Emergency On Planet Earth

There is something enormously appealing about the sheer brio of _Emergency on Planet Earth_. Jamiroquai’s debut does not sound like a group nervously introducing itself, cautiously displaying a few influences and hoping somebody might let them make another record. It sounds like a band that has already decided exactly what sort of music it wants to play, has assembled musicians capable of playing it extraordinarily well, and sees no reason whatsoever to apologise for taking six, eight or ten minutes to make its point. That confidence is one of the album’s great strengths. It is also connected to what eventually became my principal reservation about it. Jamiroquai are already so fluent in the language of jazz-funk that sometimes the fluency itself threatens to erase the individual songs. I repeatedly found myself admiring the musicianship more readily than distinguishing the compositions. That is hardly a devastating criticism. The musicianship is superb. From the opening of _When You Gonna Learn?_ there is an obvious seriousness about the playing. The didgeridoo initially provides this almost fixed tonal floor, above which some unexpectedly lovely chord changes begin to move. The bass playing is terrific: mobile, melodic and busy without ever pulling against the pocket. The didgeridoo itself quickly stops functioning as the exotic 1993 accessory it could so easily have become. Wallis Buchanan actually plays the thing rhythmically. By the middle break it is properly integrated into the groove. Then there is Jay Kay. At this point in his career he strikes me as a much, much more developed vocalist than he is a lyricist. His rhythmic instinct is extraordinary. He does not merely sing over the band; he sits within it, moves ahead of it, hangs behind it and occasionally seems to join the rhythm section altogether. Towards the end of _When You Gonna Learn?_ he begins singing around his own repeated vocal figure, and whether that underlying part was looped or repeatedly sung is almost beside the point. The pleasure comes from hearing his voice become musical material in itself. That distinction between Kay the singer and Kay the writer keeps returning throughout the album. His lyrics are often basic, sometimes earnest to the point of danger, and occasionally only just this side of absurdity. Yet “basic” turned out to be too dismissive a description, because there are also moments where plain speaking becomes the whole point. _Too Young to Die_ is the first place where I really noticed that. It begins beautifully, with clipped staccato strings doubled by electric piano. The arrangement is much less kitchen-sink than the opener, but no less sophisticated. It is another example of something Jamiroquai do very well throughout the album: putting serious harmonic and arranging intelligence around a funk groove without choking it. The lyric is anti-war, and much of it is hardly Dylan, but then Kay sings, “Here I am assuming that nobody wants a war,” and the very lack of rhetorical sophistication becomes rather affecting. It sounds like baffled common sense. After everything that had happened in the years immediately preceding the album, there is something almost childlike in the question: if nobody actually wants this, how do we repeatedly arrive here? That is quite different from sophisticated political analysis, but it is not necessarily inferior as communication. Kay often seems to begin with the obvious human proposition and work outward. The strongest version of his protest is not “I have solved the machinery of power”; it is “surely we can at least agree that this is insane.” Again, however, the best part of _Too Young to Die_ may be the vocalised chorus. Kay becomes more interesting the moment he stops having to explain anything. His voice has such rhythmic personality that nonsense syllables can communicate more effectively than several lines of argument. The track also has a personal geography for me now. Liz has a Jamiroquai compilation in her car, and for reasons entirely unrelated to the content of the song, _Too Young to Die_ always seems to be playing on the descent of Drynie Hill. It has happened often enough that the two things are welded together. I now hear the song and partly see that Scottish landscape. I have the same relationship between Sleaford Mods’ _Strike Force_ and Euston Station. I used to put _Divide and Exit_ on at a sufficiently consistent point in the journey that _Strike Force_ would be playing when I got off the train and walked along the platform towards the Tube. Neither song has anything intrinsically to do with its location, but repetition has given both of them geography. Music acquires places accidentally. _Hooked Up_ is more urgent. The beat is fast, the harmonic centre feels less stable, and Kay’s delivery matches the pressure. Its anti-drug argument is essentially that music and drugs are both means of escape, so choose the one that does not carry the same mortal cost. Dance or jack up, basically. It is not a nuanced drugs policy, but again there is something coherent about it within the album’s worldview. Kay is not rejecting transcendence or escape. Quite the opposite. He is arguing for another route towards it. Movement, rhythm, collective musical release: these are offered as alternatives to chemical surrender. Then _If I Like It, I Do It_ follows, which initially makes the sequencing look rather funny. Having just warned against one form of indulgence, Kay apparently announces that he will do whatever he likes. But the song is really about autonomy. Its slightness disguises the fact that it functions as a little manifesto. Keep enough control over your own life to recognise the compromises around you. Do not surrender agency to drugs, convention, destructive systems or somebody else’s expectations. By this point the album begins to reveal a coherent philosophical thread. Wake up. Stay autonomous. Refuse numbing. Notice what is wrong. Move your body. Act. It is hardly Marx. It is more like: free your mind and the revolution will follow. There is something of Parliament-Funkadelic’s broader logic in that. The funk will set you free. Liberation is not purely intellectual. It is physical, social and rhythmic. You escape deadened thinking partly by inhabiting yourself differently. _Music of the Mind_ then removes the manifesto altogether and lets the musicians speak. The Headhunters-era Herbie Hancock influence is particularly strong here, and the Fender Rhodes playing is gorgeous. This is proper Rhodes: warm, bell-like, harmonically rich, capable of being both a chordal instrument and another component of the rhythm section. The track begins slowly and with considerable ease, then glides into double-time with remarkable smoothness. Suddenly it has propulsion without feeling as though somebody has shouted “faster.” What I particularly enjoyed was its meandering quality. It travels quite a long way, but afterwards it is genuinely difficult to remember exactly how it got from one place to another. The transitions are so organic that the joins disappear. One state simply becomes another. This is where Jamiroquai’s long-form instincts become particularly impressive. They understand that an extended groove does not have to mean eight minutes of the same thing. They can let a section breathe, alter the internal energy, break something down, rebuild it and arrive somewhere new without drawing a thick line around every section. The title track brought my central reservation into focus. Once again the playing is excellent. Once again there are lovely harmonic details. Once again the band settles confidently into its jazz-funk language. But by this point I could feel individual tracks beginning to blur. Jazz-funk has a peculiar capacity to cleave to anonymity when played extremely well. That sounds unfair, because the individual musicians are anything but anonymous. The problem is almost the opposite: everybody understands the idiom so completely that there are moments when the idiom itself becomes the most memorable feature. I like funk. I like jazz. I like certain kinds of jazz-funk very much. But _Headhunters_ leaves stronger individual landmarks in my memory than much of this album does. Hancock’s grooves can stretch, but they retain peculiar shapes and events that make them unmistakable. Likewise, if we are going to make the inevitable Stevie Wonder comparison, Stevie’s instincts for song architecture are sharper. The hook, harmonic turn, arrangement decision or melodic idea tends to become inseparable from the individual song. _Emergency on Planet Earth_ is sometimes brilliantly played but well behaved. That phrase became important to me. I apparently want friction inside the accompaniment. I like something to argue with the arrangement: a bass line pulling sideways, an abrasive guitar tone, an unexpected accent, a harmonic corner, some dirt under the fingernails. I was always more of a James Taylor Quartet man when it came to acid jazz, and this album helped me understand why. I like the language with a little more grit in it. The title track does, however, represent a marked improvement in Kay’s lyric writing. When he moves away from broad exhortation and becomes concrete, the words suddenly acquire teeth. The contrast between white and black sentencing, and the image of a starving child kept away from television advertising because seeing him might put consumers off their food, are much stronger than “save the world” generalities. He becomes accusatory rather than merely concerned. _Whatever It Is, I Just Can’t Stop_ then provides exactly the musical friction I had been wanting. It is drum-and-bass led, angular, full of stop-start accents that keep interrupting the easy flow of the groove. There is a guitar solo with precisely the right amount of dirt. The Headhunters influence is obvious, but this is one of the occasions where wearing somebody else’s clothes does not particularly bother me. We all start wearing other people’s clothes. The Cramps assembled themselves from Nervous Norvus, Hasil Adkins, Link Wray, rockabilly, garage records, trash culture and goodness knows what else, then committed so completely that the borrowed materials became unmistakably theirs. Borrowing is rarely the interesting question. The more useful question is whether you understand what you have borrowed, and whether you have enough commitment to inhabit it. Jamiroquai certainly understand their sources. This is not funk signifier bingo. They understand space, pocket, harmonic movement, rhythmic displacement and ensemble interplay. The issue is simply that on this debut they have not yet transformed every influence into an accent nobody else could speak. _Blow Your Mind_ briefly suspends the planetary emergency because Kay has met a woman. Apparently environmental collapse can wait eight and a half minutes. The lyrics are hilariously conventional: love you, need you, squeeze you, you blow my mind. On paper there is almost nothing there. Yet Kay handles them extremely well. His rhythmic instincts and sheer vocal charisma rescue material that should collapse into boilerplate. He could probably sing the ingredients on the side of a Corn Flakes packet. The track is wonderfully smooth, with more lovely chord changes and a particularly elegant passage where Kay’s scat vocal moves in unison with muted trumpet, creating a kind of hybrid voice. Around 4:40 the arrangement breaks down and resets, giving the track fresh air before it continues. Again, the band understands how to manage duration. That produced another of the album’s central contradictions for me: Its smoothness is both wondrous and its weakness. The smoothness is genuinely pleasurable. This is beautifully made, beautifully played music. But polish removes resistance, and resistance is often what gives a piece of music its individual personality. _Revolution 1993_ largely solves that problem. The opening drumming is martial but funky. The track has an angry, busy, hypnotic groove, and Kay’s politics move from commentary towards mobilisation. The resistance has had enough. “A revolution is the only way we can change” is hardly a sophisticated revolutionary programme, but sophistication is not really what the song is attempting. The call-and-response between Kay and the backing singers is superb. It turns the performance from an individual declaration into something resembling a rally. Voices answer voices, the rhythm keeps pressing forward, and the ten-minute duration allows urgency to accumulate rather than dissipate. This is where the album’s willingness to breathe pays off most convincingly. _Revolution 1993_ could not simply be transferred elsewhere on the album. It has grit. It has a strong rhythmic identity. It feels angry in a way the smoother tracks do not. It uses repetition to whip itself up. Ten minutes is an extraordinary amount of vinyl real estate to give a song on a debut album, but that kind of confidence runs through the entire record. This band trusts its groove. It believes that if a groove deserves eight minutes, you give it eight minutes. If it deserves ten, you give it ten. The little closing instrumental _Didgin’ Out_ then brings the didgeridoo completely forward. The instrument that announced itself at the beginning of the album now becomes the central groove. That makes a surprisingly satisfying bookend. It confirms that the didgeridoo was not merely decoration or novelty. Breath, drone and rhythm are enough to close the record. By the end I was comfortably at four stars rather than five, although the 1001 piece does not need that number attached to it. The distinction is useful to my thinking, though. There is too much here that I admire for the album to be anything less than very good: astonishingly assured playing, rich harmony, wonderful Rhodes, a terrific rhythm section, intelligent arrangements, an exceptional rhythmic vocalist, genuine political conviction and an unusual willingness to let songs occupy as much space as they need. What stops it reaching the next level for me is not derivativeness. Almost everybody starts from derivation. Nor is it really the occasionally naïve lyricism, because Kay’s delivery often makes those weaknesses irrelevant and sometimes his plain speaking becomes unexpectedly powerful. It is distinctiveness. This is a debut by musicians who already know exactly how to speak their chosen language. They speak it with astonishing confidence and considerable joy. What they have not yet completely discovered is how to make every sentence something that could only have been spoken by them. But as a debut, what extraordinary brio.

groovy e dançante. gostei bastante, mas não o suficiente pra tacar logo um 4, então vai um 3,5.

I avoid investigating unfamiliar artists and albums on this list until I have listened to the album a few times. I will admit that I confused Jamiroquai with Tony! Toni! Tone!. I realize the similarities largely stop at a band with actual instruments during the rap era. I will also admit that if I knew about the band’s British background it would have “colored” my listening. Instead of rating them as a funky, lively, Stevie Wonder infused group, I would have gotten annoyed by their jam band tendencies. For instance, “Brothers Like You” has a great groove with insinuating bass line, but the ad-libbing singing towards the end sounds a bit rote. The same goes for “God Made Me Funky,” which rattles on with an extended saxophone. For these tracks lack of investigation proved a detriment as they are the dreaded 20th anniversary bonus tracks. The actual album mostly avoids these extended passages while thumping along with danceable hand-clapping. This band succeeds because the drummer, while busy, delivers ear-catching percussion, while the bassist drives nearly every song as both a lead instrument and foundation. The singer managed to hold my interest, or at least not annoy me. “Too Young to Die” aped Stevie a bit too much, but luckily he steps out of the way enough to allow the band to shine. With my mind, maybe I will forget Jamiroquai’s origin again to allow me an unfettered experience in the future.

i wish i could downvote comments on this page. great album

this album slaps. it's not their best one ("traveling without moving"), but it's great. very groovy. stuart zender is a beast on the bass. cultural appropriation? lol. get real dudes. people can play whatever kind of music they want to.

At times, this sounds like Herbie Hancock’s 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘏𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 being repurposed for an aerobics class. There’s plenty of movement, but I’m not convinced we’re getting anywhere. The musicians certainly sound busy; whether I’m enjoying myself is a separate question. I kept wondering: is this jazz-funk? Soul? Am I actually enjoying it, or just nodding along out of politeness? A few passages catch my attention, but I keep losing track of the songs while the grooves carry on perfectly happily without me. And no, I’m not buying the Stevie Wonder comparisons. Jay or Kay — whichever it is — can clearly sing, but I’m missing the warmth and character that make Stevie’s voice so appealing to me. There may be an emergency on planet Earth, but my main concern here is how long we’re going to stay on this particular bassline.

For some reason I've not really got on with Jamiroquai's funk. Dunno why.

There are several Jamiroquai bops out there, they do exist. Unfortunately none of them are on this album. There was just a lot more instrumental noodling on here than I was expecting and it wasn’t for me.

I knew it would be good. "Emergency on Planet Earth" feels like an evolved version of jazz and electronic music. Every song is worth listening to, even the instrumental outro. It's a shame "Virtual Insanity" wasn't out when "Emergency on Planet Earth" was released. That might have made the album a little bit better. 4 stars for "Emergency on Planet Earth"

It's ok.

Not really my thing.

5/5

This was fun and catchy, although I started losing interest by the end.

Super fun, super funky, and features a didgeridoo. Really enjoyed my listen through. 3.75* rounded up to 4*

Boy, howdy. A white bloke from Stretford, Manchester, channelling Stevie Wonder, whilst invoking the French colonial name of the Haudenosaunee people and wearing the War Bonnets belonging to the Plains Nations. Did this white boy use his millions to support Indigenous land rights or communities? YOU'LL NEVER GUESS!

God no

Definitely outside my wheel house, but this was interesting. I don’t know what acid jazz is. Sometimes I don’t need to fully understand what I’m hearing to enjoy it.

This sucks.

Yuck. This annoyed the shit out of me in 1994, and it annoys the shit out of me today. But...some of the songs are vaguely okayish and I still like watching the video for Virtual Insanity (with the sound off).

I like Jamiroquai better in retrospect than I did in real time. If I'm honest, Napoleon Dynamite probably helped. This is an extended homage to Stevie Wonder, and to a lesser extent, Curtis Mayfield. It's good but could use more variety or banger hooks.

Listening to 3 or 4 tracks was enough. Not badly done, but I don't enjoy it. Reminded me of the 65% of (the amazing) Stevie Wonder's work that I can't get into.

2/5 - Yes, it sounds like Stevie Wonder. I really didn't care after about 5 songs. It's funky pop that sounds really dated.

Funky hats aside, this album is fun, it doesn't change my outlook on music or anything close to that by it's a good litmus test for how I'm rating albums across 1001

Great bass, good feels but something is missing for me.

Groovy, gave instrumenten, origineel, maar nog wat rommelig

Fenomenos

Funky blah

This was never off my Walkman back in my Uni days. Jazz-funk, high-energy lounge, call it what you will, it's a highly groovy and deliciously infectious album which should have you up and moving in no time. When You Gonna Learn and Too Young to Die are up there in terms of great openers, really enjoyed them. The rest of the tracks keep that energy and flow moving, rarely is there a dull moment. Recommended!

Sometimes I try to sound like Stevie Wonder. Does this make me a bad person?

There aren’t many who do modern funk better and more consistently than Jamiroquai. Groovy, danceable, funky ass funk. What also sets him apart is the commentary. He’s very deep in a lot of ways, writing about environmentalism, capitalism, technology, and a wide range of social topics. This was great.

still not quite for me

i like this man and his chill style

01) When You Gonna Learn (Digeridoo) - 8,0 02) Too Young to Die - 9,5 03) Hooked Up - 7,0 04) If I Like It, I Do It - 7,0 05) Music of the Mind - 7,0 06) Emergency on Planet Earth - 7,5 07) Whatever It Is, I Just Can't Stop - 7,0 08) Blow Your Mind - 9,5 09) Revolution 1993 - 7,5 10) Didgin' Out - 7,0 TOTAL: 7,70 (77/100) Current ranking: 375/1055

Sounds like whimsy and modern jazz. Not all the songs hit but I really dig the style.

Muy bueno

8.5/10

Pretty cool.

I was pleasantly surprised with this album and the brave choice to revive funk when everyone was making house music. I wasn't blown away by much but damn did Jamiroquai pull off one of the cleanest 10 minute tracks with revolution 1993

Didgin out fr

Some good slick funk throughout, but Jay Kay is also the kind of guy who sings about “revolution” - and says it over 100 times in a single song - as if he just learned the trendy word and figures it’ll be the coolest cat party ever.

Extremely my shit

When going out in the 90's, there was always a moment in the evening that a song of Jamiroquai would pass by. In little doses I can tolerate the music, but when listening to a full album it becomes annoying.

sympathiek plaatje.. maar nu ook geen wereldwonder

A late 60/70 album records in the 1990s.

I wasn't expecting to chuck a 5* Jamiroquai's way, but here I am. This is just a bunch of people who fucking love music, makign fucking good music. Hell fucking yeah bro

funky :) aber nicht so wahnsinnig ausgereift

This was quite fun! It feels frivolous but it goes pretty hard nonetheless.

Honestly not that bad, though it feels like something I shouldn't admit to liking?? I'm learning through this project that I like pretty much any kind of funky music. Jay Kay is a pretty good singer, y'know? There's way worse stuff you could listen to.

Is this an inspiration or an imitation of Stevie Wonder? Non of the tracks felt very memorable, but I did like the live tracks for some reason

fire

This is a fun throwback sound. I like when artists connect to a style that isn't contemporary, but still make it their own.

Mindless fun is still fun. If you're going to have a gimmick, big fun hats is a great gimmick, tbh. Would have rather listened to the one with "Virtual Insanity" on it, though.

So you're a British lad from Lancashire. You form a band. You name it after an Anerican First Nation. Your band plays black American funk based largely on Stevie Wonder, Earth Wing & Fire and Motown. Your band includes an Australian Aboriginal instrument and you have it played by a Jamaican musician. You dress for the stage in First Nation feathered head dresses You're kind of a poster boy for cultural colonialism. It's all very slick and polished, but when it's really easy to listen to Talking Book and Head Hunters and George Clinton and Marvin and Tammy then you have to ask "Why?"

Not as punchy as Canned Heat but solid

7/10 GENIO

3.5/5.0

Loved it. Great voice. Infectious grooves.

Pretty funky, jazzy album by some white boys from London. I'm going to go with the music and not the cultural appropriation of other peoples' music. This was a fairly enjoyable listen, but nothing I got too excited about.

Gear: Punch Audio Portazo Artwork: 👤🦬⬜ Production (Remastered 2023): 😋🍽️𝄢 Music: 🕺✊😄 Rating: 🌍🌎🌏/5

Foda

Ihan menevä levy, tiesin muutaman biisin etukäteen.

It's alright, but nothing special

Some great funk instrumentation, but I slightly grew out of it halfway through. Favourite track: Music of the Mind

I was a big Jamiroquai fan in the late 90s, around the time I was just getting into Curtis Mayfield, James Brown and Sly Stone. So it's funny that I never heard this first album--I didn't even realize Jamiroquai was around for years before they hit it big, or got more radio play at least in Canada, with their third album. Right from the beginning this sounds very much on brand, though. I do recognize Too Young to Die and Revolution. Great beginning for a great band. 5/5

It's a very good album but there is no song that was "WOW".

What an album for a little boogie

Listening session: september 14th, while getting ready in the morning Listened to before: listened to one song before Thoughts: I grew up with some songs from Jamiroquai and I’m a sucker for the groovy instrumentals Favourite tracks: When You Gonna Learn?, Too Young to Die & Music of the Mind

Jeg kan egentlig vældig godt lide jamiroquai selvom et helt album er lidt meget

Har ikke rigtig noget forhold til Jamiroquai. Det var catchy, men ved ikke lige om jeg sys det lød særlig essentielt

Some fun songs - veri smol 3

This kind of music isn't really my thing, but I'll still try to be as objective as possible. I've had a long history of really hating Jamiroquai, but until today I don't think I've ever actually just sat down and listened to one of their albums. And I have to say, I liked it more than I thought I would. There's a small hint of that kinda cheesy disco sound which is what has put me off Jamiroqai's music for so long, but it's actually a lot more subtle than I remember, and there's so much else going on. But aside from that it's actually just a really smooth and easy to listen to funk album, and while I don't feel the need to discover more of Jamiroquai after hearing this, I'm at least glad that my disliking of them has been somewhat reversed.

Favorite songs: When You Gonna Learn, Too Young to Die, Music of the Mind, Emergency on Planet Earth, Didgin’ Out

Cool music. My dad likes jameroquai

Very nice 90s funk, perfect bass tone

Funky music. Kinda wanted this guy to just be quiet though.

man i was too harsh on amy whitehouse. THIS is white people R+B

Really good album

A party, but chill, but fun.

So good at what it does. If I wasn’t so up myself I’d probably give this a 5

This band really deserves to have their album art co-opted by Homestuck fans. Incredibly fun and incredibly corny. Of course there's a didgeridoo.

3.5. Kind of fun

Oh, I like this when it came out, but I think I'm more didgeridon't than didgeridoo now. Aside from the title track - Emergency on Planet Earth - the rest of it is too Stevie Wonder adjacent. Why not just listen to SW?

Il y a un truc fascinant avec le cynisme, c'est que plus le temps passe et plus il a tendance à vous donner raison sur l’état du monde, tout en vous rendant totalement impardonnable sur le plan de la patience humaine. Prenez par exemple Jay Kay et sa bande de joyeux lurons à couvre-chefs démesurés. Et bien en 1993, lorsque ce satané Emergency On Planet Earth a déboulé dans les bacs pour saturer les ondes européennes, j’étais déjà là à lever les yeux au ciel. A l’époque, jeune con que j’étais, tout ce cirque me passait royalement au-dessus de la tête. Il faut dire que voir un jeune blanc-bec londonien fringué comme un chaman de fête foraine venir nous expliquer, sur fond de cocottes de guitare clinquantes et de souffles de didgeridoo, que la terre brûle et qu’il faut sauver les baleines, cela me laissait froid comme un marbre d’église. Trente-trois piges plus tard, le jeune con est devenu un vieux con parfaitement assumé, et mon constat n’a pas bougé d’un iota : sur le plan strictement musical, rien là-dedans ne parvient à me faire bander. On nous a vendu Jamiroquai comme le messie d’un acid-jazz miraculeux, le pont doré entre l’héritage incandescent de Stevie Wonder et l’hédonisme frénétique des clubs londoniens du début des années 90. Oui peut être, mais quand on commence à regarder derrière le vernis rétro et les cuivres rutilants, qu’est-ce qui reste réellement pour l'oreille ? Une mixture indigeste à force de vouloir bouffer à tous les râteliers. C’est trop funk pour les amateurs de finesse, trop jazz pour ceux qui cherchent la sueur brute du rock, et désespérément pas assez couillu pour espérer rivaliser avec la moindre production de Sly Stone ou de George Clinton. C’est de la virtuosité propre sur elle, enregistrée à la va-vite sous la pression d’un mirobolant contrat de huit albums chez Sony qui avait flairé le bon filon pour tous les branchés en mal de groove propre. Tout est poli, lustré, calibré pour faire dodeliner du chef les cadres dynamiques en fin de semaine, mais ça manque cruellement de ce quelque chose qui fait qu’un disque vous arrache le cœur ou vous prend aux tripes. Pourtant, au milieu de cet étalage de basse slappée et de minauderies vocales où Jay Kay s'écoute chanter avec une autosatisfaction qui confine au sublime, il faut bien concéder une chose : le bougre avait vu juste avant tout le monde sur le naufrage global et c’est le seul véritable mérite que je consens aujourd’hui à lui reconnaître. Quand il hurlait à l’urgence écologique et dénonçait les massacres géopolitiques dans le sillage de la guerre du Golfe, on pouvait ricaner devant la posture du boy-scout écolo. Sauf que trois décennies plus tard, la flotte est empoisonnée, le thermomètre explose, et l'humanité continue de foncer dans le mur en klaxonnant à tout rompre. Le message de détresse d’Emergency On Planet Earth est devenu une oraison funèbre d'une terrifiante banalité, et le pire, c’est que dans trente-trois ans, si notre carcasse ou ce qu’il en reste traîne encore quelque part, ce constat d’apocalypse imminente sera encore et toujours la réalité du quotidien. Le paradoxe ultime de cette fable, c'est l'hypocrisie béante qui sépare le prédicateur de son sermon. Entendre ce type s’égosiller contre la société de consommation et l’agonie de la biosphère prêterait presque à sourire jaune quand on sait ce que le personnage est devenu par la suite : un collectionneur compulsif de supercars avalant du sans-plomb à la tonne dans son garage de nabab. Dès ce premier opus, la posture sentait déjà un peu le sapin marketing, la révolte de salon soigneusement emballée pour squatter les programmations branchées sans jamais risquer de froisser un actionnaire. Le sermon était impeccable sur le papier, mais l'incarnation sonnait terriblement creux, diluée dans une esthétique de boîte de nuit proprette où l'indignation servait surtout de faire-valoir rythmique pour pistes de danse enfumées. Musicalement, la sentence du temps est sans appel : le disque a très mal vieilli. Les arrangements de cordes et les velléités symphoniques tentent désespérément de donner une épaisseur solennelle à ce qui n'est, au fond, qu'une longue jam-session trop bavarde. Chaque montée en puissance finit par s'enliser dans une démonstration technique stérile, où les musiciens s'écoutent surtout jouer, laissant ainsi l'album s'éparpiller en volutes inoffensives et en nous laissant totalement sur notre faim. C’est cette amère ironie qui me pousse à lâcher un misérable deux sur cinq, uniquement pour saluer la justesse d’une alerte que personne n’a voulu écouter. Pour le reste, la musique peut bien continuer de tourner en rond dans son bocal de nostalgie seventies stérilisée : mes oreilles, elles, ont déjà quitté la piste depuis bien longtemps.

Jazz funk for those that don't like jazz. Talented musicians with high production value. However, feels a bit too manufactured. Bass player is the clear MVP on this album. If you want the real deal, check out CTI records from the 70s. Or if that is too daunting, then cue up some classic Stevie and let your Jamiroquai collect dust.

I really enjoyed this album well written songs and love the music styles.

Probably not their best album, but a solid career defining, landmark debut. Raw 90s acid jazz, too funky for most it would seem - doesn't deserve below a 4 IMO. I'll reserve the 5 for "The Return of the Space Cowboy" and "Travelling Without Moving".

# Album Name: Emergency on Planet Earth # Artist: Jamiroquai # Rating: 3/5 # Comments: Pretty mid. Good vocals and smooth tunes. Only one good song though. # Top Tunes: Too young to die # Would I listen to it again? Maybe background music.

The Stevie Wonder/Chicago tribute band you Must hear before you die

I continue to be a guy who wants to be into Jamiroquai. I think they’re cool, I can appreciate the music. But, I just never fully get into them. Cool hats though.

Initial thoughts: We may have another transatlantic disconnect here. On this side of the pond I think Jamiroquai is considered a one-hit wonder, and even that's possibly thanks more to their innovative video than their actual song - but at any rate, this isn't the album with that one hit, so I'm concerned. Upon listening: Meh. I like the keyboard... funk guitar isn't bad when it bothers to show up... bass is definitely the MVP... but overall, I don't feel like anything all that cohesively interesting is happening. Lyrics are just bouncing off of me - maybe because they're often too fast and muted to sink in? Some of these tracks are also running a bit long and starting to give off that "samey" vibe. Conclusion: This didn't excite me, but not since Steely Dan has a jazz adjacent album managed to avoid igniting my full ire - so, I guess that's worth something.

I do like this, situationally at least. A full album of it causes fatigue but any of these songs mixed into a well rounded playlist and I’m all for it.

A very fun 3.5

2.5

This album even makes me, a non-dancer, move. The album just takes your body places. A feel-good album from beginning to end. Lacking the really high points for a full rating, but a very nice experience listening through the entire thing. 4/5

It’s a fun groovy album.

Favorite Track: If I Like It, I Do It

Went in blind to this one and found it to be very interesting due to the combination of styles and influences. Any album bold enough to open with the didgeridoo is going to have my attention, and the music remained fairly inventive throughout despite the strong reference points. Favorite track: "When You Gonna Learn?" or "Revolution 1993"

Dobre som sa bavil.

Virtual Insanity is a banger, unfortunately it isn't on this album. This one has other stuff not as good as that song but kind of the same? What do you want me to say

I didn’t mind this, I haven’t listened to a lot of funk or jazz records before but i enjoyed some parts more than others, I liked his style of singing, the horns and the groove of the songs but some of the sounds that are maybe bass or percussion? I’m not sure but there were some sounds that just don’t really sound good to me. Maybe that would change with a few more listens but I don’t think this would be something I would return to. I am glad I listened tho, 3.33/5