Jamiroquai - Late Night Tales

Jamiroquai's "Late Night Tales" collection joins the ever-growing roster of compilations by artists wanting to share their musical inspirations with us, the adoring public. And adore we do. We've gobbled up K7s DJ Kicks series; we've devoured DMC's Back to Mine. Now Ultra brings us a sampling of some of the best in classic disco-funk and soul, chosen by one of the most commercially popular disco-funk-soul bands of the late 20th century.

No surprise that Jay Kay, Jamiroquai's front-man, would deliver the consummate ol skool mixtape. The tracklisting is spot on a Norman Jay/crate-diggin' vibe. Starting strong with the Pointer Sisters' "Happiness", the CD journeys through early dance anthems like Rufus & Chaka Khan's "Once You Get Started", Ashford and Simpson's "Stay Free", and Leon Ware's "What's Your Name?" Also included is the incomparable Patrice Rushen with "Music of the Earth", recently (and brilliantly) remade by "broken beat" don Domu and Nicola "Nix" Kramer; Jose Feliciano's aching croon of "California Dreaming"; and Johnny Hammond's sublime "Fantasy".

Closing out the set is a spoken piece, Part 3 of "The White City" by Patrick Neate, following in line with previous late night comps from Nightmares On Wax and Sly & Robbie, which featured Parts 1 and 2 of the piece respectively.

Jamiroquai's "Late Night Tales" effort is definitely a history lesson worth taking. I only wish it were available in 8-track format.