The album was Jamiroquai's American breakthrough. It marked the band's first entry in the US Billboard 200 chart at number 24. In the UK, it peaked at number two. Its singles "Virtual Insanity", "Cosmic Girl" and "Alright" entered the top-ten in the UK singles chart. In the US, "Alright" entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 78, while "Cosmic Girl" and "High Times" were in the top-ten in the Dance Club Songs charts. The music video for "Virtual Insanity" contributed to the album's success. Travelling Without Moving sold over 8 million copies worldwide.
After experiencing a stressful period while recording The Return of the Space Cowboy, Kay sought to make the next album more focused and universal. He also did not want to remain as a semi-underground act "that stuck to its little niche and sold one and a half million albums every time. I wanted to breakout and be something bigger, more international." Speaking of the album's general mood, Kay said: "With Emergency on Planet Earth, people weren't cheering in the streets or anything, and The Return of the Space Cowboy was quite sad. With [Travelling Without Moving], I decided it was important to show people we could enjoy ourselves. That's why it's cars, life and love". Kay booked the band into the residential studio Great Linford Manor so that they could work at their own pace.
The first song composed for the album was "Virtual Insanity". It was recorded as a rough demo and was not fully realised until the album's final recording stage. The song had a piano opening with "buoyant keyboards and soaring strings." Its lyrics are about the prevalence of technology and the replication and simulation of life. The second track "Cosmic Girl" was a disco song with "spacey" lyrics, based on rhythmic "looped beats" "to give it an off-center, otherworldly" sound. For the next track "Use The Force" the group channels "that real vintage football vibe", filled with horns, wah-wah guitar and a rippling barrage of Latin percussion". The fourth track "Everyday" was described "as seductive as any Maxwell ballad" and has "over aching strings and a come-hither bass line". The fifth song, "Alright", was described as an "easy-going disco-funk" track.
"High Times", was a song with "razor-edged funky guitars", references Kay's drug use during the recording of The Return of the Space Cowboy: "'High Times' was admitting the truth of the matter, of where I'd been and how lucky I was to be coming out of the other side." This is followed by the reggae track, "Drifting Along". The tracks "Didjerama" and "Didjital Vibrations" are instrumental tracks containing ambient didgeridoo. The title track is next on the album and samples Kay's purple Lamborghini in the intro. It features a "driving groove" and after two minutes, it "transitions into a bassline-paced, heavy workout". The album ended with the dance track, "You Are My Love", and the soul ballad, "Spend a Lifetime".
After the album was released, Kay received backlash from the press for his interest in sports cars, because it contradicted his environmental beliefs on Emergency on Planet Earth. The album's visual concept revolved around sports cars, with the Ferrari logo being recreated within the band's Buffalo Man logo. Paper magazine also pointed out this contradiction with the music video for "Alright", writing "when Kay rolls up in his purple Lamborghini to party on the dance floor with a bevy of bodacious babes, concerns about seals, whales, rain forests and the revolution are checked at the door." He said that he was hesitant to release the album as he expected the backlash, but added "Just because I love to drive a fast car, that doesn't mean I believe in chopping trees down. It doesn't mean I think they should build more roads for my car".
No hay comentarios.:
Publicar un comentario