Jean Michel Jarre helped to pioneer the ambient movement from back in the ’70s with his experimental 1972 release, Deserted Palace. However, in a just a few short years, the son of famed composer, Maurice Jarre, would release his influential album, Oxygène. Oxygène would go on to break through the walls for Jean Michel Jarre, elevating him to star status, providing him with a massive seller, and giving him instant ‘cred’ as a composer in his own right. It was all well-deserved. Oxygène was an incredible album (and when I first discovered Jarre way back in 1977).
Oxygène is a six-part Pop-styled electronic ambient gem. That album would eventually move 18 million copies worldwide. It would be followed up in 1978 with another high-selling Jarre classic, Équinoxe, an album with eight parts. Over time, Jean Michel Jarre would create and release many more albums including a re-imagining of his own Oxygène, as well as an extension of the original album, Oxygène 7-13 (1997)
Sony Music acquired the rights for all of Jean Michel Jarre catalog albums, remastering them all. As the news is going, it is said that six of the newly remastered albums have been released digitally via iTunes (a quick visit uncovers nothing but Aero). The best news is that Sony will be releasing the new 2014 remasters in physical form on May 26. However, again, a quick glance on Amazon US does not uncover these. Still, I know they’re coming at some point so it’s a piece of news that we’ll keep our eyes on. When I get better information, I’ll report back on it.
It is important to note that Amazon UK DOES have titles on their pages for pre-sale, and they do list the correct sales date. The titles they are listing are Oxygène, Équinoxe, and Magnetic Fields (Les Chants Magnétiques).
Jean Michel Jarre plans a new album for 2015.
I have downloaded Oxygene, Equinoxe and Les Chants Magnetiques from Linn Records. These are the only 3 available at the moment. They are FLAC files and are available in a variety of bit steams up to 24 bit 48 khz. The MP3 files are also available there. The FLAC files sound fantastic and I hope the other titles are available soon.
The hirez downloads from Linn are separate from the new 2014 remasters – they originate from the French Qobuz site. The first slate of Sony remasters appear in full on the European iTunes sites.
They are being given a European CD release on 26th May.
Jarre has a new album slated for release on Sony in 2015.
Thank you, Pat!
This is good news. I need to replace Equinoxe and Les Chants Magnetiques because they were swiped years ago. No bonus tracks, though I was hoping.
You should check out Zombi. Their ambient-synth-prog albums are awesome. The Alex Moulton album “Exodus” from a few years ago is also great. Chrome Canyon’s “Elemental Themes” has some nice ambient and retro-synth tunes.
So, are these remasters better than the 1997 ones?
The concerts in China are again on 2CD instead od 1CD like it was in 1997, so they won’t have the cuttings as 1997 had.
The albums, Zoolook, Rendezvous, Revolutions, Waiting For Cousteau and Chronology (sic) have been released on Jan. 5th. Apart from remastering and new sleevenotes, there are no extras. Revolutions has the later 1989 recording of the title track rather than the 1988 original, as was the case with the 1997 Sony remasters.
This curiously leaves Oxygene 7-13 and Metamorphoses as the only omissions.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_11?url=search-alias%3Dpopularamp;field-keywords=jean+michel+jarreamp;sprefix=jean+michel%2Caps%2C406