Pioneers of electronic music #6: Jean Michel Jarre

Pioneers of electronic music #6: Jean Michel Jarre

24 February, 2010 | 5.16AM

• Written by: Christen Reutens
• Filed under: Music News: jean michel jarre, pioneers, pioneers of electronic music

Germany had Kraftwerk, and France had Jean Michel Jarre, the enigmatic electronic music composer who experimented with synthesizers, machines, and ambient sounds all the way back in the late ‘60s and early 1970s.

As a former pupil of musique concrète’s founding father Pierre Schaeffer, and as an understudy at Karlheinz Stockhausen‘s Cologne studio, Jarre’s bold musical works lit up France in the late 1970s - quite literally - with spectacular outdoor laser, light, and firework shows to enormous crowds (which helped popularise the use of lasers at electronic music events).

One such show in 1979, put Jarre in front of over one million people in Paris’ Place de la Concorde.

Jarre’s breakthrough came in 1976 with the release of his solo album ‘Oxygène’, that to date has sold over 12 million copies, making it the best selling French album of all time.

Read on, for a quick guide through some of Jean Michel Jarre’s most important albums.

‘Oxygène’ [1976]

‘Oxygène’ is Jarre’s most successful ever album and the record that made him an international star. It contains arguably the Frenchman’s most recognisable piece, ‘Oxygène Part IV’, a majestic journey into sound, full of outer space wonder and lucid melodies.

When you listen to the album’s six pieces, you can’t help but feel like you’re looking at a future world through a prism of rainbows and colour. A truly extraordinary vision from a time when studios were bigger than trucks.

‘Equinoxe’ [1978]

Sequencing was one of Jarre’s main tools in his follow up album to ‘Oxygène’. He used the ARP 2600, a semi-modular analog subtractive synth, on the album.

It reached No.11 in the UK charts, and its release was followed by that huge concert in Paris, which was watched on TV by an estimated 100 million people worldwide.

‘Les Chants Magnetiques’ [1981]

Jarre’s ‘Les Chants Magnetiques’ was released in 1981. For the album, Jarre made use of the Fairlight CMI digital sampling synth, which allowed Jarre to collect and process sound much quicker than before.

The release of the album coincided with Jarre’s first foreign tour. The British embassy gave Radio Beijing copies of ‘Oxygène’ and ‘Equinoxe’, and the two albums were the first pieces of foreign music to be played on Chinese national radio for decades. He was then invited to perform live in China, making him the first western musician to give a concert in the People’s Republic of China.

The concerts were recorded and released in 1982 as a double disc LP.

‘Zoolook’ [1984]

The 1984 album ‘Zoolook’ saw Jean Michel Jarre introduce vocal samples into his work for the first time.

Making use of the Fairlight CMI, he layered vocals and words spoken in different languages to create an ethnic feel. Laurie Anderson provided the vocals on ‘Diva’.

‘Rendez-Vous’ [1985]

‘Rendez-Vous’ is Jean Michel Jarre’s tribute to the city of Houston and its space technology. He performed a spectacular outdoor concert in the city on 5th April 1986, to mark the 150th anniversary of the city, and the 25th anniversary of the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.

‘Revolutions’ [1988]

Jarre utilised the Roland D-50 synth for his ninth studio album ‘Revolutions’, which was coincided with a huge concert in London called Destination Docklands.

Even the late Princess Diana of Wales braved the rain and cold to watch the concert.

‘En Attendent Cousteau’ [1990]

Inspired by French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the release of the 46 minute piece ‘En Attendent Cousteau’, was marked by a record-breaking outdoor concert on Bastille Day in 1990. Jean Michel Jarre played to two million people.

‘Chronologie’ [1993]

‘Chronologie’ was Jarre’s first work to be influenced by the techno and dance music scene of the 90s. Using clocks and contemporary rhythms, the tempo was much faster than his previous albums.

For the album he used a Mini Moog and ARP 2600, as well as newer technology such as the Roland JD-800 and the Kurzweil K2000.

Listening to the album, you can hear how Jarre was influenced by the trance and techno club sounds emerging out of Europe at the time.

‘Oxygène 7-13’ [1997]

‘Oxygène 7-13’ is Jarre’s tribute to his mentor Pierre Schaeffer, who died in 1995. It was almost 20 years since the release of ‘Oxygène’, and the album marked a return for Jarre to the analog synthesizers from the 70s, after years of experimenting with new technology.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, he admitted had had eschewed digital technology: “In the Eighties we became archivists and everything became rather cold as a result,” he said.

‘Metamorphoses’ [2000]

‘Metamorphoses’ was Jarre’s first vocal album, and the entire album was mixed on an early version of Pro Tools. Laurie Anderson, Natacha Atlas, and Sharon Corr provided vocals.

The album is probably Jarre’s most club-friendly work, and it was co-produced by French house producer Joachim Garraud.

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