Return of the Space Cowboy

As further validation that the '70s weren't as awful as we thought, Jamiroquai nestles up to the art-soul influences of Sly Stone, Rufus, and others with Return of the Space Cowboy (Work/Columbia). The Fender Rhodes is back with a sweet vengeance, as are syncopated grooves and horn-lined riffs played by humans, not samplers. No idle nostalgia broker, Jamiroquai is a funk-making machine with a bright future in the past. B+