oh my word. Absolutely superb.
The intro is reminiscent of some big production number - thinking John Williams style. A masterpiece - well done guys.
Jay's voice is sweet and sublime - the essence of what Jamiroquai is to me. So soulful.
BUT it's the arrangement that gets me - I had goosebumps around 4.09.
This is Jamiroquai at their best.
Thank you guys.
Much much better than the "leaked" version :P

Especially the outro is great. The trumpet solo, the rhodes chords, the bass. Reminds me of "Blow Your Mind" in a way.

Amazing track, love it! How has this never been released on an album?!?!? How many more gems does JK have hidden away gathering dust?

WOW! Once again, they've not let us down, have they! This track is truly sublime and gets better and better with every listen. THIS IS JAMIROQUAI! :)

@Jamiroquai-fan
It's Butterfly for me...I had "I want it, I want it." going on in my head.

It's totally the Jamiroquai vibe that got me hooked from the start. It's Mr Moon, Blow Your Mind, Stillness in Time - all wrapped up in a nice 2011 bundle.

This is grown-up old school Jamiroquai - think this will please all fans.

@MsP
Agree, it definitely has some elements from Butterfly too.
Either way, it's nice to see that they still have the taste for these kind of songs.

@MsP Hmmm...you have admit both 'Falling'/'Butterfly' sounded the same on Syn, I'm leaning more to 'Smile' sounding a mixture of both of those classic songs.

As for my thoughts about 'Smile', I agree with the consensus of my fellows, this one hell of a 'homerun out of the park', absolutely positively impeccably amazingly stupendously stellarly and all other 'lys', the most lush effort from Jamiroquai of their 'RDLS era'. And if you wondering about the lyrics for 'Smile', me and my fellow JamiroTalker Zeio got them all sussed out, here are the lyrics:

Smile
Cause you are the one
Like beautiful birds
This is our song
I took you for a dancer
And now we're here alone
No other eyes to see us
We're on our own
So what's your occupation (Baby won't you smile)
Are you a fly by night? (Good to have you smile)
No time to waste in asking, I think that I'm right
And I can't help but love you when you smile
Then we embrace
Like beautiful birds
This is our song
You're the one baby (just smile)
We're lost on the breeze
Like beautiful birds (in the sky)
This is our song
And it's not too late to tango
And I want you all the time
Your lips were made to kiss me
Baby I like your style
I know I feel this good about ya
I still feel the same about ya
I know I feel this good about ya
And I can't help but love you when you smile
You are the one
All lost on the breeze
This is our song
You're the one baby (just smile)
Then we embrace
Like beautiful birds (yeah)
This is our song
And I can't help but love you when...
Come on smile for me

Think the coolest and most notably awesome moment of 'Smile' is where JK returns to scatting with the brass starting at 3:35 in the song, truly makes 'Smile' seem like an 'old but new song'. Lyrically, very good and summery, just what we need to drink some lemonade in the sun. Wink I applaud them, this was an awesome new song, of such amazing quality, to impart on the Jamily for free, even through the ruckus of this wait, which I tried in my damndest to not get to me, though it seemed to leak out in a couple of my corresponding posts Wink . Anyway, those are my thoughts, now, where's 'Super Highway'? Will that be next week into the next week? LOL! I'm kidding of course. Cheers!

~JamiroFan2000~

Actually if you look at Falling and Butterfly lyrically, you can see that they're both about feelings in a "push & pull" relationship where someone wants the love that he's not getting.

You can't say that about Smile. It's consistent throughout the song that he loves this person completely. There is nothing in the lyrics indicating a "push & pull" or a lack of love here. It's 100% positive and sunny which gives way to a more breezy smooth groove in how he's able to convey those feelings.

To me, this gives more of a "Blow Your Mind," "Stillness in Time," with a slight "Space Cowboy" tinge to it.

In short, a Classic Groove.

Seen in the ID3v2 tags : Jamiroquai classifies itself as Pop... End of an era. Cool tune btw, will listen to it at least 10 times. Then it's back to Radiohead, you know, the band that evolves/innovates...

*Waves* Hey Brent. Cheers for the lyrics - good work by the Jamirotalkers!
Catalyste - interesting point about the "push & pull". You think we have an "in love" Jay now? This will evolve the music to a new level and we could potentially have the knock-out of all albums to look forward to. Nothing is more inspiring than love.

I think I'm going to put my head on the block and say that this song does more for me than RDLS. (which was a superbly technical album).

Anyone know the production team on this? Same guys for RDLS? I'm thinking no.

@Catalyste wow, you hear all those classic Jami tracks in 'Smile'....I don't see the hints of them but I do agree with your lyrical assessment.

@ *Does a John Cleeselike mini wave right back at Sister Parsons* Your very welcome hon-hon, Zeio and me pretty much mirrored each others lyrical stabs, glad you and others like them. As for which other RDLS song "Smile" is 'on par with' in my mind, it's up there with 'Hang It Over', sound may not match the 'best lyrics' on the album on this, but that's where it ranks for me on that thought. As for production for "Smile", I would say it was those same two blokes whom did RDLS, I believe it was Charlie Russell and Brad Spencer...but it depends on who was in the studio at the time of this recording. Cheers! ~JamiroFan2000~

eh, it was alright..pretty bland, lyrically. nothing bold or adventurous, just a simple tune. not something i'll play regularly.

Batting back at Brother Armstrong - I don't think I can put this song on a par with any from RDLS. To me it's 90's Jamiroquai with a sophisticated edge.

Btw. it's so refreshing to see this track received with such positivity across the net. This song brings back old school Jamily style. :).

Meeting the Jamily in Belgium next month - I think this track will be on repeat - and I can see me and the King of Luxembourg having this has our smooching song.

@Alex:
I saw that too. I changed mine to Jazz, Soul, R&B, and Funk. Pop just doesn't fit the vibe or genre. Pop is a mainstreamed genre created for a quick buck.

@JamiroFan2000:
It was more of a feel actually. It's like how "Stillness in Time" and "Space Cowboy" gave me that escapist feel of letting my mind and feelings wander to another place with no worries. A place where I can smile freely. "Blow Your Mind" adds to that by including the one-on-one set by the intent or context of the lyrics.

Amazing track, I love it. So chilled out but totally Jamiroquai. I like the artwork that was picked too, I can see why it was picked, it suits the track. I'm a bit sad I won't be able to get it on CD as it's really good!...

didnt like it jamiroquai changed tooooo muchh.. they re spacey feeling just vanished... Smile is too wonderlandishh and downtempoo

Listening right now... so far so good. A lovely addition to the collection. Bravo!

This is Jamiroquai great track great players and a great songs, heavy rotation on my iPod :-)

Absolutely incredible and smooth, classic acid jazz at its finest, perfect chill out song.

Ahhhh, I'm at work and have to wait a torturous 4 hours until I can hear this!

A-MA-ZING ! Definitely the real jamiroquai we all want to hear. Excellent job guys. Question : who has written Smile ? (Lyrics and music ?)

-JamiroFan2000- what are the lyrics at 4.24 - can't quite hear it and Catalyste... agree with you - it does sound like he loves this person completely! Go Jay..... If this is the kind of material he is writing at the moment (were they written at same time at RDLS)?1? then quick, drag him back into the studio cause these love vibes are making me veeeeeerrry happy :-)

What a lovely track. Reminds me of the Synkronized era in particular. Jay's vocals are great and the music is top.

Good vibez.

Niiiiiiice! Super smooth track! This is very cool. Hitting repeat right now...

Great track! nice jazzy kind of a mix between Butterfly, falling, a little bit of talulah. It was an awesome surprise to top the legendary concert they gave here in Buenos Aires. To be honest the only thing that i didn't like is the artwork. The best was the one submitted by Dye.

love the new track, makes me wonder if they will release others from the RDLS session later on and if they are just as good as smile....its like a summer love song, im guessing the trio jay, rob and matt wrote it ; )

where did this come from - proper old skool - at last!!!! soooo chilled!

@MsP:

Sorry! I didn't see your reply.

An "in love" Jay, huh?

Well judging from the lyrics, they certainly seem to be directed towards someone. For him to make something from his heart like this...I'm up to listen for more!

I'm quite sure interviewers are going pry and ask him about the person behind the song, so I hope Jay will ease them out of it by simply stating he's not going to talk about it.

Now that I thought about it more, this song strongly resembles "Spend a Lifetime" actually. I guess it's the context.

This is a great track, with great arrangements and a great surprise. Thanks guys

just cause jay sang a love song doesn't necessarily mean its about his personal life, i'm sure he co-wrote it and maybe one of the bandmembers help co-write this song to dedicate it their significant other because they are jamirouquai, they are a team or maybe its about general bliss being in love that anyone can relate to. I remember in a french interview discussing some of the tracks from rdls, jay stated that not every song associates with him

sorry for throwing out different perspectives on how personal this track is...besides from that i really like smile, its a beautiful gem track that has been hidden during the rdls session, i'm glad they release and hope for more new tracks to come

Love this. It is knowing that they can still produce songs as excellent as this one which makes the overall quality of the last album such a disappointment. Many Jamiroquai fans have a soulful, jazzy, funky core to their music taste. They recognise when a song has that core - as Smile does - and when it doesn't. And there were too many songs on the last album which lacked it. So this really cheered me up but I am still left wondering about the decision-making process which decided that this track didn't make the cut.

The best Jamiroquai song in years - I could listen to Smile on repeat all day....just a shame that RDLS is nowhere near as good as this.....

No matter how it flows.... them boys got their MOJO back :-) Woo hoo

..i'm sure there's Stu inside.

SIMPLY FANTASTIC! Well done, boys :-)

@Catalyste & FunkFlex,
Well...it's a long way from Black Devil Car - when Jay's emotions were directed purerly at his Enzo!

As fans we dont need to know whether it's Brenda from Bridport or Sandra from Southend who's causing the emotions behind this song. Or even if it's Jay's own emotions.

The input doesn't matter to us - it's the output :)

FunkFlex - I don't think RDLS had the same emotions as the other albums. Blue Skies maybe the deepest? And Fast Persuader was obviously from personal experience...eek. With RDLS I missed the philosophical side of Jay's personality.

Love inspires us all - look at "Angie" or "Wonderwall" beautiful love songs inspired by love affairs. So if this track has inspiration behind it then as fans we can expect real treats in store.

Catalyste - I like the way you analyse the songs - you have a poet's soul?

If either of you could only take one album to a desert island which would it be? Hard question I know! Mine would be Synkronized.

@MsP:

I have no idea if it's a poet's soul, but I do know it's full of color. :)

I have to give it to funkflex, though, it's an excellent point presented. It's true, this song may not have been inspired by Jay's personal experience, it could have been written by another member of the band. Very true. It's nice to be reminded that Jamiroquai is a band and that they all contribute to the songs we listen to. Trying to make it all about 1 person takes away from the camaraderie it took to create them.

So thanks, funkflex, for that reminder.

...simply fantastic, modern production in the name of good old style. A fantastic for "love & making love" song. Jay's voice is brilliant, like a modern crooner...and, my God, THAT Rhodes gives me tons of emotions....

I appreciate what you have said here but let's just put it to a full stop. :)

Thank You.

Sarah - can we change to a comma? Have another comment!

I believe the track would be enhanced by a less subtle bass. Would have liked to have heard more from Paul Turner. Hopefully Paul can work his magic like he did at The Debut with Little L.

and ditto Catalyste's comment @ FunkFlex.

No,enough.

Hi everyone, thanks so much for your positive vibes. We are all happy you like the track. It was recorded on the first night at Hook End, the same night it was conceived from an idea by Jay and Matt. Recorded once with Jay doing a guide before he completed his lyrics soon afterwards. It was a lovely chilled vibe while we played it too. Same night we did RDLS and Hurtin'. Yes it's the same producers but without record company input over mix! And now you know why I was disappointed that some of my favourite tracks didn't make the company list. Lots of love XP

thanks Paul, I have to say you're doing a wonderful work with your bass. The pattern on Fast Persuader is one of the greatest funky bass patterns of the history! You're absolutely one of the most important members of this band.

Thank You Paul!
Congratulations to the band for this jewel!
I hope that next time all your favourite tracks will be included on the 8th album!
are there some others tracks to come?
Long life to Jamiroquai
Cheers!

Hi Paul,

Thank you for your comment, appreciate you taking the time out to "talk" to the fans. This track really has gone down a treat and utmost respect to the band for producing material of this quality. As mentioned would love to hear this with you laying down more bass - perhaps we'll get a live version soon?!

For fan discussion: Interesting points Paul has made regarding producers and record company. If there is a lot more material out there of this calibre, then would love to hear the album that Jamiroquai would have put on the market without commercial censorship.

I do wonder how this track would have been received by the general public if this had been released rather than BS or WKR. The record company went with tracks for commercial value rather than remaining true to the integrity of the band.

We've been very very very lucky that this track has been chucked out there as a freebie - this shows the heart and soul of the band that the fans love.

MsP

@Sarah...think the band had more to say :P

PRECIOSA CANCIÓN
(thanks for the lyric jamirofan!!)

A superb song which belongs to the summer,instantly makes ya feel chilled out & floaty-lite....what a superb free treat for us Quai-heads (& thanks Paul for filling us in on its origin...keep up the good work fella!)
By the way @Sarah....why do you think people should stop making comments or indeed even listen to you?If you don't like the comments then may I suggest joining the Cliff Richard website...admittedly the fans there won't be as funky but you're bound to find your niche' (sorry for adding a further comment by the way) Har,har :)

Seems like "Sarah" is asleep. She must have had a rough night last night. Bless.

As for "Smile", well done JQ. Looking forward to hearing more new tunes!

Paul,

if that's what you guys sound like in one take, then good grief! Maybe you guys should release more raw mixes of your tracks. Raise money for charities and such?

I'm quite sure you won't be able to play them at any concerts though......


or will you?



@Sarah,

don't know what offended you to the point of telling people not to post anymore, but everyone here is welcomed to their opinion. Since members of the band come here, it means that they appreciate the feedback they get and that they're listening. It's a win/win situation since it means alot to both parties.

@Catalyste - good point. Would like to add you on facebook - I'm Jan Parsons (would assume we have mutual friends - if we aren't friends already!).

Sorry for going offtopic everyone - but I like this lady/guy's style!

I thought Jamiroquai left Sony so they could have creative control, so why let another record company tell them what to do? Wouldn't it have been best to make the album as they wanted it, and after then take it to a record company and only let them have it if nothing is changed? I don't get it...

Anyway Smile is fantastic, and I'm sure there are many other gems yet to see the light of day too. I hope they do one day...

Thanks for your comments, Paul!

Very good to know that there is more to come!

@Catalyste & @Paul = Agreed. One take?! Unbelievable! This is why I love this band above all others.

Thanks Paul. I love this song. True, pure, genuine Jamiroquai without imputs from other people. In my opinion you should release your music from the internet, like Prince. Thank u again. And once again thank you for "Smile".

you guys should strike a deal with the label that allows you to release material that they don't want to put on the album, for whatever foolish reason. shame to let them go to waste.

Sup Family,

Been very busy as of late. Just heard the new track and I'm just simply FLOORED. THIS IS JAMIROQUAI. HANDS DOWN. Only thing missing was a hint of a didgeridoo somewhere off in the distance...

For me the best jquai track since 1998....

My god this track is good!
Giving me good Travelling Without Moving/earlier album vibes.
This, Fast Pursuader, Hey Floyd, All good in the hood, similar old school greatness!
Congrats to the band on another masterpiece.

Thanks Paul, I think we were all curious about the origins of the track. Hard to believe that Smile and Hurtin' were made the same night.

Awesome work and good luck touring this summer!!

Thanks Paul, I think we were all curious about the origins of the track. Hard to believe that Smile and Hurtin' were made the same night.

Awesome work and good luck touring this summer!!

Dancing a slow,looking into his or hers eyes,sipping a glass of cool rosé in the evening warmth.Wow,love it. A real soft jazz feeling,a beautiful song.I am also over the moon,as the same day a learnt that I will be working at the Montreux Jazz Festival.I will be surrounded by great music for 2 weeks. love Pippa.

CHEEBA!

Cheeeeeeeeeba

This song reminds me of Steely Dan and Michael Franks, and the laidback sound they used to have back in the 70's, mixed with the old-school Jamiroquai. Brilliant song!

Beautiful track, I love it! Jay sounds amazing.

Anyone heard, or requested this on the radio yet????

Funny I was having this convo saying if I could sit down with Jay and ask him why is he ignoring us and not seeing that he needs to do a few songs like back in 93 and Traveling without moving. I said I would love to have that chance. I guess he heard me.
Thanks for the track, insta smile on my face. Please do an album or 4 more.

WTF? Recycled lounge version of Canned Heat in neat lyrics? This band is already dead.

it sounds nothing like canned heat, get a new set of ears

The first time I heard Smile I felt stunned for a second. What a beautiful track. Many many thumbs up for a band.

I enjoyed Smile's laid-back jazz vibe. Sure, the progression was a little straight-forward and the lyrics weren't mindblowing or anything but, as Paul pointed out, it was put together very quickly and, besides, they're giving it away for free -- can't argue with that.

That said, I'm going to agree with Otis: Where's their creative control? That was one of the key reasons given for why they left Sony.

Also, somebody brought up the similarity of this track to Steely Dan. Besides the obvious similarities in terms of arrangement, i.e. prominent Rhodes, horn charts, etc., I wouldn't classify it in the same category. Steely Dan has a strong tendency to create sophisticated music where every note and nuance is intensely scrutinized, and their lyrics never consist of wishy-washy love material (about the closest SD gets to "love" is in the form of a stalker or a prostitute...), whereas Jamiroquai tends more towards spacey (aggressive) acid-jazz/funk set to emotional or politically/environmentally-driven lyrical passages. Steely Dan is a bit more closely related to the jazz standards and rock pioneers of bygone eras; Jamiroquai is much closer to 70's soul and funk.

Nevertheless, thanks for the free track, which is how all digital music should be in this day and age. Only physical albums should come at a price (a price I'm more than willing to pay for). To digress a little, I'm still waiting for the music industry to catch up to the 21st century and release music on a new, higher-quality disc format such as at 24/32-bit, 96,000kbps. Seriously, CDs represent three decades' old technology.

Agreed Mike. At the same time, nothing still resonates like the warm glow of vinyl, at least to me anyway. Believe me, I would like to listen to the masters as close to "as you heard it live" as possible. But I think HD audio seems to take away from it somewhat, it doesn't feel natural to me...we'll see!

Off the topic of "Smile" but as much as I'd like to see it, I can't see HD audio formats taking off. I think the vast majority of people either don't care (happy with MP3), don't notice or don't have the equipment to make the most out of higher bit rate audio.

As well as this, the capabilities of the CD aren't even being used properly. A lot of the final sound quality is down to the guys doing the sound mixing and the many of them responsible for pop music aren't doing a good job. I find it hard to find a CD where the mixing is a s good as the music. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I think some of the recent Michael Buble albums have been very well recorded and mixed - I think these are a good example of how a CD should sound.

Not the best analogy but it's a bit like today's digital cameras in a way. You've got to start with a good lens (e.g. good sound engineer) before adding more megapixels otherwise you're just recording blurry edges and distortion with more points.

P.S. I really like Smile!
P.P.S. I know it's free but I wish we could get it in a FLAC format or similar.

Regardless I love this band. This song has elements of what we have been waiting for evenn if it is a slight return to the 93 - 97 it has the elegance which Jamiroquai has always had. Even though it is just one song this proves to me that Jamiroquai still have it.The quality has always been there now what I personally need to happen is like the day I picked up Traveling Without Moving by accident, saw the funny looking cover and said hey it's got that song I like on it on the back. I'm a musician and I was searching for a sound that was not common,next thing I knew I heard Planet Home and I was like wtf, I started scanning through the cd and said wtf I like all the tracks, that can't be. The next week I walked in and bought Synchronized and said again wtf I love all these tracks again. And thus every album I bought which made me happy and merry. But as the music changed over the last few years I find myself comparing albums and I know I shouldn't but there is a magic in those first albums, the same type of magic in the Abbey Road Studio version of Travelling Without Moving. Buss some strings Buss some Funk and Buss something crazy like Every Body's Going To The Moon. And what happened to that Midnight Funk Track oh the goodness skippydoobit dibbydobit, and then u tease me with a song like Do it like we used to do?? And now you bring Smile... I'm expecting a whole album full of this thing called Jamirofunk and I want secret tracks 2 of them of which there is no song on earth like.

Love you guys keep doing it.