 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
|
|
|
||
 |
 |
|
 |
Music Compilations Jamiroquai: High Times: Singles 1992 - 2006 (Sony BMG) 
 |
 |
|
 |
||||||||
 |
|
 |
|||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||
 |
 |
|
 |
||||||||
| Jamiroquai: High Times: Singles 1992 - 2006 (Sony BMG) |
| By Jonathan Waterlow | |
Monday, 13 November 2006 Description:Slotting into the current trend of avoiding ‘greatest hits’ and instead releasing the singles (pretty much the same thing after all) plus a couple of new tracks, Jason Kay presents us with his jazz-funk odyssey begun a depressingly long time ago. Which means? A surprisingly eclectic mix, apt to surprise those who would accuse Kay of never having new ideas. The chronological layout is also helpful, allowing the album to have a shape so often lacking in compilations; there’s a genuine sense of progress here and, if you’re of the mind, you can focus on the particular Jamiroquai period you like best. Is it much cop? Depends if you like Jamiroquai. Ultimately. If you don’t, then of course this is hardly going to remedy the situation. But if you do, fond memories will be stirred, if not causing them to be relived as you unconsciously start dancing about the room like a fool. Jamiroquai’s strength has always been (whatever one might think of Kay or the music in principle) a penchant for hooks and choruses which get the foot tapping and head nodding, almost independent of your will. How many good tracks? All of them have their charms, not least because after six albums there’s a great amount of quality material to cull. Admittedly new single ‘Runaway’ is by-the-numbers filler, but when listening to the jam-style early Jamiroquai compared with the tight, increasingly high tempo efforts of ‘Feels Just Like It Should’ and the still irresistibly catchy ‘Love Foolosophy’, it becomes easier to appreciate the varied routes Kay has forged across his own particular niche. And the worst? While ‘Runaway’ is disappointing, it’s not a bad track…the only danger here is that you might not appreciate the whole thing, preferring specific periods of the band’s lifetime. Biggest disappointment? So much of Jamiroquai’s history is absent here. Their singles have always been in the popular mainstream, but the albums have been where the band has unfolded its talents and there’s a world of difference between the acidicly dark tripping of Return of the Space Cowboy and the largely carefree thudding tempos of 2005’s Dynamite. But this is inevitably the nature of compilations (that and their cash-generating function, of course), and must be forgiven. Verdict: High Times is a peerless collection of dance tunes with chill-out moments sprinkled throughout like welcome drops of summer rain. There’s nothing unexpected about it (except the bizarre absence of the title track), but in this case that’s hardly a shortcoming. (5/5) |
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|||
|
|
|
|||
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
© 2004-2006 uk-fusion.com
All rights reserved. Editor: Afsheen Shaikh.
Powered by LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) |
|
 |
|
 |