A Funk Odyssey
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| A Funk Odyssey | ||
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| Studio album by Jamiroquai | ||
| Released | September 3, 2001 (UK) September 11, 2001 (US) |
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| Recorded | 2001 | |
| Genre | Funk | |
| Length | 48:17 | |
| Label | Epic | |
| Producer(s) | Rick Pope | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Jamiroquai chronology | ||
| 1999 Remixes (1999) |
A Funk Odyssey (2001) |
Late Night Tales: Jamiroquai (2003) |
A Funk Odyssey was released by Jamiroquai in 2001. Combining features of disco, funk and electronica, the release of the album represented the peak of commercial success for Jamiroquai, and in the ensuing world tour the group became a household name in many countries. A Funk Odyssey was the first Jamiroquai album to do away with the famous "Buffalo Man" image on the cover, though the pattern of lasers behind Jason Kay were set up along an outline of the Buffalo Man, who also appears in the booklet several times. The album, although deeply into a disco/funk vibe, is also very focused on an electronica sound, evident especially in "Twenty Zero One" and "Stop! Don't Panic".
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
- "Feel So Good" – 5:21
- "Little L" – 4:55
- "You Give Me Something" – 3:23
- "Corner of the Earth" – 5:40
- "Love Foolosophy" – 3:45
- "Stop Don't Panic" – 4:34
- "Black Crow" – 4:02
- "Main Vein" – 5:05
- "Twenty Zero One" – 5:15
- "Picture Of My Life/So Good To Feel Real" (Hidden track) – 6:17
"Little L" and "Love Foolosophy" were both featured in recent film soundtracks. "Little L" was played in the movie The Sweetest Thing starring Cameron Diaz, and rumors claim that "Love Foolosophy" has been played in a Nickelodeon Studios movie based on the animated series As Told by Ginger. "Love Foolosophy" also played during the ending credits of Garage Kids, the pilot episode for Code Lyoko.
The song "Deeper Underground" from the movie "Godzilla" is a bonus track in the Japanese release.
Publishing Companies: Sony Entertainment, Epic Records
[edit] Acceptance & the fans' response
Though the album was a major commercial success, many old-school Jamiroquai fans have criticized the band's work for being more electronic and "poppier" than all other of their previous releases. However, another, smaller part of the band's fan base has praised the album for other reasons. The most common critics aimed at the album described it as a work that drifted dangerously far from the 'Jamiroquai sound'. Many fans consider the track "Stop Don't Panic" to be the worst Jamiroquai song ever to be written and performed, and the whole album is usually found at the bottom of fanmade "Top 6 list" polls [1]. The lack of a horn section on most songs was also cited as a very bad point of the album, aside from the record not having at least one instrumental, unlike the pevious Jamiroquai albums, which bore at least one, if not two of the kind.
A song, "Do it Like we Used to do", originally cut from the album's tracklist (and later placed as a B-side to some singles from the album), had recieved critical praise from most fans, being cited as the album's best song, having the old-school Jamiroquai sound, a horn section, and being most probably the fastest-paced Jamiroquai song to be recorded to this day.
An [unedited] test pressing of the album, however, had fared far better than the finished product, due to being far more organic and less produced than the "finished" product. "Rips" of the test pressing are barely circulating, and people who have heard the pressing should count themselves lucky enough to have had and used the opportunity to do so.
[edit] "A Funk Odyssey" Test pressing
([Track number] [Song title] - [Test pressing duration] - [Duration of the song on the final cut] - [Final cut length substracted from the test pressing song length])
- Feel So Good – 6:24 - 5:21 - 1:03;
- Little L – 4:55; [Equal length]
- You Give Me Something – 5:16 - 3:23 - 1:53;
- Interlude #1 – 0:35; [Does not appear on AFO]
- Main Vein – 4:51 - 5:05 - -0:16
- Corner Of The Earth – 5:41 - 5:40 - 0:01
- Twenty Zero One – 8:29 - 5:15 - 3:14
- Black Crow – 4:08 - 4:02 - 0:06
- Interlude #2 – 1:22; [Does not appear on AFO]
- Do It Like we Used to do – 6:49 - 7:32 - -0:43 [Appears on the AFO special edition, and as a B-side to some singles]
- Stop Don't Panic – 5:31 - 4:34 - 1:57
- Interlude #3 – 0:20; [Does not appear on AFO]
- Picture Of My Life – 3:46 - 3:42 - 0:04; [Silence and "So Good to Feel Real" are not counted into the AFO length]
- So Good To Feel Real – 2:09 - 2:03 - 0:06. [Silence and "Picture of my Life" are not counted into the AFO length]
[edit] Differences between the test pressing and the final release
- Feel So Good: The song on the test pressing has a somewhat longer intro, some (very quiet) percussion, and is much longer than the final album version.
- Little L: This song is around the same length as the album version, but there are some differences between the standard release and the test pressing, such as the percussion on the listener's left hand side, which, as in Feel So Good is very quiet.
- You Give Me Something: The song is extended and includes a percussion intro, and has an extended ending with the lyric, "You just give me something!" being spoken, not sung.
- Interlude #1: This is a spoken interlude which was cut out of the final release. The interlude is also possible proof that the album, then known by the working title "2001: A Funk Odyssey", was meant to be a concept album. The spoken interlude runs:
"Are you trying to shut down the funk assembly unit? Twenty Zero One? Twenty Zero One, do you copy? Are you trying to shut down the funk assembly unit? What are you doing, Jay? You told me the album would be live, but now you're trying to use my programs. What is the meaning of this word... "2001: A Funk Odyssey"? (Jibberish)"
The speaker is actually Jason Kay, the band's lead singer, whose voice on the track is electronically manipulated.
- Main Vein: The song is somewhat shorter than the album version. It also features no vocals, except the backing singers. This leads to a possible interpretation that this song was written about Denise van Outen, Jay's ex-girlfriend, but from her perspective. If correct, this would make the song the polar opposite to Little L, which is a song written about the same breakup, from Jay's point of view.
- Corner Of The Earth: The test-pressing version of this song is one second shorter than on the album release, and there are differences in the levels of the instrumentation compared with the final album.
- Twenty Zero One: This song, the longest on the test pressing, is much longer than the album version. Since the album was originally planned with the title 2001: A Funk Odyssey, this seems to be the "title track" of the album.
- Black Crow: The song is 4 seconds longer than the final cut and some of the vocal phrasings are different.
- Interlude #2: This interlude is a 1:22 long "beatbox" by the lead singer. The same voice distortion is used as on Interlude #1. This same beatbox has been used in another one of the band's songs - Feels Just Like It Should, both in the intro and in some other parts.
- Do It Like We Used To Do: This is a shortened version of the track that later appeared whole on the final release in some regions, as a bonus track.
- Stop Don't Panic: The song is one minute longer, and the lead vocal is a bit dimmer than on the final cut.
- Interlude #3: This interlude is Strauss' The Blue Danube. Oddly, the track is a lo-fi recording, and it fades in during the whole twenty-second play, but is still quiet even at the end.
- Picture of my Life: This song has a longer fadeout than the album version, parts of the chorus are sung in a different accent, and the piano in the song is somewhat louder.
- So Good To Feel Real: This is a separate song on this release, and is also the only unedited track that made it to the album.
Many fans have speculated that the band's record label allows the band only a small amount of creative freedom, due to these unedited tracks surfacing and giving a glimpse of how the album might have sounded.
[edit] Outtakes / Live only tracks and samples
- Cannabliss;
- After being scrapped from the project (not being even half complete at the time), this track's album introduction was used as the introduction for "Corner of the Earth"
- (A) Funk Odyssey;
- It is unknown whether this track is an outtake, a live-only track, or both.
- Shoot The Moon (Montreux jazz festival, 2003) (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- 30-second snippet of the only recorded performance of "Shoot the Moon"
- Problems listening to the file? See media help.
- Shoot the Moon.
- This song was an outtake from the album, also. It was played live at least twice, once at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2003, and once at a concert in Turkey. A widely-circulated recording of the song being played at the festival exists, and can be found on Jamiroquai.RU for download. One interesting fact about the song is that it was intended to have a horn section. The band did not have a horn section at the time, so the electric guitar had to substitute the horns. A studio version was never recorded, but was planned to be.
- Interludes #1, #2 & #3. (See above)
[edit] Miscellanea
- There were about 5 different versions of the song titled 'Love Foolosophy', but only one made it to the album.
- The original title of the album was '2001: A Funk Odyssey', but the '2001' was removed from the title due to the record label fearing the album's title would sound dated.
- It is speculated that the title track of the album was 'Twenty Zero One'.
- Jamiroquai have played a live-only track called 'Funk Odyssey'. It cannot be found on the album.
- The album was released in the US just minutes before the 9/11 attacks.
| Jamiroquai |
|---|
| Members: Jason Kay | Rob Harris | Paul Turner | Matt Johnson | Derrick McKenzie | Sola Akingbola | Lorraine McIntosh | Hazel Fernandez | Sam Smith |
| Former members: Gavin Dodds | Simon Katz | Nick Fyffe | Stuart Zender | Simon Carter | Toby Smith | Nick Van Gelder | Darren Galea (DJ D-Zire) | Winston Rollins | Adrian Revell | Wallis Buchanan | Beverley Knight |
| See also: Band logos | Chillington studio | Iroquois | Gig in the Sky |
| Discography |
| Studio albums |
| Emergency on Planet Earth (1993) | The Return of the Space Cowboy (1994/1995) | Jazzmatazz, Vol. 2: The New Reality (Guest appearance) (1995) | Travelling without Moving (1996/1997) | Synkronized (1999) | A Funk Odyssey (2001) | Dynamite (2005) |
| Compilation albums |
| Jay's Selection (1996) | In Store Jam (promo, 1997) | Late Night Tales: Jamiroquai (2003/2005) | High Times: Singles 1992-2006 (2006) |
| Box sets |
| L'Intégrale des Maxi-Singles (1994) | The Single Box (1997) | The Singles Collection (1997) | Deeper Underground (1998) | 1999 Remixes (1999) | ULBC (Fanmade) (??) |
| Unofficial live recordings (ROIOs) |
| If I Like it, I do it (1993) | BBC 528 (1993) | Stockholm '93 (1993) | Club Citta '93 (1993) | Songs for Manitú (1993) | Firenze [sic] 1993 (1993) | Funky Paradise (1994) | JAZZiroquai (1995) | ... |
| DVDs |
| Live In Verona (2002/2003) | High Times: Singles 1992-2006 (2006) |
| Singles |
| When You Gonna Learn | Too Young to Die | Blow Your Mind | Emergency on Planet Earth | Space Cowboy | Half the Man | Stillness in Time | Light Years | The Kids | Do U Know Where You're Coming From? (Guest appearance) | Virtual Insanity | Cosmic Girl | Alright | High Times | Deeper Underground | Canned Heat | Black Capricorn Day | Supersonic | King for a Day | I'm in the Mood for Love (Guest appearance) | Little L | You Give Me Something | Love Foolosophy | Corner of the Earth | Main Vein | Feels Just Like It Should | Seven Days in Sunny June | (Don't) Give Hate a Chance | Runaway |
| Promotion-only / Cancelled / White label singles |
| Revolution 1993 | If I Like It I Do It | Morning Glory | Everyday | Travelling Without Moving | Hollywood Swingin' | Soul Education | An Online Odyssey | Feel So Good | Do It Like We Used To Do | Bad Girls | Dynamite | Starchild | Electric Mistress | Time Won't Wait | Emergency on Planet Earth & Blow Your Mind remixes | Talullah (Shelter mixes) | Multiquai |
