ORIGINAL ALBUM CLASSICS

A notable part of Jean-Michel Jarre's output has been compiled on the Legacy label's "Original Album Classics" 5-cd sets. This is the first one of their Jarre sets, the second was released a year later and it consists of Oxygene (1975), the double live album Concerts in China (1982), Chronology (1993) and Métamorphoses (2000).

Often these boxes with cardboard replicas of the original vinyl sleeves have a little practical problem: without a magnifying glass one may not be able to read the track lists and other information from the back cover. This set doesn't have that problem, because each album here has the track list with lengths printed in a big enough font size.

"Magnetic Fields" (1981) contains some of Jarre's finest music. The nearly 18-minute 'Pt. 1' is absolutely gorgeous and very adventurous. Unfortunately the four shorter parts are uneven, the fifth part being mere kitsch in its danceable entertainment music feel. 3½ /5.

"Zoolook" (1984) starts with an exciting epic 'Ethnicolor' (11:47). As the album in general, it incorporates a lot of samples -- often made of or at least resembling human voices -- but the opener grows to be a progressive composition loaded with drama and adventure. On the more ambientish piece 'Diva' one hears the voice of Laurie Anderson which I have always liked. The rest of Zoolook is rather crappy to my ears. Funky, noisy pop electronica. 2/5.

"Rendez-Vous" (1986) is perhaps the best Jarre album of the 80's, more even than Magnetic Fields but on the other hand missing the ultimate highlights comparable to 'Magnetic Fields Pt. 1'. Sonically it's a safe choice for a casual Jarre listener as it returns to the more cosmic and melodic approach of the 70's classic albums. 4/5.

"Revolutions" (1988) was a disappointment. Relatively short pieces of pop influenced electronic music, fairly listenable but quite forgettable. None of its ten tracks notably impressed me. 2/5.

"Waiting for Cousteau" (1990) was inspired by Jacques Cousteau and his undersea world, globally familiar from TV to a whole generation. In theory, the three 'Calypso' pieces are fresh and fairly enjoyable, but they just don't have enough musical substance for their extended lengths of 6-8 minutes and therefore become a nuisance in the halfway. The merriness of the first 'Calypso' makes me think of Disney animations featuring mermaids and fish. The massive title track (46:45) is serenely atmospheric and minimalistic ambient, something that Jarre had not done before. You can either just relax and float with the music or get terribly bored. I appreciate it more than the Calypso pieces, but for me the album whole is no more than 2½ /5.

This set is a reasonable and economical way to expand your Jarre collections into the eighties if you only have a couple of 70's albums. By choosing the best albums from the two Legacy 5-cd sets one would have almost an ideal package of Jarre's music (from here I'd take only Magnetic Fields and Rendez-Vous), but then again the fun is to find gems among less interesting stuff.