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"Emergency On Planet Earth" by Jamiroquai
Total Time: 55:28
Publisher: Sony Soho Square
CD Code: 474069 2
Review by David Cassidy, of Cynostic

AM/FM rating: 8/10


This  is  an odd lot, you know.  Very odd.  They're whole "vibe" is 70s and the
music  is  very much reflective of this era.  Stevie Wonder immediately springs
to mind.

So,  what can you expect to find on this, the oddest of odd CDs which I had the
good  fortune  to buy a few weeks ago?  First, I think you'd better learn WHY I
bought it.

A  few  months  before,  I  had started going to a local club quite regularly -
Brown's  in  Coventry,  UK.   This  club  is generally known for its mixture of
blues,  dance,  soul,  hip-hop,  rare  groove and others.  Basically, if you go
there you can expect a damn good groove.  And it's cheap, too!

Anyhow,  I  kept  hearing a song played there which I really liked.  It went on
about  armageddon  and  how  we've  got  to  depend  on  each  other to survive
hypocrisy.   More  importantly,  it  had  a  simply  wicked  70s  groove with a
meandering bass and a smooth drum-hihat-tomtom set which got everyone moving.

Later,  I  heard  this same record feature a didgeridoo, of all things.  And it
started  to  sound  more  and more like a dance record, then revert back to the
essential 70s groove.  It turns out that this song is "When You Gonna Learn".

Soon,  another  record  appeared  which featured the same vocal and more smooth
grooves.   This  time,  I heard it at Brown's and then in the charts.  This was
"Too Young To Die".  Strings and a simple synth accompaniment to horns and that
usual meandering bass.

With  the  release  of "Blow Your Mind" I had my mind set - this was a record I
had to get.  There was little like it that I had heard recently so why not?

It  seems others had the same idea as "Emergency..." raced to the top of the UK
albums chart in its second week.

This  is  one  of  the  most  successful albums of the year in that it contains
innovative  stuff  for  the  90s,  which  reverts  back  to  older  styles  for
inspiration.

Other high-points of the set include "Hooked Up", a solid bass and synth jive,
"Emergency On Planet Earth", an essential track if ever I heard one, and
"Didgin' Out" which, although the shortest of all the tracks, shows what talent
Jamiroquai have in arranging sounds together.

To  be  honest,  a lot of the tracks sound "samey" but this isn't necessarily a
bad  thing.   There's  enough  variety  to keep you interested but enough solid
foundations  -  familiar  territory,  if  you like - to keep you satisfied that
you're getting your money's worth.

I will say that you should avoid this if you don't like the sort of music found
in mid-70s films or such-like but if you revel in Stevie Wonder or other sounds
of the Motown era then this is definitely for you.

Suitable for either an easy-listening mood or a groove-get-together but, either
way,  in  this  album  you've got a production of the highest quality, combined
with retrospective nostalgia which will entrance.  Recommended.

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