AERO

A good compilation that sits very nicely on my I-pod. JMJ takes some of his best recordings enhances them throwing in a few a newer peices and links it altogether seamlessly. The bonus DVD is expanded with a few more newer compositions and a nice pair of female eyes staring back at you from a white background occasionally blinking.Overall this is a good way to do a compilation and at the right price is worth having.

Anthology of electronic revisited originals

Instead of releasing (another?) traditional anthology or best of compilation, Jean Michel Jarre decided to create Aero - which apparently stands for 'anthology of electronic revisited originals' - in 2004. As the title implies this album contains re-recorded versions of previously released material from throughout Jarre's career, but there are also some new pieces of music the best of which is the Aero title track. An attempt is made to integrate the old and new pieces into a more or less continues piece of music with a mostly good result. After a brief opening scene, we move into the first of two pieces taken from Jarre's famous 1976 breakthrough album Oxygene. Oxygene 2 is a fantastic piece of electronic music and this version is great. Also the well-known Oxygene 4 is really nice. Jarre is very careful not to destroy these classic numbers and he wisely sticks fairly close to the original versions here. The purists will probably always prefer the original versions, but I actually enjoy these versions just as much as I enjoy the originals, if not more! Besides, the rest of the original Oxygene album was just transportation to my ears and Aero is a much more consistent album overall and thus a better place to hear these pieces.

Equinox is represented with three tracks, but the inclusion of Equinox 8 was rather unnecessary as it is nothing more than a brief interlude that distracts more than it does provide a nice transition. I cannot tell you how these pieces compare to the original versions as I have never heard the original Equinox album, but I do enjoy this version of Equinox 4 which is very much in the tradition of Oxygene 4. Last Rendez-Vous, on the other hand, is a slightly dull jazzy piece.

With a running time of well over an hour, I feel that this album is slightly too long for its own good. Some of the interludes seem unnecessary to me and sometimes they even disrupt the flow of the album rather than tying the pieces together as was presumably the main intention. However, this is still a very nice collection of electronic pieces and from my point of view this is all the Jean Michel Jarre you ever need and more! As I pointed out, I have not heard all of the albums on which these pieces were originally released so I cannot say if this really is the best of Jean Michel Jarre, but it probably works well as an introduction to the artist. Out of the albums I have heard from Jarre, this one is certainly my favourite. Needless to say this is by no means Prog Rock, but it will probably appeal to many fans of progressive music.

The album also comes with a DVD with surround sound mixes of all the tracks and apparently some sparse visual contents as well. I have, however, only heard this album through Spotify so I cannot comment of the DVD.

Recommended, but hardly essential for all Prog fans

Sterile, white, germ free and clinical. No... not St Mary's hospital in London, but a description of this 'Best of - Re-worked' album by Jean Michel Jarre.

On the plus side Jarre appears to have used his trusty old indestructible analogue synths from the 70's, only this time the sound is given a complete overhaul on the engineering and production front. A much beefier result is obtained, where the 'Equinoxe' tracks in particular are brought to the fore.

A compilation like this only highlights the weaknesses of Jarre's later recordings, when compared with the altogether superior 'Oxygene' and 'Equinoxe' which showed depth, atmosphere and space between tracks.

The new 'Aero' tracks (4 of them!) are even more sexless and limp than latter day Tangerine Dream, using some very uninspired drum machines and percussion. Horrendously cheesy saxophone is at the forefront of 'Last Rendez-Vous'. Vangelis' Blade Runner soundtrack proves that electronics and saxophone can work together beautifully if put in the right hands.

Just when things couldn't get much worse 'Zoolookology' slaps you on the face with a wet trout just as you are about to fall asleep. The less said about the remainder the better.

At the end of the recording you'll be left mumbling incoherently to yourself... "What was the point of it all?, Is he really so short of ideas that he has to go back and re-hash all that old material?"

Granted, you'll be hard pushed to hear a better produced and clearer electronic recording than this, but at the end of the day it's very forgettable and without character.

Now, if you fancy burning out your TV screen or computer monitor, why not give the accompanying DVD a spin? A dazzling fluorescent white covers every square millimetre of your screen, along with a pair of big eyeballs flicking left and right from beginning to end. That's all you get for over an hour. DO NOT WATCH IN THE DARK! You will go blind! In fact, if you can manouevre your screen to your window and point it towards Mars you'll probably find that the 'Curiosity Rover' can pick up the light signal. You can virtually see your screen melt with the strain as capacitors and resistors go into shutdown mode.

Away from my sniping moans, Aero's not that bad and sounds ok whilst driving or cycling and for this reason only it gets 2 stars.