The Return of the Space Cowboy

Template:Short description Template:Good article Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates {{safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst-infobox||$params=italic_title,name,type,longtype,artist,cover,border,alt,caption,released,recorded,venue,studio,genre,length,language,label,director,producer,compiler,chronology,prev_title,prev_year,year,next_title,next_year,misc|$extra=italic_title,longtype,border,caption,language,director,compiler,chronology,year,misc|$aliases=italic title>italic_title,Italic title>italic_title,Name>name,Type>type,image>cover,Cover>cover,Border>border,Alt>alt,Caption>caption,Longtype>longtype,Artist>artist,Released>released,Recorded>recorded,Venue>venue,Studio>studio,Genre>genre,Length>length,Language>language,Label>label,Director>director,Producer>producer,Compiler>compiler,Chronology>chronology,Misc>misc|$flags=override|$B={{#ifeq:{{#invoke:Is infobox in lead|main|[Ii]nfobox [Aa]lbum}}|true|{{#if:Template:Has short description | |{{#if: 17 October 1994<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> | Template:Short description}}}}}}{{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Main other{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox album with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y|italic_title |type |name |image |cover |border |alt |caption |longtype |artist |released |recorded |venue |studio |genre |length |language |label |director |producer |compiler |prev_title|prev_year|next_title|next_year|chronology|year|misc}}{{#if:{{#invoke:String|match|error_category=Music infoboxes with Module:String errors|A|1=Emergency on Planet Earth1993Jay's Selection1996studioThe Return of the Space CowboyReturnofthespacecowboy.pngA white silhouette of a human male with buffalo horns, his head slightly tilted to the left. Above him is text of both the band name and album title. The background is a closeup of the moon.Jamiroquai17 October 1994<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>* Townhouse

• Battery
• Falconer* Acid jazz
• funk
• R&B
• soul pop65:44 (CD)

67:42 (LP)* Sony Soho Square (UK)

• Work (US)
• Columbia (Canada)
• Epic (Japan)* Jay Kay
• Mike Nielsenx|2=</?t[drh][ >]|nomatch=}}|Template:Main other}}Template:Main other}}

The Return of the Space Cowboy is the second album by English funk and acid jazz band Jamiroquai. The album was released on 17 October 1994 under Sony Soho Square. The album continues the musical direction of their debut, Emergency on Planet Earth (1993), and is characterised by its complex songwriting as a result of Jay Kay's creative block mid-production. Its lyrics addressed street life, hope, loss, Kay's drug use, and social matters regarding Native Americans and youth protests.

Critical reviews of the album were generally positive, with some considering it an improvement from Jamiroquai's first album. It ranked at number 2 in the UK and was certified platinum in the country, with 1,300,000 copies sold worldwide. Its singles "Half the Man" and "Stillness in Time" reached number 15 and number 9, respectively, on the UK Singles Chart, while "Space Cowboy" and "Light Years" peaked at number 1 and number 6 on the US Dance Charts, respectively. The album was reissued in 2013 in remastered form with bonus material.

Background and composition

File:Jamiroquai in concert.jpg

Jay Kay performing with Jamiroquai, Template:Circa

Derrick McKenzie auditioned to be the drummer for Jamiroquai by recording the opening track, "Just Another Story", with the band in one take. McKenzie replaced the band's original drummer, Nick Van Gelder, who failed to return from holiday.<ref name="spacecowboy" /> The track has "a long, squittery, highly rhythmic intro – tight snare drum, Fender Rhodes piano, generic ('70s) synth sound, strings, galloping bass, clonking percussion".<ref name="Q94">Template:Cite journal</ref> In the song, Jay Kay "extemporises a street tale ... midway between rapping and singing."<ref name="theindependent">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The album was recorded at Townhouse, Battery, and Falconer studios, all located in London.<ref name="booklet">Template:Cite AV media</ref> As the band started to record, Kay suddenly fell into a second-album syndrome worsened by his increasing drug use.<ref name="spacecowboy">Kay, Jason (March 2013). The Return of the Space Cowboy 20th anniversary edition reissue booklet – Sony Music Entertainment</ref> The songwriting process was complex for the band, as Kay was often dissatisfied with the results, leading to songs being scrapped or rewritten.<ref name="spacecowboy" /> He also struggled with writing lyrics "because suddenly I wasn't homeless, I had everything I needed. So I found myself creating problems to write about."<ref name="thetimes1996">Template:Cite journal</ref> The Latin-tinged "Stillness in Time" was written when Kay was at his lowest point in recording the album. He said that "the sweetness of [the song] was really wishful thinking; a hope that things would get better."<ref name="spacecowboy" /><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> "Half the Man" is a mid-tempo track about Kay's twin brother who died shortly after birth: "[In] that sense I always have a part of me being missing, but it also doubles up really nicely as a love song".<ref name="spacecowboy" /><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

With the band's songwriting going back and forth between harder and softer songs, they shifted to writing "Light Years", a track Kay described as having a "very heavy vibe".<ref name="spacecowboy" /> The fifth track, "Manifest Destiny", a mellow song with "a brass-heavy coda",<ref name="bbcmusic" /> was written when Kay read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, telling of the mistreatment and massacres of Native Americans.<ref name="spacecowboy" /> The sixth track, "The Kids", is an "aggressive" song with "mariachi-band trumpets and snapping bass" meant to "[capture] the feeling of the streets" and is about youth protests against the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994, a bill that outlaws unrestricted raves.<ref name="spacecowboy" /> It is the only track on which Van Gelder played drums.<ref name="booklet" /><ref name="sullivan" />

The seventh track, "Mr. Moon", is a love song with "incredibly complex chord structure[s]" about a girl whom Kay met at a rave but ended up with the band's keyboardist Toby Smith.<ref name="spacecowboy" /> The following track, "Scam", is said to feature orchestral arrangements "with which Rich Tufo and Johnny Pate once draped Curtis Mayfield's soul-protest funk in stark grace".<ref name="theindependent" /> The next track, "Journey To Arnhemland", is an instrumental that features didgeridoo playing.<ref name="Q94" /> The tenth track, "Morning Glory", is, according to BBC Music, "laid back, a blissed-out joy; perfect comedown music with percussion darting from speaker to speaker."<ref name="bbcmusic">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Halfway through recording the album, Kay found his turning point when he wrote the final track, "Space Cowboy", while his drug use was "completely out of control and I was losing my mind".<ref name="spacecowboy" /> He further said in 2013:

Everyone thinks it's a nice song about getting stoned... but for me it went much deeper... Is it about me or someone else? Is it about marijuana or cocaine? What it was about was someone who was very lost, trying to hang on and come back before he drifted off into a blackhole never to be seen again ... ['Space Cowboy' gave us] the momentum to push on and finish what I still think is one of our most creative and accomplished albums.<ref name="spacecowboy" />{{#if:|

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Release

The Return of the Space Cowboy was released on 17 October 1994 under Sony Soho Square.<ref name="theindependent" /><ref name="releasedate">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the United States, it released in 1995 under the Work Group.<ref name="RS" /> The album reached number 2 in the UK Album Chart and was certified platinum, indicating it has sold 300,000 copies in the country.<ref name="ukcert" /> In France, it was number 4 in its SNEP Album Charts, selling 347,000 copies.<ref name="fracharts" /><ref name="frcert" /> In the country's year end chart, it ranked number 31.<ref name="frayearend" /> The album peaked at number 9 in the Swiss Album Charts, where it was certified gold.<ref name="chchart" /><ref name="chcert" /> In Japan, it ranked number 23 in the Oricon Charts, receiving a Platinum certification.<ref name="jpchart" /><ref name="jpcert" /> The album reached number 37 in the Dutch Album Top 100 and sold 50,000 copies, certifying it as gold.<ref name="nlchart" /><ref name="nlcert" /> Overall, the album sold 1,300,000 copies.<ref name="worldwidesales" /> In 2013, The Return of the Space Cowboy was one of the first three albums to be re-issued on the band's 20th anniversary campaign, also containing a bonus disc containing remixes and b-sides.<ref name="2013reissues" />

"Space Cowboy" was released as the album's international lead single on 26 September 1994.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The single peaked at number 17 on the UK Singles Chart and was their first number one on the US Dance Chart.<ref name=":12">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The single contains remixes by David Morales, which further put the single in club circulation.<ref name=":11">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":26">Template:Cite magazine</ref> "Half the Man" was released as the album's third overall single, on 7 November 1994.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The track reached number 15 on the UK Singles Chart.<ref name=":12" /> "Light Years" was released as the album's fourth overall single on 20 February 1995.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In the United States, the song was number six on the Dance Chart.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> "Stillness in Time" was the album's fifth overall single, released on 19 June 1995.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The track peaked at number nine on the UK Singles Chart,<ref name=":12" /> making it the group's highest-charting release to that date. "The Kids" and "Morning Glory" have also been released as singles.<ref>Template:Cite AV media notes</ref><ref>Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>

Reception

Critics have said The Return of the Space Cowboy continues the style of Jamiroquai's 1993 album Emergency on Planet Earth, and some have considered it an improvement in comparison,<ref name="theindependent" /><ref name="sullivan" /><ref name="AMG" /><ref name="Q" /> with Daryl Easlea writing it "captures this first phase of Jamiroquai at their very best."<ref name="bbcmusic" /> John Bush of AllMusic said the album "offered a better set of songs and more ambitious musical themes ... Jason Kay's dead-on impression of Stevie Wonder and Sly Stone drives the group's blend of acid jazz and funky R&B"<ref name="AMG" /> Paul Evans of Rolling Stone wrote, "Jamiroquai parlay jazzy soul pop so tight it crackles ... Nowadays, when most funk comes out of cans, Jamiroquai's live spark glows."<ref name="RS" /> Evans also said the album "recall[s] Roberta Flack and Weather Report",<ref name="RS" /> and a reviewer of Musician compared it to both Wonder and Mandrill: "with its vintage keyboards, jazz harmonies and fondness for rambling, jam-oriented arrangements".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Entertainment Weekly described the band as "a funk-making machine with a bright future in the past",<ref name="EW" /> while The Source said that they "may still be light years ahead of the hip-hop world."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Writing of the lyrics, Sonia Murray of The Atlanta Constitution opined that "Jamiroquai challenges our numb response to violence, the lure of material trappings, even 'the shame of [his] ancestry' with a spirit so unencumbered and personal that these searing messages feel like engaging talks over coffee."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Neil Spencer of The Guardian commented: "Most of this second album still sounds like vintage Stevie Wonder and Johnny 'Guitar' Watson, but Kay's vocals are as snappy and engaging as his extrovert persona".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> David Sinclair wrote that the album "combines intricate arrangements with several long, free-form workouts crammed with virtuoso performances."<ref name=":1" /> He also considers Stuart Zender's bass-playing "the most telling contribution to the album's relentless bustle and drive."<ref name="Q94" /> He however wrote that "the album is marred by a tendency to substitute technique for tunes."<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Andy Gill of The Independent found several of the tracks too long.<ref name="theindependent" /> In a negative review, Mark Jenkins of The Washington Post described the album as "one of 1995's least digestible servings of leftovers."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Track listing

All tracks are written by Jay Kay and Toby Smith, except where noted.<ref name="booklet" /> Template:Track listing Template:Track listing Template:Track listing Template:Track listing Template:Track listing Template:Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from album liner notes.<ref name="booklet" /> Template:Div col Jamiroquai

• Jay Kay – vocals
• Toby Smith – keyboards
• Stuart Zender – bass
• Derrick McKenzie – drums
• Wallis Buchanan – didgeridoo

Additional musicians

• Nick Van Gelder – drums Template:Small<ref name="spacecowboy" />
• Simon Katz – electric guitar Template:Small
• Jeffrey Scantlebury – percussion Template:Small<ref name="booklet"/>
• Maurizio Ravalico – percussion
• Gary Barnacle – saxophone
• Richard Edwards – trombone
• John Thirkell – trumpet
• Matthew Scrivener – violin
• Iain Mackinnon – violin
• Owen Little – viola
• Robert Bailey – cello
• Colin Davy, Sean Quinn, Komodo, DC Lee – backing vocals Template:Small

Production

• Jay Kay – production, arrangement, engineering
• Michael Nielsen – engineer, co-producer<ref name="booklet"/>
• Al Stone – additional recording (vocals), mixing<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
• Adrian Bushby – engineering Template:Small
• Martin Harrison – mixing on "Light Years" (Live at the 'Theatre du Moulin', Marseille, December 1994)
• Creative Hands – design
• Eddie Monsoon – photography
• Chris Nash – photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly chart performance for The Return of the Space Cowboy

Chart	Position
Australian ARIA Album Chart<ref name="auchart">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	42
Austrian Albums Chart<ref name="atchart">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	22
Dutch Albums Chart<ref name="nlchart">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	37
French SNEP Albums Chart<ref name="fracharts">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	4
German Media Control Albums Chart<ref name="dechart">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	37
Japanese Oricon Albums Chart<ref name="jpchart">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	23
Swedish Albums Chart<ref name="sechart">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	17
Swiss Albums Chart<ref name="chchart">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	9
UK Albums Chart<ref name="UKchart">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	2

Year-end charts

Year-end chart performance for The Return of the Space Cowboy

Chart (1993)	Position
French Albums Chart<ref name="frayearend">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	31

References

Sources

• Template:Cite book

External links

• Template:Discogs master