''Rock Dust Light Star'' is the seventh studio album by English band

Jamiroquai Jamiroquai ( ) are an English acid jazz and funk 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 th ...

. It 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 Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum ...

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. Mercury Records released ...

and on 24 April 2012 in the United States by Executive Music Group.

Background

The album was recorded at Jamiroquai frontman

Jay Kay Jason "Jay" Kay (born Jason Luís Cheetham, 30 December 1969) is a British singer and songwriter. In 1992, he co-founded the acid jazz and funk band Jamiroquai and still serves as their lead vocalist. As of 2017, the band had sold more than 26 ...

's home studio in Buckinghamshire, as well as Hook End Manor in Oxfordshire, and Karma Studios in Thailand. The album was 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 would be more centred on funk and rock; however, 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 Kay and fellow band members 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 primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, 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 British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', 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 singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...

Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry (lead vocals/keyboards/principal songwriter) and Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson (bass). By the time the band recorded their Roxy Music (album), first albu ...

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, 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 experiments ...

and

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

"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 the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

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 at

Hallenstadion The Hallenstadion (, ''Zürich Indoor Stadium'') is a multi-purpose facility in the Oerlikon quarter of northern Zürich. It has a capacity of 11,200 spectators. Designed by Bruno Giacometti, it opened on November 4, 1939, and was renovated in ...

in Zürich on 18 March 2011, and ending with two shows at the SECC in Glasgow on 20 April 2011. And in June 2011, another string of tour dates were confirmed on the band's website for June and July.

Track listing

Outtakes

Although a total of 40 songs were recorded for the album, the studio only requested and wanted 15 tracks of those track to appear 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, neither of those tracks appeared on the final track listing. "All Mixed Up in You" appeared to be the original and working title for "Angeline", which was 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''. On 6 January 2018, Kay announced that he would be releasing a couple of the outtake tracks once every month as a new year's gift. On 16 January 2018, "Now We Are Alone" was released to the public in streaming format, but other the tracks were never released as stated.

Personnel

Adapted from the Jamiroquai Universal website. * Malcolm Strachan – trumpet, flugelhorn * Jim Corry – saxophone * James Russell – saxophone, flute * Matt Johnson – keyboards * Rob Harris – guitar * Paul Turner – bass guitar * Simon Hale – strings * Derrick McKenzie – drums * Sola Akingbola – percussion *

– vocals * Valerie Etienne – background vocals * Hazel Fernandez – background vocals * Kate Sutherland – background vocals on 'Rock Dust Light Star' Live Version

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rock Dust Light Star 2010 albums Jamiroquai albums Universal Music Group albums Mercury Records albums