Jean-Michel Jarre - AERO (2004)

AERO (Anthology of Electronic Revisited Originals) is a 2004 compilation album by electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre, newly recorded in 5.1 surround sound and released by Warner Music on 20 September 2004. 

In addition to the re-recorded classic tracks, the album contains three new tunes (the title track which is a rework of "Je Me Souviens", from Jarre's 2000 album Métamorphoses, using the same main melody but with no vocals) and a bonus live track. 

All tracks are sewn together through surround-sound "Scenes".

Feeling both his cultural cachet and compositional skills starting to slip, Jarre decided to re-record a bunch of his back catalogue in order to form a new album of sorts. 

It is sort of like Kraftwerk's The Mix in that it attempts to bring a bunch of old electronica up to date (without changing the sounds much), but there is a bit more going on here conceptually. 

In between tracks you hear what sounds like a person walking through rain and opening doors, after which you sometimes hear brief snippets of Jarre tracks that didn't make the cut. 

This plays into the album's central feature/gimmick, the 5.1 surround recording which pans all over the place. Admittedly this is pretty cool on the right system but at the same time it gives the music a sort of holographic quality which messes with my brain.

As with Kraftwerk these re-recordings do beg the question of what you can really do with compositions that were pretty much done perfectly in the first place, especially since the "vintage" analogue sound was a huge part of what makes them so endearing in the first place. 

To Jarre's credit the 'updates' are generally pretty tasteful - most radical perhaps is an overlaid drum part on "Equinoxe 4". 

Nothing that'll make you throw away your old CDs but they're still quite nice. 

There are also three new tracks, mostly done in the style of his recent ambient trance stuff - these tunes are better than the bulk of Sessions 2000 and Geometry of Love but I suppose that ain't saying much.

"For AERO, I wanted to revisit in 5.1 some existing tracks in order to give them that space I had imagined when I originally composed them, and also to compose some new tracks for this new technology. 

All of the existing tracks in AERO have been performed with the original instruments, re-recorded and spatially arranged/spatialised for this new dimensional sound experience without betraying their very essence." - Jean-Michel Jarre, August 2004.

Tracklist

1.  Aero Opening / Scene 1 - 0:50

2.  Oxygene 2 / Scene 2 - 7:41

3.  Aero - 3:09

4.  Equinoxe 8 - 1:24

5.  Oxygene 4 / Scene 3 - 5:05

6.  Souvenir of China / Scene 4 - 4:46

7.  Aerology / Scene 5 - 3:40

8.  Equinoxe 3 / Scene 6 - 6:33

9.  Equinoxe 4 / Scene 7 - 6:46

10.  Last Rendez-Vous / Scene 8 - 5:08

       Saxophone - Eric Seva

11.  Zoolookology / Scene 9 - 3:54

12.  Aerozone / Scene 10 - 4:56

13.  Magnetic Fields 1 / Scene 11 - 5:59

       Theremin - Jean Michel Jarre

14.  Chronology 6 - 4:55

15.  Rendez-Vous 4 (Live Version) (recorded at the 2002 AERO concert) - 7:34

       Featuring [Special Appearance] – Safri Duo

Companies, etc.

• Licensed To – Warner Music France
• Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Aero Productions
• Copyright © – Aero Productions
• Published By – Jean-Michel Jarre
• Published By – Francis Dreyfus Music
• Made By – Cinram GmbH

Credits

• Arranged By [Orchestral Arrangements] – Yvan Cassard
• Composed By, Design, Sound Designer, Mixed By [5.1 Surround Mix], Mixed By [Super-stereo Mix], Liner Notes – Jean Michel Jarre
• Director Of Photography – Nikolas Cladakis 
• Featuring [Special Appearance] – Safri Duo 
• Film Director [Directed By] – Jean Michel Jarre
• Make-Up – Felix Puget 
• Mastered By [5.1 & Super-stereo] – David Perreau
• Performer [Visual Experience] – Anne Parillaud 
• Photography By [Cover] – André D.
• Producer [Post Production] – Thierry Content 
• Saxophone – Eric Séva 
• Sound Designer [Assisted By] – Romain Pasquier
• Sound Designer [Assisted By], Musical Assistance [Artistic Collaboration] – Francis Rimbert
• Sound Designer, Mixed By [5.1 Surround Mix] – Joachim Garraud
• Supervised By – Laurent Jaconelli, Patrick Goessant 
• Technician [Assistant] – Patrick Pelamourgues
• Theremin – Jean Michel Jarre

All tracks specially performed, produced and recorded in 96 khz/24 bits for Aero 5.1 surround and super-stereo at JMJ Studio France

Notes

Released:  20 September 2004

Recorded:  2004 at Croissy Studio

Genre:  Electronic

Length: 73:42

Producer:  Jean-Michel Jarre

Label - Warner Music

Jean-Michel Jarre - Amazônia (2021)

Amazônia is the twenty-first studio album by French musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre, released on 9 April 2021 by Columbia Records.

Along the lines of Jarre’s paean to Cousteau some years ago, this 52 minute piece in nine parts is an ode to the Amazon River Basin, the lungs of the world currently endangered by development.

Soft electronic sounds and percussion bend perfectly with source recordings of the natural sounds and the natives of the Amazon, this haunting hour takes through an aural journey up the River, through rain and thunder, past children playing and songs being chanted by native adults; this is a wonderful trip through another world hidden on our own beautiful and endangered planet.

A marked departure from the upbeat electronica embraced by Jarre as of late, this CD may come as a shock to those unfamiliar with Jarre’s ambient capabilities. 

If you’re looking for another installment in the Oxygene series, this album is not for you. However, if you are a fan of Eno and the late Peter Namlook combined with third world recordings, I think you will find this rec9rding to be a pleasant addition to your ambient collection.

The album serves as the 52-minute musical score for the exhibition Amazônia, a project by photographer and filmmaker Sebastião Salgado presented from May to October 2021 in the Paris Philharmonic complex. Jarre had access to the Museum of Ethnology in the city of Geneva, Switzerland.

The exhibition focuses on the Brazilian Amazon, featuring more than 200 photographs and other media by Salgado. In this album, a combination of electronic and orchestral instruments was made, natural sounds were also used. As well as a standard stereo version released on CD and LP, a binaural version and a 5.1 surround sound version were made available in digital download.

Some of the revenues will be sent back to the Indigenous communities where the recordings were recorded, according to a statement in the CD booklet or on the LP cover. Yet, it is not yet apparent how this will be accomplished.

Track listing

1.  Amazônia Part 1 - 7:42 

2.  Amazônia Part 2 - 9:59 

3.  Amazônia Part 3 - 8:10 

4.  Amazônia Part 4 - 3:16 

5.  Amazônia Part 5 - 6:04 

6.  Amazônia Part 6 - 3:33 

7.  Amazônia Part 7 - 4:18 

8.  Amazônia Part 8 - 3:19 

9.  Amazônia Part 9 - 6:23

All tracks are written by Jean-Michel Jarre

Personnel

Adapted from album booklet:

• Jean-Michel Jarre – production, mixing
• Patrick Pelamourgues – technical assistance
• David Perreau – mastering
• Sebastião Salgado – Amazônia photographs
• Gong Li – Jean-Michel Jarre portrait
• Renato Amoroso – Sebastião Salgado portrait
• Eric BDFCK Cornic – graphic design

Notes

Released:  9 April 2021 

Recorded: 2021 Studio JMJ Studio, Paris 

Genre:  Electronic

Length:  52:47 

Producer:  Jean-Michel Jarre 

Label - Sony Music 

Jean Michel Jarre - Equinoxe (1978)

"Equinoxe" was the second major-label album release by French musician Jean Michel Jarre, released on Disques Dreyfus (with license to Polydor) in late 1978.
The album reflects a day in the life of a human being, from morning to night. Parts 1 to 4 (i.e. side A) and tracks 5 to 8 (side B) segué smoothly from one to the next.
Jarre had developed his sound, employing more dynamic and rhythmic elements, particularly a greater use of sequencing on basslines. Much of this was achieved using custom equipment developed by his collaborator Michel Geiss. As the follow up album to "Oxygene", "Equinoxe" offers the same mesmerizing affect, with rapid spinning sequencer washes and bubbling synthesizer portions all lilting back and forth to stardust scatterings of electronic pastiches. Using more than 13 different types of synthesizers, Jarre combines whirling soundscapes of multi-textured effects, passages, and sometimes suites to culminate interesting electronic atmospheres. Never repeating the same sounds twice, it is obvious that the science fiction hype of the late 70's played a large part in the making of this album. Computerized rhythms and keyboard-soaked transitions scurry by, replaced by even quicker, more illustrious ones soon after. There is always a pulsating beat or a fluttering tempo happening somewhere in each of the tracks, which are titled as a numbered sequence one to eight. Each track harbors its own energy and electronic fleetness, but none are identical in sound or pace. So much electronic color is added to every track that it is impossible to concentrate on any particular segment, resulting in waves of synth drowning the ears at high tide.
Two singles were released from the album, "Équinoxe Part 5" first, and then "Équinoxe Part 4".

Track List:

01. "Équinoxe Part 1" – 2:23
02. "Équinoxe Part 2" – 5:01
03. "Équinoxe Part 3" – 5:11
04. "Équinoxe Part 4" – 6:53
05. "Équinoxe Part 5" – 3:47
06. "Équinoxe Part 6" – 3:23
07. "Équinoxe Part 7" – 7:25
08. "Équinoxe Part 8" – 5:02

Released: December 1978
Recorded: January 1978 – August 1978
Genre: Electronica, New Age
Length: 39:09
Label: Disques Dreyfus
Producer: Jean Michel Jarre

Personnel:
Jean-Michel Jarre – ARP 2600 Synthesizer, EMS Synthi AKS, VCS 3 Synthesizer, Yamaha CS-80, Oberheim TVS-1A, RMI Harmonic Synthesizer, RMI Keyboard Computer, ELKA 707, Korg Polyphonic Ensemble 2000, Eminent 310U, Mellotron, ARP Sequencer, Oberheim Digital Sequencer, Matrisequencer 250, Rhythmicomputer (Korg MiniPops 7), EMS Vocoder