Jamiroquai - The Return Of The Space Cowboy

This October Jamiroquai celebrates the 30th anniversary of ‘The Return Of The Space
Cowboy’. Their second album, it will be reissued as a double-LP set on 140g “moon grey”
vinyl and includes Michael Gray’s Good Vibe Zone edit of ‘Space Cowboy’ - which has never
been released on a physical product. The packaging has also been re-designed for this
anniversary release including foil enhancement of the original cover design.
‘The Return Of The Space Cowboy’ is the follow up album to the band’s huge 1993 debut,
‘Emergency On Planet Earth’. Selling over 3 million copies globally, ‘Emergency On Planet
Earth’ put the band on the map with their distinctive sound standing them apart from other
popular acts of the time.
‘The Return Of The Space Cowboy’ was released just one year later and was met with
great critical and public acclaim. Certified Platinum in the UK, Japan and France, it achieved
chart success in multiple countries and spawned the single ‘Space Cowboy’ which remains
one of their biggest tracks to date. Critically the album was lauded with Rolling Stone
saying "Jamiroquai parlay jazzy soul pop so tight it crackles… Nowadays, when most funk
comes out of cans, Jamiroquai's live spark glows", The Guardian said “... this second album
sounds like vintage Stevie Wonder and Johnny 'Guitar' Watson, but Kay's vocals are as
snappy and engaging as his extrovert persona" and Q magazine said it “combines intricate
arrangements with several long, free-form workouts crammed with virtuoso performances".
For many, this album is defined by some of the most complex songwriting the band have
ever produced and Jay Kay called it “one of our most creative and accomplished albums”.
The process of making the album came with many challenges. Having to recruit a new
drummer (after Nick Van Gelder failed to return from holiday), the band were met with

second-album syndrome with Kay proclaiming since that lyrics weren’t coming "... because
suddenly I wasn't homeless, I had everything I needed. So I found myself creating problems
to write about." The songwriting process was complex for the band as Jay Kay was often
dissatisfied with the results, leading songs to be scrapped or rewritten, but half-way through
recording Kay wrote ‘Space Cowboy’, a song which reflects darker times during the
recording session, and it became the catalyst of creative inspiration helping them finish the
record. On this 30th anniversary edition of the album Space Cowboy gets a modern dance
makeover courtesy of DJ Michael Gray, shedding new light on the track and emphasising it’s
already infectious groove.
The album built on the success of ‘Emergency On Planet Earth’ and Jamiroquai have
become one of the UK’s most pioneering and ground breaking bands of the past 30 years.
Pushing boundaries and bringing jazz and funk to a mainstream audience, their sound is not
only unique, but immediately recognisable.