''Rock Dust Light Star'' is the seventh studio album released by the English band
Jamiroquai
Jamiroquai () are an English funk and acid jazz band from London. Formed in 1992, they are fronted by vocalist Jay Kay, and were prominent in the London-based funk and acid jazz movement of the 1990s. They built on their acid jazz sound in the ...
. The album was released on 1 November 2010 in the United Kingdom by
Universal Music
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...
/
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...
and on 24 April 2012 in the United States by
Executive Music Group
Executive Music Group (EMG) is an independent record label located in Dallas, Texas. The label was started in 2004 by Jacob Capricciuolo. EMG represents a wide variety of artists, making them unique among other independent labels. EMG is distribute ...
.
Background
The album was recorded at Jay Kay's home studio in Buckinghamshire, as well as Hook End Manor in Oxfordshire, and Karma Studios in Thailand. The album is written entirely by the band, and produced by first time collaborators
Charlie Russell and Brad Spence. The band revealed that the musical style of the new album will be more centred on funk and rock; however, frontman Jay Kay claimed that the tone and style of the album were hard for him to describe. Promotion of the album began in October 2010, with a press conference involving band members
Jay Kay
Jay Kay (born Jason Luís Cheetham; 30 December 1969) is an English singer and songwriter. He is best known as the co-founder and lead vocalist of the acid jazz and funk band Jamiroquai, which was formed in 1992.
Early life
Jay Kay was bo ...
, Derrick McKenzie, Sola Akingbola, Matt Johnson, Paul Turner, and Rob Harris. They announced that the group were to play two concerts, in
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
and
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, to promote the album, before discussing plans for a possible world tour in 2011. In a review for ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'', the album was described as "blistering, poetic, meaty, reflective and inspiring". For this album, Kay took inspiration from
Rod Stewart
Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...
,
Roxy Music
Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry—who became the band's lead vocalist and principal songwriter—and bassist Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson. The other longtime members are Phil Manzanera ...
,
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...
and
the Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
"in their more rock/disco phase".
Reception
Upon release, the album debuted at number seven on the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
with sales of about 34,378 copies.
As of December 2010, the album has sold 210,000 copies worldwide. On 17 December 2010, the album was certified Gold in the UK for reaching sales of 100,000 copies. In March 2011, Jamiroquai announced plans for the speculated worldwide tour, starting with dates Hallenstadion in Zurich on 18 March 2011, and ending with two shows at the SECC in Glasgow on 20 April 2011. In June 2011, another string of tour dates were confirmed on the band's website for June and July.
Outtakes
Although a total of 30 songs were recorded for the album, according to Kay, only 15 tracks appeared across all editions of the album. A video for the album, posted just before release, showed recording of the tracks "I've Been Working" and "Super Highway"; however, none of these appeared on the final track listing. "All Mixed Up in You" appeared as a working title for "Angeline", released as a bonus track in the deluxe version of the album.
Upon the album being made available to pre-order, several retail websites listed the standard album containing thirteen tracks, with track No. 8 called "Your Window Is a Crazy Television". However, upon the album appearing in stores, the track was nowhere to be seen. On 2 June 2011, a competition began to design artwork for a brand-new Jamiroquai single, "Smile", an outtake from ''Rock Dust Light Star''. On 9 June, the winner of the competition was announced, and the song was initially made available for free download via SoundCloud and was later published for free download on music journalism sites such as ''
Earmilk
''EARMILK'', sometimes stylized in all caps, is a North American online music publication. Launched in the late 2000s by Montrey Whittaker, Blake Edwards and Eric DeFazio, ''Earmilk'' publishes on a variety of music genres, often covering hip h ...
''.
Track listing
Japanese bonus track
#
"That's Not the Funk" – 3:22
Deluxe Edition bonus tracks
# "All Good in the Hood" (acoustic version) – 3:39
# "Angeline" (McKenzie, Kay, Harris) – 3:29
# "Hang It Over" (Kay, Harris) – 4:50
# "Rock Dust Light Star" (live) – 5:42
# "White Knuckle Ride" (Alan Braxe
Alain Quême (), professionally known as Alan Braxe (born 9 July 1971), is a French electronic music artist. Braxe is most widely known for his collaborative work with electronic bassist Fred Falke and Kris Menace, and for being part of the musi ...
remix) – 3:17
# "Blue Skies" (Fred Falke
Frédérick Falke () (born 7 January 1973), known professionally as Fred Falke, is a French house and dance music producer and DJ.
Biography
Falke started out as a bass player before moving to production work. His first record, a collaboratio ...
remix) – 4:08
Personnel
Adapted from the Jamiroquai Universal website.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rock Dust Light Star
2010 albums
Jamiroquai albums