KVR Audio

deastman · Post by **deastman** » Sun Dec 04, 2016 7:24 pm

Vortifex wrote:
deastman wrote:I never got into JMJ. The only album I bought was Rendezvous back in the 80s, probably on the basis of some review in Keyboard magazine. I was not impressed. Of course I've heard the track Oxygene(some number) in isolation and it seemed not bad. So if I were to go back and listen to his best work, what would that be?
Opinions are subjective and all that, but for me his best work is still the original Oxygene. If I were to rank his best albums it'd probably be something like this:

1) Oxygene
2) Equinoxe
3) Magnetic Fields
4) Zoolook
5) Concerts in China

Everything after that is meh IMO.

Thanks!

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Sun Dec 04, 2016 7:27 pm

My top 6:

Equinoxe
Oxygene
Oxygene II
Les chants magnétiques
Chronologie
Rendez-vouz

murnau · Post by **murnau** » Sun Dec 04, 2016 7:49 pm

Opax wrote:I'll tell you what is pathetic... People who troll threads just to try and stir the pot and try to get a reaction. Are you posting for posting sake? I mean, over 21,000 posts - why don't you actually spend some time making music instead of trolling the forums here at KVR with your irrelevant, pedantic agenda?

Yes, there is only one copy of Music for Supermarkets in existence, as the master was destroyed. No, I do not own that album. I think the majority of people aware of this album will know that. But thank you for pointing out the obvious.

Anyone else care to talk about Oxygene 3?

Just set this troll on mute like 99% of the members here Opax. At least he was the only reason that i don't spend to much time here anymore.

PS. About Oxygène 3: Let me listen to it over the next week and i will report my impressions here in a few days.

Vortifex · Post by **Vortifex** » Sun Dec 04, 2016 8:03 pm

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Sun Dec 04, 2016 8:10 pm

Vortifex wrote:I remember when I played Zoolook for the first time. It was a real "what the f**k?" moment. Unlike anything I'd heard before from Jarre, or anyone else for that matter. After a few listens it grew on me, and I still love it to this day. Easily his most innovative album. Some of the sounds used place it firmly in the 1980s when it was made, but it still holds up as an interesting work.

Diva and Ethnicolor are really great tracks, but the short tracks don't do it for me, so that is why I don't rate it that high as an album.

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Sun Dec 04, 2016 8:22 pm

Vortifex wrote:... well, I mean, it's passable I suppose, but if you or I submitted that to a label, they wouldn't be hailing us as the next big thing in electronic music.

It reminds me of Robert Miles' Children, I find it tiresome, I can't really listen to more than a minute or so of it. I think that the original melody was catchy, so there's that.

andrew71 · Post by **andrew71** » Sun Dec 04, 2016 8:33 pm

I've listened to Oxygene 3 several times now, and it has definitely grown on me. I think the three albums work pretty well played in sequence. I'd find it hard to rate JMJ's albums, although I think that Equinoxe will probably always be my favourite. From his more recent albums, I love Oxygene 7-13 and Geometry of Love. Tastes can change over time. I remember when I first bought Waiting for Cousteau on CD, I was bitterly disappointed with the 40-odd minute title track which was little more than a soundscape and not especially musical to my ears, and yet now I can happily sit and listen to it from start to finish, just relaxing.

I met Jean Michel Jarre at HMV in Oxford Street on Friday, when he was signing copies of the new album. It was far too brief though and I went straight into fanboy mode...

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Sun Dec 04, 2016 8:36 pm

andrew71 wrote:I went straight into fanboy mode...

I would have done the same

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Sun Dec 04, 2016 8:56 pm

andrew71 wrote:I've listened to Oxygene 3 several times now, and it has definitely grown on me. I think the three albums work pretty well played in sequence. I'd find it hard to rate JMJ's albums, although I think that Equinoxe will probably always be my favourite. From his more recent albums, I love Oxygene 7-13 and Geometry of Love. Tastes can change over time. I remember when I first bought Waiting for Cousteau on CD, I was bitterly disappointed with the 40-odd minute title track which was little more than a soundscape and not especially musical to my ears, and yet now I can happily sit and listen to it from start to finish, just relaxing.

I met Jean Michel Jarre at HMV in Oxford Street on Friday, when he was signing copies of the new album. It was far too brief though and I went straight into fanboy mode...

I like soundscapes and I prefer Waiting for Cousteau to his latest effort, but, I think that other people do soundscapes better. As soundscapes go it it's pretty predictable. Low rumbling bass, twinkles, piano drenched in reverb, choir voices. Not that any of those things are bad, but I didn't find the combination interesting or compelling. The only thing that was a bit surprising were the strange spoken voices, some were interesting, some were just funny. IMHO, as soundscapes go, it's not good enough to be 46 minutes long.

From my point of view, this isn't about evolving tastes, I think that JMJ is overrated. Reading his bio it seems to me that he is largely the product of privilege and luck. He was in the right place at the right time and was interested in the right things in the right ways to be labeled a pioneer. I give him some credit for not being taken completely by mainstream tastes, but again, I think that's in some part a consequence of his privilege and influence. He happened to be taken by synthesizers in a time where that wasn't all that common. I think, for example, that had he been interested in classical piano that nobody would have ever heard anything about him.

I'm sure glad that I can preview pretty much anything before buying it these days.

GaryG · Post by **GaryG** » Mon Dec 05, 2016 12:58 pm

Vortifex wrote:Opinions are subjective and all that, but for me his best work is still the original Oxygene. If I were to rank his best albums it'd probably be something like this:

1) Oxygene
2) Equinoxe
3) Magnetic Fields
4) Zoolook
5) Concerts in China

Everything after that is meh IMO.

I'd go along with that (though have a soft spot for Rendouzvous, guilty pleasure etc etc

) I guess his fame went stellar about the time of Rendezvous (Houston concert and all that) and everything I've heard after that seems to be kind of bland (Chronologies: death by pad...), maybe even written to a brief, designed for those big events. I guess he's reigned that in recently but, y'know, a billion other people doing more interesting stuff imho.

foosnark · Post by **foosnark** » Mon Dec 05, 2016 5:54 pm

Vortifex wrote:
Numanoid wrote:I am a bit worried how dated those sharp EDM like plucks he uses often will sound a couple of years down the road.
They're already dated.

To be fair, many of the sounds in the original Oxygene, Equinoxe, Rendezvous etc. and Zoolook are quite dated.

So far Oxygene 3 is just not grabbing me though.

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Mon Dec 05, 2016 9:34 pm

foosnark wrote:To be fair, many of the sounds in the original Oxygene, Equinoxe ... are quite dated.

No, the tweaking of sounds on those albums are timeless, will never date

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Mon Dec 05, 2016 9:38 pm

ghettosynth wrote:He happened to be taken by synthesizers in a time where that wasn't all that common. I think, for example, that had he been interested in classical piano that nobody would have ever heard anything about him.

Well, you can say that about Kraftwerk as well.

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Mon Dec 05, 2016 10:11 pm

Numanoid wrote:
ghettosynth wrote:He happened to be taken by synthesizers in a time where that wasn't all that common. I think, for example, that had he been interested in classical piano that nobody would have ever heard anything about him.
Well, you can say that about Kraftwerk as well.

Not really. Kraftwerk released several improvisational albums with traditional instruments prior to their more successful synth work. I don't think that their paths are similar at all really. In any case, I'm not of the mind that Kraftwerk is overrated. YMMV.