien composé. Les musiciens et le chanteur ton clairement tous talentueux. Par contre, c'est un style qui m'attire un peu moins donc j'ai trouvé l'album un peu long. Ça dérive un peu trop de ses influences qui sont clairement ancrées dans le disco et le funk des années 70. Un album d'une très bonne qualité, mais probablement pas le genre que je réécouterais de façon régulière. 7/10

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Fri Nov 10 2023
3

Some chaotic, some good and funky

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Mon Jun 21 2021
2

As a dance album this is great, for just easy listening it's lacking the variation in tempo and composition to make it more than background music.

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Thu Feb 11 2021
2

Kinda receptive boring, songs were too long, no saves, although it had some nice vocals at times 2.5

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Tue Mar 09 2021
2

I remember this group from the 1990s. They were big in the UK at least. I never heard this debut album before. It's an energetic funk record with strong elements of jazz, soul, disco, etc. I can see why they were popular at the time, since they have a more exciting sound than most chart-topping pop. However, the problem with these kinds of "revival" style is that the earlier stuff inspiring it is normally better. So, in this case, I'd much rather go back and listen to the greats of funk, jazz, etc., rather than a slick 1990s update of it. After much thought, I've decided I don't really care about originality... but if you are creating sounds that already exist, you need to do it with a sense of "authenticity" I guess? This feels a bit like a plasticky pastiche of some better music that came before. Also, I always found the frontman insufferably annoying, so maybe all of this is my own prejudice against him. In any case, 2/5 to give credit for good musicianship and the mostly groovy results.

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Tue Mar 16 2021
2

I hadn't seen any of the music videos before and watched them while listening to the album. This guy is a fucking chode. This is chode music for chode people. It sounds like disco meets 90s R&B. This gets 2 stars because at least the musicians are good. If you take out the singer, it is okay background music. I just learned about this guy and already I hate him. Who goes by Jay Kay? "You can call me Jay, you can call me Kay, but dont' you call me Jay Kay." Uggghhh

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Wed May 12 2021
2

This album definitely has some funky grooves but through the entire listen I thought they were trying to hard to sound like Stevie Wonder and not getting there both through the music and the message. They could be a decent Stevie Wonder cover band. Having said that the listen was okay. Give it 2 to 2 1/2 stars musically.

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Thu Jul 01 2021
2

Possibly Manchester's best Stevie Wonder impersonator.

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Tue Oct 12 2021
2

The tunes themselves are not bad, but like someone else commented, there definitely is a fine line between appreciation and appropriation.

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Tue Nov 02 2021
2

This is a white dude doing a poor Stevie Wonder impression AND there's a didgeridoo on multiple tracks. I'm more of a didgeri-don't. Plus 1 star because the bass player knows what he's doing. Best track: Blow Your Mind

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Fri Nov 19 2021
2

A Stevie wonder rip-off that hasn't really dated well. Lots of people loved it when I was young, which is fine, but it was always irritating to me - especially the lyrics

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Tue Dec 07 2021
2

Sounds like this could be a decent Stevie Wonder tribute band, but instead we get this rather middle-of-the-road soul/funk/disco album filled with weak songs. There is no didgeridoo in the world that can mask that.

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Tue Mar 15 2022
2

It was a wave of nostalgia and the the cultural appropriation realization kicked in - the 90s innocence of a random Brit who scats mediocrely adopting the name of an American tribe he has nothing to do with it and littering the didgeridoo throughout an slightly overlong and plodding album… at times it’s good - but it peters off sharply towards the end. The musicianship is virtuosic but there are few songs that are memorable here. Jay has a couple stronger albums than this - despite being more banker w*nk later on with songs about fast cars and yuppie love.

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Thu Apr 07 2022
2

I guess this was unique when it first came out: some white guys from the UK doing soul and funk, but now that everyone and their dog has copied this sound it no longer feels very fresh. The most creative part is the digeridoo on the first and last songs, but rest sort of melds together into a gelatinous blob of recycled funk and derivative vocals.

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Fri Apr 08 2022
2

This shit is way too cheesy for me to really enjoy. It's fun music, I just can't vibe with it as much as I want to. Listen to Stevie Wonder instead.

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Tue Apr 19 2022
2

Musically I thought it was ok, tolerable...lyrically etc. I kinda felt, this guy sounds like a douchenozzle high on his own supply. Then I looked up mr. Jaykay and found the internet seemed to agree with this assessment. It is rare and lofty air when you can transmit your assholishness through the medium, so for that he gets two stars.

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Sat May 14 2022
2

I really wanted to enjoy this album. Every song felt longer than it should've been. Each instrumental break was messy and lacklustre. Lyrically, there are some interesting subject matters but with no assertion. This album made the idea of starting a revolution seem boring.

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Tue May 17 2022
2

Another artist that I'm afraid I come to with some prejudice. I find it difficult to separate the music from the lifestyle. Neither are for me, tbh. This isn't a bad album. It's got a good groove running throughout. Yer man can clearly hit the right notes. I think I'd rather explore early 70's funk if I was in the mood.

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Tue May 31 2022
2

I've left the continent of my birth once. I was ten, flew to Australia with People to People, away from my homeschool milieu long enough to suffer double humiliation: Confessing a crush and earning a nickname by being sick the whole time. But when I met my mom in the airport after those two weeks, I had at least two trophies with me: A barf bag from the plane - mercifully empty - and a CD of didgeridoo music. I tortured my family with that album periodically, a sibling tradition to that time I made my dad listen to Christmas music on repeat as we drove from Missouri to California. So when I heard the instrument opening Emergency, I got excited. There's the promise of novel fusion in that choice. Sadly, the rest of the project failed to carry the baton all that far. Serviceable, the tracks drag towards the penultimate, ten-minute cut. That ended up being better than expected, thankfully. But Didgin' Out is, in the end, a whimper, and that pretty much broke me for Jamiroquai. Could have added something to the music it worshiped, but didn't.

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Thu Jun 02 2022
2

I am immediately skeptical of funk music made by white guys (especially ENGLISH white guys), and frontman Jay Kay has an, uh, interesting appreciation for indigenous cultures. I'll say this much: it's clearly evident how much this sound influenced pop music to come. Production is tight and lively, providing stark contrast from the plastic-y production of the 80's. Jay Kay is also a talented enough songwriter that the songs are fun and listenable. That's all the good things I have to say about it. I simply find this out-of-time funk to be too watered down to be good. It's a poor mimic of the funk of the 60's and 70's. The acid jazz is particularly frustrating, which is used more as a prop for the music rather than actually appreciating jazz for it's deep and complex history in music. I feel a deep resentment towards this music for being so vapid, so vain. Whenever read the lyrics I want to strangle Jay Kay. Despite being so competently made, it comes close to having a net negative value on music as a whole.

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Wed Jun 22 2022
2

Very future funk. I feel like the influence (Stevie Wonder) is so obvious you'd be forgiven from considering this a pastiche. It's good, talented, the whole record is just a little samey and not for me. Favorite track: "Hooked Up"

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Tue Jul 12 2022
2

Like a young Stevie wonder with no melodies or bars

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Mon Aug 29 2022
2

Jamiroquai has some amazing singles (Virtual Insanity, Canned Heat, Deeper Underground) but then I listen to their albums and forget they’re a jazz-funk outfit. And the rest of the albums are digressions into that. Not for me

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Tue Oct 25 2022
2

Some of its fun but ultimately a little underwhelming

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Thu Oct 27 2022
2

Doesn't do much for me. Maybe a song or two, but the whole album is a bit much of the same.

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Wed Nov 16 2022
2

1.When you gonna learn that it sucks 2.Too young to want to listen to this again 3.Not hooked up 4.If I don't like it, I still listen to it cause that's the point if this silly challenge 5.Music of the boredom 6.Emergency in my ears 7.Whatever it is, I just can't stop hating it 8.Won't blow your mind 9.Certainly didn't make a revolution in 1993 10. I'm out

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Wed Nov 16 2022
2

The idea of having a modernized funk album in the early nintenies is rather bold and refreshing for the time. My problem with Jamiroquai is that he sounds phony, you never know if he takes his approach seriously or if he's tongue in cheek, and that bothers me. That and the fact that his compositions gets redundant after a few songs. Always the same melodies, rhythms, this album could use of some dynamics.

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Sat Nov 19 2022
2

I've tried to like these in the past but I just can't get on with them. Overindulgent noodling about, and JayKay just annoys me. Marks for clear musical talent, but it's not for me.

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Fri Nov 25 2022
2

Do I really have to listen to a neo-funk album from that white band led by the lame guy in the cheesy hat? How is this one of the 1001 most essential albums of all time? Have these people listened to music? There is music out there. Music worth listening to. Music that isn't this. No one goes to a garbage dump and reviews the mounds of trash. This is absurd. No one passes off rotting meat as culinary greatness. Who compiled this? Who conceived of this? Who thought this garbage was noteworthy? Not music fans. Not people who spend time listening to music outside the top 40. Not people who have listened to thousands of artists and tens of thousands of albums. This is essential to people who think Dave Mathews is impressive. Is this terrible? No. Is this noteworthy? Absolutely, positively, unequivocally, fuck no.

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Sat Dec 31 2022
2

James Brown and Stevie Wonder were put on this Earth for a reason; this was not the reason.

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Thu Jan 05 2023
2

Even back when it was fresh, hip, and popular, there was something about Jamiroquai's music that really got under my skin. I can't say exactly what it was, but it definitely had to do with the vocal qualities and the pretend funk rhythms. Things are way worse now, when it's hard to listen to the music and figure out how it was ever popular.

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Fri Mar 03 2023
2

So I already know this album is going to kick ass. A couple songs in, my main fear is that it's going to be pretty linear. I like Jamiroquai, but I don't know his discography extensively. Still, I have liked what I heard. I think this album is more of a vibe-setter than an album with a lot to say. As it goes on, I think my suspicion is likely correct. I'm not finding individual tracks that jump out to me, but the whole album is kind of a jam to have on while I'm working. I did really like Revolution 1993, and the last track of disc 1, the didgeridoo track, is pretty boss. Before that though, there had been a long stretch of background music. As I get to the end of the back half, I'm finding to my dismay that there were no real revelations here - mostly lengthy remixes that didn't add much to the original version, and a couple of new tracks that are also rambly, meandering, and sadly underwhelming. The risk sometimes with an album made with a nostalgic lens is that it only manages to capture, not improve upon, the standard it is in tribute to. This album is funky and jazzy, but only as much as it needs to be to be a funk album. It doesn't feel like it brings anything new to the table. I'm bummed out.

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Mon Mar 27 2023
2

oscar wilde once said, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery…” but people often forget the second half of wilde’s saying “…that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” listening to jamiroquai’s obnoxiously derivative record Emergency on Planet Earth, that second half of wilde’s saying is ringing so loud and true. of course the results of a white man cosplaying stevie wonder is staunch mediocrity; such ugly middling nothingness that overstays its welcome and overshoots its ambitions, ending up an unseasoned pot of tunes that have been done better a million times before. all this isn’t to say jamiroquai’s brand of acid funk and jazzy tunes is completely without merit (influence is a beautiful thing, and there’s maybe a brief argument to made about his appreciation of the genres), but gosh it’s all so uninspired; this is a drugstore take on a sound made luxurious by funk pioneers who delicately carved a sonic style out of callused hands. it makes sense they never had any crossover success in the US: their music is borderline caricatural, and i’d rather listen to stevie wonder, thank you very much. [“Revolution 1993” is however, a banger…]

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Mon May 15 2023
2

Funky acid jazzy, plus en sons qu'en paroles, musique d'ascenseur / d'ambiance de 5 à 7 de bureau.

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Wed May 12 2021
1

I'm gonna have to side with Nick's review on Emergency on Planet Earth, as most of this album feels contrived, with Jamiroquai stepping into a style that was historically marketable. However, the historical appropriation of cultural music/stylings of black American musicians by white British musicians is well documented, so this whole project feels uncomfortable to listen to.

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Tue Mar 08 2022
1

1 point for the bassist. 0 points for everything else.

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Sat Apr 03 2021
5

I only listened to most of the album, but I already loved Jamiroquai, so it was good.

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Thu Nov 11 2021
5

I haven't heard much of Jamiroquai before now, but it's definitely better than I imagined. Everything has a good sound that always keeps up the vibe. Very nice music, more of something to just chill and groove to than keep on in the background, but I'm not complaining. And a late happy 25th to Traveling Without Moving!

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Tue Jan 11 2022
5

not a perfect straight through listen, but 5 for the course correction from metal this helped with!

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Fri Jan 21 2022
5

Very interesting, much more than I was expecting

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