"stillness in time."

“My Lost Musical Loves:  Jamiroquai”

Just last night I was thinking of how incredible Jamiroquai’s first two albums were.  “Emergency on Planet Earth” and “Return of the Space Cowboy” combined pop, funk, and soul that helped further define the “acid jazz” (er, “rare groove”) scene of the early 1990s.

Some may quibble with Jay Kay’s Stevie Wonder-esque vocals, but there is no denying that this one of the funkiest groups this side of the Pacific.

And then came “Travelling Without Moving”.

While I loved the album, thanks to “that”video, the group realized commercial success beyond their wildest dreams.  True, from most accounts, before the album, Jamiroquai was “The Best Group You Never Heard Of”.   Afterwards, they were a group that was symbolized by one video and deemed a one-hit wonder from VH-1. 

Sadly, every song since that album has been Jay Kay re-writing “Cosmic Girl” in various fashions.  (The People of the State of All Things Soulful introduce Exhibit A,  ”Canned Heat”, Your Honor.)

“Light Years” captures all that was great with the group. 

I need their lyrical sunshine in my life right about now.

Mica Paris is one of soul’s hidden gems.

Though popular in her native England for many years, she never reached the success that belies her rich voice.

It was about twentysome years ago, that I was introduced to her, The Pasadenas, and Andrew Roachford in a USA Today article about the coming British Soul Wave.  That wave never reached our musical shores, but opened my ears to a sound that influences my music tastes to this day.

(This video is from “Contribution” and features Rakim.)