After four years since their 2001 release of A Funk Odyssey, Jamiroquai delivers Dynamite – a step up from their previous album and full of soulful, funkadelic 80’s electro-pop and guitar-synths that complete what Odyssey started. The opening “Feels Just Like It Should” is most experimental for its pumping, synthesized voiceover, while “Dynamite” has a soulful opening bass line. “Seven Days in Sunny June” is an acoustic, reflective version of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” – “So baby lets get it on. Drinking wine and killing time, sitting in the summer sun. You know I’ve wanted you so long. Why’d you have to drop that bomb on me?”. “Electric Mistress”, a personal favorite especially for its instrumentals, has the synthesizing qualities and bass of “Like It Should”, but with a dance accompaniment to the sound of the Scissor Sisters. Frontman of many eccentric hats, Jay Kay, slows down with “World That He Wants”, a politically implicative solo that is lacking in the lyrical depth that “(Don’t) Give Hate A Chance has a bit more of. In addition, “Starchild” and “Time Won’t Wait” are groovy bass tracks that invite old-school scenes of disco at roller skating rinks. Dynamite, produced by soul legend Sa-Ra, represents the sixth release among a thirteen-year array of successful albums for Jamiroquai. The album makes up for the shortcoming of Odyssey to avid fans. For others Dynamite is a pleasantly familiar journey that leaves less room for discovery.
