OXYGENE by Jean Michel Jarre

40 years ago Jean Michel Jarre released his brilliant OXYGENE album.

  well earned place in my fabulous 5 foundation prog albums...

some of my fondest memories are of my sister and I listening to that album and chasing each other around the house pretending we were fighting battles in orbit over Tatooine....

wow memories glory this album has some many fond memories for me and it still playing now 

Given the recent release of Oxygene 3, I found a few months ago a compilation of the 3 Oxygene albums, and I didn't miss the opportunity to get them at a good price. Of course, the one I really wanted to get was the first one, and indeed it is the best of the three, by far. I really loved that album, great ambient and all, and I certainly wouldn't say it sounds dated. I guess I have to get that Equinox album, and perhaps some compilation or live album to round it up. Perhaps then some Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze would be in order too.

Edited by Dellinger - June 30 2017 at 20:15

Thanks, I guess I'll put those ones on my list, besides Phaedra and Rubycon.

`Oxygene' is absolutely worthy of its status! It's accessible and melodic yet avoids being too new-age or lightweight. It's so easy to put on in the background and enjoy.

Oddly, I only heard it properly and picked it up in the last two years or so. I came across it in an Op-shop for something like $1 or $2. I knew its reputation, but expected it to be cheesy and kitschy. Instead I was shocked to find that it was genuinely decent (as described in the first paragraph), and I'd obviously been exposed to various samples and segments from it throughout my entire childhood and life, even on radio, because I vividly recalled plenty of themes that I knew from it - as I properly listened to it for the first time!

In retrospect it would make for a fine introduction to newcomers to prog-electronic music, I kind of wish I found it right at the start of getting into that genre!

Hmmm...I guess the point I was kind of trying to get at is that, because it's really not too demanding or complex, it would be an `easy' introduction to what can kind of be found in the real classic and weightier prog-electronic stuff?

For instance, the first four PE albums I owned (and initially for quite some time had a LOT of trouble early on getting my head around) were:

Tangerine Dream - Phaedra (I initially found it quite terrifying and strange, plus it's also a crossover of their early Krautrock albums and the emerging electronic dominance)

Tangerine Dream - Ricochet (Didn't like all the guitars in the first half, and it felt so repetitive...which was kind of the point I'd work out later! )

Klaus Schulze - Blackdance (I found this to be very suffocating and dark - which it IS! )

Adelbert von Deyen - Nordborg (Loved the cover, but it was too droning and icy...exactly what makes it so good now!)

So my point is....all of these albums were quite difficult to initially get my head around, whereas I would have appreciated something a little easier to get into, which is what `Oxygene' would have offered!

Love the album.  This album holds good memories for me as I was a point in my life where I had tired of the rock world and turned away from rock in general (including prog) and went into the hunt for what I called "contemporary instrumentals" since I hated the term New Age.  

Edited by AEProgman - July 04 2017 at 06:34

mechanicalflattery wrote: I'll be the naysayer here, Oxygene is a fine enough album, but I can't imagine it's picking up any new fans. Most of the people who seem to love it either first heard it way back in the 70's or were introduced to electronic music as a whole through the album. Compared to a lot of other classic 70's electronic (Tangerine Dream is an obvious example), Oxygene just hasn't aged well. The electronic elements are relatively dated, and the neoclassical influences painfully cliched, as if Jean Michel Jarre had just gotten through listening to a staunchly conservative "20 greatest classical pieces" compilation right before composing the album. Part 4 is a notable weak point; countless electronic artists since then have used repetition to vastly better effect. Alright, that's my devil's advocacy over with, continue to congregate over your collective love of the album.

I just got that album this year. I was born after the album was initially released. And yet I loved it. So yes, it's still getting new fans... even if we may not be so many. And it did amaze me how it didn't really sound dated... at least for me... or perhaps I'm just not too much into electronic music anyway. However, when I first heard Rick Wakeman, for example (whose music I do love), the music did sound a dated to me... a lot. However, I've been exposed to 70's music, mostly prog, for over 15 years since I first heard Wakeman, so I might just be more used to that kind of music. 70's Wakeman doens't really sound dated to me anymore, it just sounds like music.

Yes, Oxygene was pure progressive music.   I bought it when it first came out and his next one, and I guess that he and Vangelis kind of set on a different courses in my own opinion of what is a progressive composer.  I don't doubt that Jarre created good work after his second, but few non-classical people resonate with me as always being able to do pretty much "conscious work" their whole life in the realm of music that will be taken as serious in years to come.   I don't take "selling out" the same way as others, if you create good music that many love, and isn't decadent, it has certainly great value.  Just because it isn't on the level of a classical master or someone like Vangelis isn't really important because very few are.  Maybe one day I will discover Jarre's later works, I just don't seem to really be that attracted to them.  

Edited by brainstormer - July 21 2017 at 18:16