IMAGES: THE BEST OF JEAN MICHEL JARRE

This is a good compilation of Jean Michel Jarre's albums, and the best place for someone new to his music to start. It is a mix of electronic & Synth, without vocals, similar in some ways to some Vangelis ot Tangerine Dream. The tracks are usually short, only 3-4 min. There are only really 3 Jarre collections, I think this is the best one. The 1983 compilation was done after only 3 substantial studio albums, while the 2005 mix "Essential" has only a single track each from his albums "Rendez Vous", "Cronologie", "Attendant Cousteau" (waiting for Cousteau) and nothing from "Magnetic Fields". This album "Images" has 2 tracks each from his albums "Oxygene", "Equinoxe", "Rendez-Vous", "Waiting for Cousteau", "Zoolook" + a single track each from "Revolutions" and "Magnetic Fields". There is also one track "Orient Express" from the China Concerts, "l'Orchestre Sous la Pluie", plus the tracks "Moon Machine", "Eldorado" & "Globetrotter" that do not appear on his studio albums. (or on any other release as far as I can tell). I will not go into detail of all the studio album tracks, they are well described in the individual albums. The track "Eldorado" sounds like it could have been on "Rendez Vous". The track "Moon Machine" uses some of the mechanical noises similar to the "Revolutions" albums.

This is an excellent compilation, as it has some representation from all of his major albums (1976 - 1990). The music is all great, I don't regret getting this one, even after buying most of his other albums. The only complaint I have is that it has 62 min of music, - Why not fill the rest of the disc? I would have liked to see a second track from "Revolutions" & "China Concert. "(perhaps "London Kid" or "Fishing Junks at Sunset"?) I was tempted to give this 5 stars, if they had put another 2 -3 tracks I probably would have.

Perhaps the best compilation of Jarre available considering it does not only focus on his more commercial stuff but also a couple of those "lesser-known" tracks from him, "Ethnicolor" and "Calypso III". Also, this compilation features three additional studio tracks that are not previously released on a Jarre album before, which makes this a treat for fans, especially. The material here covers his 76-90 phase, however, the album in general seems re-recorded, losing the original tracks soul and mood, Imo. Jarre would experiment with this again on the AERO compilation released in 2004 too, but with overall better and more exiting results than on this one. Still, it's a recommendable starting point for people who won't bother getting only one of his albums, has a slightly lower budget for CD's or aren't too critical. 3/5