music

1. How many albums have Jamiroquai released?
2. Which tracks have been released as singles?
3. Have Jamiroquai released any box sets?
4. Which tracks have had videos made for them?
5. Why don't the UK singles always have full length remixes?
6. Why do the UK DVD singles contain 30 second clips of other videos, why not the whole clip?
7. How many abums have Jamiroquai signed up for?
8. Is it true that only Jason Kay has signed with Sony?
9. Tell me about the leak of Feels Just Like It Should
10. What is the story behind the Feels Just Like It Should video?
11. What is the little animated character of Jay Kay in the (Don't) Give Hate A Chance video called?
12. Have Jamiroquai ever collaborated with anyone else?
13. Have Jamiroquai won any awards?
14. What's up with 'hidden track' on Travelling Without Moving?
15. What's the 'hidden track' at the end of A Funk Odyssey?
16. Which tracks have been remixed?
17. Where can I find lyrics to Jamiroquai's songs?
18. How did they make the 'Virtual Insanity' video?
19. How does Jay float in mid-air during the Love Foolosophy video?
20. Are there any other Jamiroquai-related releases?
21. Who are some of Jamiroquai's influences?

How many albums have Jamiroquai released?

To date, six regular studio albums and a "greatest hits" album have been released:

• Emergency On Planet Earth (1993)
• The Return Of The Space Cowboy (1994)
• Travelling Without Moving (1996)
• Synkronized (1999)
• A Funk Odyssey (2001)
• Dynamite (2005)
• High Times: Singles 1992-2006 (2006)

Last updated 03 April 2007.

Which tracks have been released as singles?

Jamiroquai's singles are generally released first in Britain and then additional versions are sometimes released in Europe, Japan and Australia. The United States also gets some releases, often with very little publicity. Commonly, the UK release of a single is on two separate CD's and Europe initially gets a two or three track version of the single. Singles from the A Funk Odyssey era are starting to appear additionally on DVD single format.

The following is a list of all the single that have had official releases in the UK.

1. When You Gonna Learn: UK (Sony and Acid Jazz)
2. Too Young to Die
3. Blow Your Mind
4. Emergency on Planet Earth
5. Space Cowboy
6. Half the Man
7. Stillness in Time
8. Do You Know Where You're Coming From (M-Beat featuring Jamiroquai)
9. Virtual Insanity
10. Cosmic Girl
11. Alright
12. High Times
13. Deeper Underground
14. Canned Heat
15. Supersonic
16. King For A Day
17. I'm In The Mood For Love (Jools Holland and Jamiroquai)
18. Little L
19. You Give Me Something
20. Love Foolosophy
21. Corner Of The Earth
22. Feels Just Like It Should
23. Seven Days In Sunny June
24. (Don't) Give Hate A Chance
25. Runaway

For more information including tracklistings, have a look at the discography sections at funkin.com.

Last updated 03 April 2007.

Have Jamiroquai released any box sets?

Five box sets have been released:

• L'intégrale Des Maxi-Singles (1994) - France
• The Single Box (1997) - Japan
• The Singles Collection (1997) - Canada
• Deeper Underground CD/Video (1998) - US
• 1999 Remixes, Limited Edition 4x12" Vinyl (1999) - UK

In addition to these, some contries have released multi-album packages over the years, for example in Australia in late 2002, a 5 CD set called "The Complete Odyssey" was released.

Last updated 30 November 2002.

Which tracks have had videos made for them?

Since the award-winning "Virtual Insanity" video in 1997, Jamiroquai have become famous for their eye-catching videos, but they've in fact been making videos from the very start:

1. Too Young to Die
2. When You Gonna Learn
3. If I Like It I Do It
4. Blow Your Mind
5. Emergency on Planet Earth
6. Space Cowboy
7. Half the Man
8. Light Years
9. Stillness in Time
10. Do You Know Where You're Coming From
11. Virtual Insanity
12. Cosmic Girl
13. Alright
14. High Times
15. Deeper Underground
16. Canned Heat
17. Black Capricorn Day
18. Supersonic
19. King For A Day
20. I'm In The Mood For Love
21. Little L
22. You Give Me Something
23. Love Foolosophy
24. Corner Of The Earth
25. Feels Just Like It Should
26. Seven Days In Sunny June
27. (Don't) Give Hate A Chance
28. Runaway

For many of the videos, alternate versions exist, and if you visit funkin.com, there is a complete set of "filmstrips", for each of these videos, each showing hundreds of still image frames from each video.

Last updated 23 September 2006.

Why don't the UK singles always have full length remixes?

To be eligible for the UK charts, UK singles are only allowed to contain a maximum of 20 minutes of audio. If a video is included on a CD single, provided the video is of one of the audio tracks, then this does not count towards the 20 minute limit. For this reason, many of the UK single releases only contain "edit" versions of the remixes. The full length remixes can often be found on promotional only 12" vinyl releases given to DJ's in the run-up to a single release. Japanese releases on the other hand, often includes the full length remixes on their CD singles.

Last updated 05 March 2002.

Why do the UK DVD singles contain 30 second clips of other videos, why not the whole clip?

Unfortunately, for a single release to be eligible for the UK charts, DVD single releases can only contain one full length video and no more than 4x30 second clips of other video content. These 30 second clips cannot be combined into a single two minute video.

Last updated 05 March 2002.

How many abums have Jamiroquai signed up for?

Jamiroquai have signed a deal with Sony to write eight albums. However, because of the release of the Live In Verona DVD and also the High Times greatest hits album, the deal with Sony ended after the greatest hits release. As of early 2007 Jamiroquai are no longer signed to Sony/Columbia.

Last updated 03 April 2007.

Is it true that only Jason Kay has signed with Sony?

Let's allow Mr. Kay answer this question himself, from Blah Blah Blah in January '97:

"Yes, I'm the one who's signed to the record company and I'm the one who pays the band. But we all knew that the record company tried to get rid of the band, that they didn't want to sign them, that they didn't think Wallis' 'wooden pipe' was important. But I need them."

Tell me about the leak of Feels Just Like It Should

In the digital world things don't always go to plan. In early April 2005 whilst Jamiroquai were preparing the release and radio airplay world exclusive of Feels Just Like It Should the single was accidentally made available to buy on music site Napster. After a couple of days or so it was removed and the world had to wait for the world exclusive radio play on BBC Radio 1 to year the track for the first time - that is unless you heard the track broadcast 'early' by a dutch radio station!

Last updated 11 April 2009.

What is the story behind the Feels Just Like It Should video?

The video, which was directed by Joseph Kahn features Jay in a number of guises. The Video Static website described it as follows:

Jamiroquai singer Jay Kay plays all of the main characters in an outlandish and very trippy street scene. The basic story is about a nebbishy dweeb who decides to lose his virginity. He visits a pimp named The Candy Man, who looks like some strange combination of The Joker and Jim Carrey's character from The Mask. Although The Candy Man eventually delivers a prostitute, he spends most of the video playing tricks on Jay Kay's mind. There are lots of special effects in the video, all of which are executed to perfection by effects shop X1FX, and several action-adventure sequences that are on-par with anything you've seen on the big screen lately. "Feels Just like It Should" is chock full of too many twists to describe here, so please visit the Jamrioquai site and watch the video all its glory.

The 'candyman' character was designed and drawn by comic book artist Dan Fraga.

Last updated 11 April 2009.

What is the little animated character of Jay Kay in the (Don't) Give Hate A Chance video called?

The animated character of Jay is called the 'Jamiroman.' The directors of the video, Alex & Martin, told shots.net about how they made the character move like Jay:

Jay Kay's moves were modelled after the man himself, "He came in for a day and we filmed him dancing using caption sensors that were stuck all over his body, and then that information was transferred into the animation,"

Last updated 11 April 2009.

Have Jamiroquai ever collaborated with anyone else?

In '92, just before joining up with Jamiroquai, Wallis Buchanan played his yidaki on Galliano's A Joyful Noise Unto the Creator on the tracks "Grounation" and "Skunk Funk" (released by Talkin' Loud).

In '95 members of Jamiroquai appeared on Guru's Jazzmatazz Volume 2 The New Reality on the ninth track called "Lost Souls." Jay Kay provides vocals backing Guru's rapping. In addition, Stuart Zender plays bass, Wallis Buchanan plays didgeridoo, and DJ D-Zire provides the scratches on the track.

More famously, during early '96 Jay recorded a demo vocal for a track for a friend entitled "Do U Know Where You're Coming From." To his horror, Jay heard it played on London's Kiss FM and after a great deal of persuasion, went back into the studio and recorded the track properly with jungle artist M-Beat. Toby Smith also came in to help write music with M-Beat and played keyboards on the track. Derrick McKenzie also joined up and played the drums on the track. The resulting single turned out to be a success for Jamiroquai as it reached a peak of number 12 in the UK singles chart during June '96. In addition to the single release (released by M-Beat featuring Jamiroquai), this track can be found on some versions of the Travelling Without Moving album.

In February '97, Jamiroquai teamed up with Diana Ross at the UK Brit Awards to perform a duet of her 1980 hit "Upside Down." The Brit Awards is the UK popular music equivalent of the US Grammy Awards and publicity of the event was great in that even the Reuters newswire reported the duet, saying "Pop's generation gap was bridged by Diana Ross who performed her classic "Upside Down" with soul band Jamiroquai." The whole band were there performing, and looking extremely smart in their suits!

Jay appears as one of many artists in a cover of the Rolling Stones classic "It's Only Rock And Roll" which was released in aid of the "Children's Promise" charity in 1999.

More recently, in 2000, Jay teamed up with well respected UK recording artist and television Jools Holland (and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra) to record a track entitled "I'm in the mood for love", which was included on the soundtrack to the film "Kevin & Perry Go Large."

In February '02, Jay and Anastacia performed a duet of the Donna Summer track Bad Girls, at the Brit Awards, which were held in London.

In April '04, a version of Hollywood Swingin' performed by Kool and the Gang featuring Jamiroquai was included on the Kool and the Gang double album entitled "The Music Odyssey". Jamiroquai first performed this cover version on tour in 1997.

Last updated 25 April 2004.

Have Jamiroquai won any awards?

Jamiroquai were the most nominated artist at the 1994 BRIT Awards, gathering five nominations for "Best British Group," "Best Album," "Best British Dance Act," "Best British Newcomer," and "Best Video," but didn't win in any category. In February 1997, at the Brits, Jamiroquai were nominated in only two categories, "Best British Video" (for "Virtual Insanity," of course) and "Best Dance Act." Again, Jamiroquai did not win in either category.

Jamiroquai have won many different awards in countries all over the world - the following is just a select few of these...

Later in the year, Jamiroquai would make up for the disappointment at the Brits and go on to win a whole slew of awards for the "Virtual Insanity" video. (For more info on the making of the video see below.)

In April 1997, at the Music Week Creative And Design Awards "Virtual Insanity" won awards for "Best Pop Video" as well awards for "Best Cinematography" and "Best Special Effects."

In May 1997, at the Music Video Production Association Awards in Los Angeles, "Virtual Insanity was awarded "Video of the Year."

In their most high profile win, at the 14th annual MTV Video Music Awards in September 1997, Jamiroquai were again the most nominated act, gathering ten nominations for their video for "Virtual Insanity." Jamiroquai walked away with four awards, including "Breakthrough Video" and the coveted "Best Video of the Year." (The other two awards were in technical categories: "Best Special Effects" and and "Best Cinematography.")

In November 1997 Travelling Without Moving won the the Best Album of the Year at the Music Of Black Origin (MOBO) Awards, held in London.

In May 2000 Jamiroquai picked up a World Music Award for the category of World Best Selling British Artist/Group. The awards, pay tribute to the very best in contemporary music from around the globe were held at Monte-Carlo's famous Sporting Club. The ceremony was broadcast to an audience of 900 million TV viewers in over 150 countries.

Jamiroquai are also in the Guiness World Records with the record for "Best-Selling Funk Album". Jamiroquai have sold over 7 million copies of Travelling Without Moving since it was released in 1996.

Last updated 20 June 2002.

What's up with 'hidden track' on Travelling Without Moving?

Different versions of Travelling Without Moving have different bonus (or "hidden") tracks. Some versions have just the regular tracks -- as listed on the sleeve. There is one limited printing that includes both the tracks "Do U Know Where You're Coming From" and "Funktion." The regular US release only contains "Do U Know." The regular UK release only contains "Funktion."

Of the "hidden" track "Funktion" Jay says, "It was done in one take...just for a laugh. We didn't want to list it because it was just us playing after we had set the studio up to do another tune. But it's a bit o' fun, ain't it?"

What's the 'hidden track' at the end of A Funk Odyssey?

After the track Picture Of My Life, there is a short track which sounds like the band just having fun in the studio. This track is entitled "So Good To Feel Real" and was recorded in a single take just before the album was completed. The song was never completed so what you hear on the album is unfortunately all that exists.

Which tracks have been remixed?

Many of the single releases over the years have included remixes by many of the worlds top remixers. Here is an overview of some of the tracks that have been mixed by the maestros.

The first ever Jamiroquai release, "When You Gonna Learn?", had Marc Nelson and Demus of the Young Disciples behind the J.K. Mix of the single.

David Morales is the man behind the Classic Club mix of "Space Cowboy" which was a worldwide club success. He was one of the first DJ's in New York to play house music around the mid 1980's. In his career he has gained world fame for his remixing talents with artists such as U2 and Mariah Carey. The mix first appeared on the US single release of the "Space Cowboy" single and then on the UK release of "Stillness In Time" during the first half of 1995. On 1 September 1996, the remix was voted number one in the Kiss 100 FM London all time listeners top 100 countdown.

Todd Terry started DJ'ing during the Hip Hop era and then moved into the world of making house music. On the Jamiroquai front, he remixed "Alright" in 1997.

Louis Vega and Kenny Gonzalez of Masters At Work remixed the "Emergency On Planet Earth" single. Vega started mixing in the 1970's and after meeting Gonzalez through mutual friend David Morales, started collaborating on both remixing and their own music. Lately, they are known as the men behind Nuyorican Soul.

The most ambitious Jamiroquai remixes to date are the D&C mixes of Alright, by Dave Navarro and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This remix surfaced mid 1997 on the US promo of the same single and has a catchy "rock" feel to the tune.

Over recent years, the band have had a turn in creating remixes of their music.

Where can I find lyrics to Jamiroquai's songs?

Several "unofficial" Jamiroquai websites have made the lyrics to Jamiroquai's songs available. It is recommended that you search Google to find lyrics.

Additionally, in March 2006 funkin.com opened a lyrics section with the main aim of publishing the most accurate transcriptions of Jamiroquai lyrics that are available.

Last updated 21 March 2006.

How did they make the 'Virtual Insanity' video?

Imagine a room constructed with only three walls and a ceiling, kind of like a giant box. On the fourth open wall of the room, there's a camera locked into place.

The walls are on wheels so that the room can be moved around as a whole. The camera never moves in relation to the room; the three walls and ceiling always look the same even though the room is being moved backwards and forwards, to the left, to the right, and sometimes around in a circle.

Sometimes, for added effect, the couches are attached to the walls and move with the rest of the room. Sometimes one (or both) of the couches are not attached to the walls so that when the whole room is moved, it looks instead like they are moving toward or away from Jay, when they are in fact remaining sationary.

Jay always positions himself so that he's more-or-less facing the camera and skillfully maneuvers himself inside the moving room to maintain the mesmerizing funhouse effect of the video. Sometimes he moves with the movement of the room so that it looks like he's having to run to stay in place and other times he remains stationary so it looks like he's gliding across the floor and the walls are closing in on him. He "dances" with the couches to look as if he's controlling their movement or being chased by them.

Jonathan Glazer, who won several awards for directing the video, describes the process thusly: "No computer trickery was used. What we did was put the whole set on wheels and attach the camera to one wall. The furniture also had little wheels, and we had guys moving the set and the furniture [outside of the frame]. The floor never moved. It was like a magician's trick."

Jay himself says of the video, "I don't rehearse the movements. I mean there are certain places that I have to be at a certain point in the filming, what line I had to stop on to make it work. But it just clicks and when I watch it back I know it's worked."

Contrary to popular belief, as Glazer says, the floor is not moving. Nor is Jay wearing magnets on his shoes, despite the announcement in the fall of '96 on the now-defunct J's Joint. After all, how would Jay achieve his signature moves? But, what if Adidas did manufacture magnet-soled sneakers...

How does Jay float in mid-air during the Love Foolosophy video?

In the video for Love Foolosophy, after Jay comes out of the swimming pool, he is then seen using a "vertical wind tunnel", or free fall simulator. A vertical wind tunnel is a machine which produces a vertical stream or column of air. If the airflow is fast enough, then it can suspend a person in mid-air.

Last updated 05 March 2002.

Are there any other Jamiroquai-related releases?

There is a enormous range or promotion items that, for the avid collector, make up the essential Jamiroquai collection. These include promotional singles and albums, and things like keyrings, t-shirts and fans! One of the best places to find these items are web sites such as ebay.com

For more information different promotional albums, singles and remixes, have a look at the discography section at funkin.com.

Last updated 30 January 2005.

Who are some of Jamiroquai's influences?

Members of the band have amongst others, publicly praised the following artists:

Roy Ayers Brecker Brothers Donald Byrd Frederic Chopin Stanley Clarke Daft Punk Miles Davis Earth Wind and Fire Fatback Marvin Gaye

Johnny Hammond Herbie Hancock Jimi Hendrix Bernard Herrmann The Isley Brothers Carole King Mark King Kurious Ramsey Lewis Charles Mingus

Joni Mitchell NAS The O'Jays Pleasure Maurice Ravel Patrice Rushen Sly & the Family Stone Weather Report Deniece Williams Stevie Wonder

In 1996 Sony Japan released an album of some of Jay Kay's favorite songs called Jay's Selection including several tracks by these artists; for info on this release, please visit funkin.com.

In November 2003, a compilation of tracks selected by Jay was released as part of the successful LateNightTales compilation series. The album consists of a number of tracks that showcase some of the influences that go behind the sounds of Jamiroquai.

Last updated 20 December 2003.