The Return Of The Space Cowboy
| "The Return of the Space Cowboy" | |
|---|---|
| |
Album by Jamiroquai | |
| Released | 17 October 1994 |
| Recorded | 1993-1994 |
| Tour | The Return of the Space Cowboy Tour |
| Studio | Townhouse, Battery, Falconer |
| Genre | Acid jazz, funk, R&B, soul pop |
| Length | 65:44 (CD)
67:42 (LP) |
| Label | Sony Soho Square (UK)
Work (US)
Columbia (Canada)
Epic (Japan) |
| Writer | Jay Kay, Toby Smith, Stuart Zender, Derrick McKenzie, Wallis Buchanan |
| Producer | Jay Kay, Mike Nielson |
The Return of the Space Cowboy is the second studio album by Jamiroquai, released on 17 October 1994 under Sony Soho Square. The album follows a similar sound to their debut, with it's writing more focused on Kay's substance abuse, loss, hope, the street life, and racism. The album has sold around 1,300,000 copies worldwide, ranking number 2 in the UK and becoming certified platinum in the country.
The album was released with 5 singles, with the "The Kids" releasing as the first single for the album. Despite being released first, it was not the lead single for the project as it had been recorded around the same sessions as "Emergency On Planet Earth", releasing the same year as well as the debut's release date. The track was only released physically in Japan and never received proper international releases as a single. "Space Cowboy" released a year after, serving as the album's proper lead single and peaked at Number 1 on the US Dance Charts. The tracks "Half The Man" , "Light Years" and "Stillness In Time" dropped after the album's released in 1994 and 1995 respectively, charting fairly well on the US Dance Charts as well. The album was reissued in 2013 with remastered tracks, live renditions, demos, b-sides, and instrumentals. A decade later, the album would be reissued again pressed on "Moon Grey Marbled" vinyl and features the "Michael Gray's Good Vibes Zone Edit" of "Space Cowboy".
Background
Following their debut, "Emergency on Planet Earth", Jamiroquai hit it big, with the album reaching number 1 in the UK Albums Chart, and becoming the fastest-selling album in the country since "Faith" by George Michael in 1987, selling around 300,000 copies in the UK, making it certified Platinum. With this newfound pressure on the band, they were quick to get to work on a follow-up. The bands drummer at the time, Nick Van Gelder, had taken a holiday between albums, and with Kay wanting to get back in the studio over Christmas to not risk losing momentum, Van Gelder was let go from the band. Kay would say to Van Gelder: "Errr, well, don't go on holiday too long, I've got a big studio booked, we're in the game now, we've got a proper budget for the album, we've got a budget for strings, everybody's being very nice to us, giving us everything we want... We're in the game now, we can't afford to lose momentum.".
The band started looking for a new drummer following Van Gelder's firing, auditioning new drummers to take his place. One of these auditionees would be Derrick McKenzie, and would record the album's opening track, "Just Another Story" with the band in just one take. "Just Another Story" was inspired by Kay's time on the streets when he was a teenager, wanting to reflect the ruthlessness of them, knowing people who had been 'blown away' and stabbed, wanting to capture a real "Streets of San Francisco", filmic, anthem kind of vibe.
"We started up with this dark bass, and then Darren the DJ (DJ D-Zire) comes in scratching, and then Derrick doing these stuttering, gritty fills, all very '60/'70s TV soundtrack type of thing, which went perfectly with the lyrics and the story of the track - it was important to me to have the music and the lyrics match somehow."
The band was very satisfied with the final result of the track, deciding to keep McKenzie in the band. The album had started recording at Townhouse, Battery, and Falconer studios in London, but Kay suddenly fell into a 'second-album syndrome', with everything seemingly coming to a halt. Kay's increased drug use at the time worsened the situation as well: "I'd gone from a bit of weed and few magic mushrooms to hoofing up lines every time I needed inspiration, and by now I was going off my mind with it.". The album's complexity started getting to the band as well, with songs being more chord-driven rather than bassline-driven, leading to melodies for songs to be much, much harder to write for Kay, scrapping lyrics, rewriting songs, describing the process as a mess, and how everything was "just so fucking difficult to get done.".
The second track, and second single from the album, "Stillness in Time", came to Kay at his lowest point in the recording process, stating that the sheer loneliness of where he was in his own mind made the lyrics click: "There's a stillness in time / which I cannot define / does your heart bleed like mine / for a place we can go / where the troubles of our time are far away / and I have all my life in front of me / now my darkest days are trouble free." stating that the sweetness of the song was really wishful thinking: a hope that things would get better. The third track, and third single from the album, "Half the Man" came about when Kay had finally returned to the studio, with the record company worried about where the singles were, Kay had come up with the melody and lyrics of the song, with a keyboard part written by Toby Smith, forming into the song. The song's lyrics, while deceptively seeming sweet, were a homage to Kay's twin brother, whom had died soon after they were born. Kay states the song's meaning revolves around having a twin and him not being around; the sense of always having a part of you missing-- but admitting that the track also doubles up nicely as a love song.
The seventh track, "Mr Moon", is described as being one of the only 'sweet' songs on the album without any sort of deeper meaning, with it being a love song for a girl Kay had met at a rave one night, deciding that she was "the one". After leaving her alone for two minutes however, Toby had copped off with her, ending the short-lived relationship between the two. Kay credits Smith with the complex chord structure present in the song, jokingly forgiving him for the experience. Getting bored of the "soft" songs on the album, Kay wanted to write more "hard" songs, leading into the creation for the album's fourth track, "Light Years", and sixth track, "The Kids", both being released as singles. "Light Years" is described as having a 'heavy' vibe to it, while "The Kids" having a more 'aggressive' tone. "The Kids" was recorded shortly after the sessions for "Emergency on Planet Earth", with it being the only track on the album to be recorded with Nick Van Gelder before he was replaced with McKenzie. Its corresponding single would be released only in Japan. The song touches upon themes of children's rights and their social status in the world, being written as an absurdly loud and high-tempo track, representing the immaturity of a child.
The fifth track, "Manifest Destiny", was written by Kay after reading "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown, a book about the massacres of Native American women and children at Wounded Knee, acts which were justified by the doctrine of Manifest Destiny: "the belief that indigenous people will always be slaves and white people will always be the conquerors: that the only good Indian was a dead Indian.", angering Kay to the point to where he had to get it off of his chest. He described the writing process as one of the few times where he had felt absolutely sure of what he was doing, the track coming together "like a dream", explaining that he'd be in tears writing the song: "...there's something so fragile in the vocal. But then I was fragile, I wasn't in a good place. Sometimes I'd be in tears writing these songs, I was fighting for everything. Every track was a battle.".
The final track, and lead single, title track "Space Cowboy" was written about halfway through recording, when Kay's drug use was out of control, and was losing his mind. Desperately trying to get himself back, their second album hadn't even been finished yet and he had already felt everything slipping away. Kay describes needing a "comeback anthem", with "Space Cowboy" being that song:
"Everyone thinks it's a nice song about getting stoned, which it is, but for me it went much deeper. When I write I tend to jump about - first person, third person - and be a bit smoke and mirrors: 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. Writing that was my bid to restart the programme. Thankfully it did exactly that, because it finally gave us the lead single we were looking for, and the momentum to push on and finish what I still think is one of our most creative and accomplished albums.".
Track Listing
- Just Another Story
- Stillness in Time
- Half the Man
- Light Years
- Manifest Destiny
- The Kids
- Mr Moon
- Scam
- Journey to Arnhemland
- Morning Glory
- Space Cowboy
Gallery
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Original streaming service cover/CD cover
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Cassette tape cover
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Collector's edition CD cover
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30th anniversary vinyl cover (Buffalo Man is printed with a foil texture)
Trivia
- The Return of the Space Cowboy was the band's first album to chart in the US, with the singles "Space Cowboy" and "Light Years" peaking at number 1 and number 6 respectively on the US Dance Charts.
- Derrick McKenzie is credited for all the album's drums, except on "The Kids", where they are credited to Nick Van Gelder.
- "Space Cowboy" is the only track to be written exclusively by Jay Kay, with every track being written by both him and Toby Smith.
- Toby Smith is not only not on writing credits for this track, he is also not a credited writer for "Morning Glory". Stuart Zender is instead credited for co-writing the track along with Jay Kay.
- Specific copies in the Americas on CD pressings have the first and last track swapped.[1] This does not occur anywhere else, and is exclusive to the US and certain regions of South America.