A Funk Odyssey is the fifth studio album by English band Jamiroquai, released in 2001.
Combining features of disco, funk and electronica, the release of the album represented the peak of international commercial success for Jamiroquai, and in the ensuing world tour the group became a household name in many countries. The album marks also a departure from the band's more traditional acid jazz sound.
Album information
A Funk Odyssey was the first Jamiroquai album not to feature 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".
Reception
Initial critical response to A Funk Odyssey was generally mixed. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 58, based on 13 reviews.[1]
Q magazine (September 2001, p.112) - 4 stars out of 5 - "A certified thoroughbred. This time, there's a bankable chorus or barbed sentiment for every mirror-ball moment....demonstrating that no-one does sci-fi boogie quite as well as he does sci-fi boogie."
CMJ (17 September 2001, p.12) - "Works as the perfect mixed tape to snap your fingers to on your way to another universe."
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
- "Do It Like We Used To Do"
The song "Deeper Underground" from the movie "Godzilla" is a bonus track in the Japanese release. Some regions included "Do It Like We Used to Do", an outtake from the Funk Odyssey sessions.
A Funk Odyssey test pressing
- "Feel So Good" – 6:24
- "Little L" – 4:55
- "You Give Me Something" – 5:16
- "Interlude #1" – 0:35
- "Main Vein" – 4:51
- "Corner of the Earth" – 5:41
- "Twenty Zero One" – 8:29
- "Black Crow" – 4:08
- "Interlude #2" – 1:22
- "Do It Like We Used to Do" – 6:49
- "Stop Don't Panic" – 5:31
- "Interlude #3" – 0:20
- "Picture of My Life" – 3:46
- "So Good to Feel Real" – 2:09
Though many songs are the same length as they appeared on the final album configuration, a few were extended cuts. "Feel So Good" and "You Give Me Something" featured longer introductions with percussion, while "Twenty Zero One" expanded by over three minutes. Several of the mixes were different; "Little L" featured extra percussion while "Corner of the Earth", "Picture of My Life" and "Black Crow" featured different variations of the vocals, either by phrasing or enunciation. "Do It Like We Used to Do" was featured in an edited form, and "So Good to Feel Real" was the only song left untouched. Interestingly, "Main Vein" featured no lead vocals and only the background singers. A popular fan interpretation is that this song was written about Denise van Outen, Jay's ex-girlfriend, but from her perspective; the song would have thus featured a female vocalist and would showcase the same fight shown in "Little L" but from Denise's perspective.
The test pressing also featured three interludes. The first featured Jay in an electronically manipulated monologue asking why Jay would want to "shut down the funk assembly unit." The second interlude was a beatbox track which was later used in the single "Feels Just Like It Should", while the third featured Strauss' "The Blue Danube" being faded in slowly at a low volume.
A case of (possibly intentional) synchronicity occurs when the test pressing is played to Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey. [1]
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.
- 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)
Chart positions
| Year |
Chart |
Position |
| 2001 |
Australian ARIA Albums Chart |
1 |
| 2002 |
References
