Travelling Without Moving

Background

Just before the release of the album, many newspapers had reported that Jay Kay's love of sportscars had reached a peak, and as such was reflected by the Ferrari-esque logo adorning the album cover and engine noises on the title track. This led some to accuse him of selling out on the environmentalist message of his previous albums. The title track, "Travelling Without Moving" appropriately introduces a new high-octane sound which features strongly in later albums. This is also the last album with bassist Stuart Zender. The RIAA certified Travelling Without Moving Platinum on 3 November 1997, denoting 1 million shipments in the United States - this is the only RIAA certification the band has ever obtained. The name of the album seems to be a reference to the film Dune, which includes the line "Travelling without moving" in its intro sequence.

Reception

Q magazine gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, claiming, "tighter and more compact in its production than the epic funk arrangements of...The Return of the Space Cowboy....no-one with ears can deny Jason Kay's musicality--he's an extraordinary singer, and proves it here." The Source also gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, claiming, "Travelling is essentially about the metaphysics of having a good time....Jamiroquai have a thousand musical tricks up their sleeves; edgy horns laced with jazz intricacies, energetic bass lines and disco rhythms." The sales of Travelling Without Moving are estimated to about 11.5 million units sold worldwide.

The large number of copies sold was helped by the success of "Virtual Insanity", which won a Grammy Award and 4 MTV Awards. The album went 3× Platinum album in the United Kingdom, and was certified platinum by the RIAA in the United States. With the success of Travelling Without Moving, Jamiroquai's popularity had increased considerably and influenced fans to listen to past releases. "Virtual Insanity" became one of the first songs by Jamiroquai to reach America, and subsequently made Jamiroquai a household name there.

In popular culture

"Virtual Insanity" is a playable song on the karaoke game for Xbox 360, "Lips". "Cosmic Girl" appears in the European version of the GameCube game Donkey Konga, as well as the Wii game Just Dance 2. "Cosmic Girl" was also used in the 2000 film Center Stage. "Use The Force" was used in the 1998 film Sliding Doors. "Travelling Without Moving" is used in the introduction video to the PlayStation game Speed Freaks. References to popular science fiction and space travel concepts are found in the album's title and several songs (e.g. in the film Dune, the technique used by the Guild Navigators to fold space is referred to as "travelling without moving"). "Cosmic Girl" contains references to Star Trek, Barbarella, hyperspace, transporters, and "close encounters". "Alright" contains references to Islands in the Sky and "Use the Force" contains references to Star Wars.