Jean Michel Jarre

[DemonSlayer]

When I was a very young kid (late 80's early 90's) I used to love listening to music my dad would have playing on the cassete players I can remember he had a very varied taste in music, he was into the soul/disco, like Brothers Gibson, D-Train, Luther Vandross, Kool and the Gang, Earth Wind and Fire, and other 80's funk/soul (well you get the drift), Michael Jackson (especially Off The Wall and Thriller albums), Bee Gees, The Shadows , Paul Hardcastle, Tangerine Dream, a little bit of Kraftwerk, I can go on and on

However I used to enjoy listening to his tapes of Jean Michel Jarre tracks, like Equinoxe, Oxygene (how can we forget oxygene 4 ) and Magnetic Fields. Just recently I've been heavily playing these albums on my mp3 player and it's bringing back a lot of memories There's something about his music which is extraordinary, brings in so much mixed feelings/emotions! Anyone here also fans of his music?

[TeeJay]

Huge fan right here. I've been rolling the cuffs of my shirt sleeves back since I saw the album cover to Images, about 18 years ago

I've got all the albums (home copied tape versions from when I was still at school ) and now got them as MP3s from my father in law's collection (who is also a huge Jarre fan) I did buy Images (first in tape, then in CD format) from a shop, as well as the Chronologie album (also on tape, if I recall) The only example of his work I haven't heard, is the Music for Supermarkets album. I'll get it one day

[Edit to add]

I trust you have bought the new Oxygene album

Edited January 28, 2008 by TeeJay

[V]

Yeap.. I love Jean Michel Jarre.. Seen him in Greece and it was one of the best concerts I have ever been.

[TeeJay]

Although I didn't attend the concert, I was in the London Docklands at the time Jarre gave the concert there, so was able to see the laser show

[DemonSlayer]

Nice to know there are Jarre fans on the board TeeJay, I haven't yet got the new Oxygene album but I have heard that it's very good. It's a DVD isn't it? It has some videos/graphics playing while the music is played?

In fact, the only albums I've heard of his are the 3 oldest he did in the late 70's, Oxygene, Equinoxe and Magnetic Fields. I didn't really bother to look into his other albums but just doing a quick google, I found out that there's quite a few of them, looks like I have some downloading to do tonight

Indeed his concerts are something else, doesn't he hold the Guiness Books Record for the most number of people attending a concert, and this was in 1981 I think in Paris? His laser shows/fireworks are spectacular, I haven't actually attended a concert but I've seen it on TV but even on tv I can tell that it must have been quite an experience.

[TeeJay]

Nice to know there are Jarre fans on the board TeeJay, I haven't yet got the new Oxygene album but I have heard that it's very good. It's a DVD isn't it? It has some videos/graphics playing while the music is played?

In fact, the only albums I've heard of his are the 3 oldest he did in the late 70's, Oxygene, Equinoxe and Magnetic Fields. I didn't really bother to look into his other albums but just doing a quick google, I found out that there's quite a few of them, looks like I have some downloading to do tonight

Indeed his concerts are something else, doesn't he hold the Guiness Books Record for the most number of people attending a concert, and this was in 1981 I think in Paris? His laser shows/fireworks are spectacular, I haven't actually attended a concert but I've seen it on TV but even on tv I can tell that it must have been quite an experience.

I'm not too sure about the format for Oxygene 7-13, as I only have it in MP3 form. It is a fantastic album though, and follows on from where the first Oxygene album finished. Oxygene pt 7 is accoustically, a 'negative image' of Oxygene Pt 4. Absolutely awesome track

Other interesting albums of his, are Zoolook (very revolutionary) Waiting for Coustea, and T

[ratchpot]

The quality of output from Oxygene (1976) to Waiting for Cousteau (1990) was awesome. IMHO nearly everything he's done since then has been a huge let down, and in some cases it's been downright disgraceful.

[TeeJay]

The quality of output from Oxygene (1976) to Waiting for Cousteau (1990) was awesome. IMHO nearly everything he's done since then has been a huge let down, and in some cases it's been downright disgraceful.

I'd have to agree with you there. What did you think of Oxygene 7-13?

[r11co]

The quality of output from Oxygene (1976) to Waiting for Cousteau (1990) was awesome.

Chronologie was more than half-decent and definitely captured the contemporary 'techno' style of the day, but might not have appealed to die-hard fans.

I agree his later stuff was poo, but it might have had something to do with the fact he'd fallen out with Polydor/Disques Dreyfus and was just seeing out the remainder of his contract with them.

Indeed, he had an entry in the 1987 Guinness Book of Records for the biggest concert ever (Rendez-Vous Houston).

Topped in 1990 with his 'Paris La Defense' concert to mark the 200th anniversary of French Independence (I watched the concert from the Palais de Congres on my 21st birthday )

Topped again in 1997 in Moscow.

[TeeJay]

Chronologie was more than half-decent and definitely captured the contemporary 'techno' style of the day, but might not have appealed to die-hard fans.

I agree his later stuff was poo, but it might have had something to do with the fact he'd fallen out with Polydor/Disques Dreyfus and was just seeing out the remainder of his contract with them.

Topped in 1990 with his 'Paris La Defense' concert to mark the 200th anniversary of French Independence (I watched the concert from the Palais de Congres on my 21st birthday )

Topped again in 1997 in Moscow.

Chronologie was the album I whacked on just now without thinking about it

I didn't know what about the concerts, bit not surprizing that he's still ablwe to pull in the crowds.

I didn't know about his falling out with Polydor either, but that would certainly explain the quality of some of his work... That's way of fullfilling a contract, but not actually doing best work. Afterall, it's not his fault if people don't like the music Zoolook was pretty controversial when it came out, but now probably considered groundbreaking rather than just [censored]

[ratchpot]

I'd have to agree with you there. What did you think of Oxygene 7-13?

Chronologie was more than half-decent and definitely captured the contemporary 'techno' style of the day, but might not have appealed to die-hard fans.

Chronologie and Oxygene 7-13 had some good stuff, and I can see why people like those albums a lot. For me they were perhaps too contemporary (trance/techno) and don't have the longevity and timelessness that his earlier albums have. I would say it was around the time that Michel Geiss (who was arguably the single biggest factor in Jarre's success in the 1970s and 80s) stopped collaborating with Jarre in around 1997 that the wheels well and truly fell off the Jarre-wagon.

I agree his later stuff was poo, but it might have had something to do with the fact he'd fallen out with Polydor/Disques Dreyfus and was just seeing out the remainder of his contract with them.

His later years have seen Jarre disrespect his fans on many levels. For example, releasing deliberately under-par stuff like Sessions 2000, just so he could finish a contract he didn't like, is a slap in the face to all those fans who unwittingly bought that album (and who line Jarre's pockets). The Teo & Tea album marks a new low-point in his career, with him "creating" the album almost entirely using preset patches from the Roland MC808 (e.g.

) and without even having the decency to credit the creators of those patches (of which he wasn't one of them). A teenager could have put that album together in a weekend. (A far cry from the superb Zoolook, where he created entirely new sounds). Also his petty and single-minded behaviour in not properly crediting the extensive contribution of Michel Geiss has caused Jarre to be lowered in the estimation of many people in the music industry. And whilst I'm at it (), I don't like the fact that many of his concerts feature a ridiculously extensive amount of playback and he makes little attempt to even pretend he's playing the right notes most of the time. The list of disrespect goes on and on, and it's a real shame because his early stuff was awesome (in fact I've been listening to Rendez-Vous lately...).