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JamiroquaiDynamite SonyBMG Perception is a funny thing. For half of his career, Jay Kay was an underground hero, edging closer to mainstream acceptance with each release. Right from the get-go. there was a sense of inevitability about Jamiroquai breaking out big-time. Of course, he's now a household name and super-successful. So new single Feels Just Like It Should gets radio and TV attention and is a hit. Deservedly so: it's a catchy tune built around a dirty groove. But it sounds uncannily like a band called Pigeonhed. Most people have never heard of them, but their 1997 album 'The Full Sentence' was full of songs not far removed from Feels Just Like It Should. It's an interesting phenomenon and illustrates how fickle the music industry can be. Pigeonhed are unknown and thus "too hard" and not worthy of airplay; Jay Kay is a star and airplay comes automatically. Yet the songs sound the same. I'm not looking to blame anyone; it's just a simple observation. The remainder of 'Dynamite' is anything but catchy, too, which doesn't help. The mind wanders as the music plays and plays and plays in the background. It's as though Jay Kay's scoring a movie set entirely in a shopping centre: the likes of Starchild have Sade sounding like an agit-punk provocateur, and the saxophone in Talullah can only be an escapee from Kenny G's catalogue. From the guy who gave us Virtual Insanity, Little L and the monstrous Deeper Underground, this is a profound disappointment. The urgency, groove and playfulness have all disappeared, replaced by apparent indifference. Perhaps, though, a man so influenced by Stevie Wonder is now going through the I Just Called To Say I Love You phase. Here's to a quick recovery, because I just can't see what he's trying to do here.  |
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