Jean Michel Jarre – Essentials and Rarities (2011)

CD1:
01 – Souvenir of China
02 – Oxygene 2
03 – Arpegiateur
04 – Oxygene 4
05 – Equinoxe 4
06 – Calypso 2						play
07 – Zoolook
08 – Magnetic fields 1
09 – Magnetic fields 2
10 – Equinoxe 5
11 – Industrial revolution 2
12 – Rendez-vous 4
13 – Gloria, lonely boy
14 – Oxygene 6
15 – Space of freedom

CD2:
01 – Happiness is a sad song
02 – Hypnose
03 – Erosmachine					play
04 – La cage
05 – Chanson des granges brulees
06 – Windswept canyon
07 – The abominable snowman
08 – Desserted palace
09 – Le pays de rose
10 – Rain forest rap session
11 – Black Bird
12 – Music box concerto
13 – Iraqi hitch-hiker
14 – Les granges brulees
15 – La cage vitalic RMX
16 – Erosmachine vitalic RMX

Essentials is a thoughtfully chosen selection of tracks from the Dreyfus period, covering the giant albums Oxygene, Equinoxe, Chants Magnétiques and more, digitally remastered in a care-applied way, by going back to the original analogue master tapes, and applying up-to date remastering technology. This system has bypassed the remastering mania of the 90 s, where often chunks of sound would be missed in a pixellated digital soup. The result is every bit as good as the original sound, carrying depth and range and conveying the excitement of Jarre s cutting-edge music as it was conceived. Rarities is a real find for any Jarre completist or fan. It covers mainly material recorded prior to the emergence of Oxygene, some never commercially released, and none ever seen on CD before. At the time, Jarre was a student under Pierre Schaeffer, the creator of Musique Concrète, and the man behind the idea of music moving away from traditional instrumentation, towards a sound-based appreciation whatever the source. Experimentation with sounds abounds on these recordings, which are again given the same meticulous remastering treatment. ---Editorial Reviews

To my knowledge at least, this is the fourth album released to claim the name "The Essential" Jean Michel Jarre, leaving aside albums like Aero or Musik aus Zeit und Raum. In all fairness, none of them have contained exactly the same contents, though has always been a common core of work interspersed with a few, newer morsels. Here were find a welcome bow for The The Concerts in China's under-appreciated Arpeggiator. However, while 2000's Gloria, Lonely Boy makes an appearance, there is nothing from either Chronologie or 1997's Oxygene 7-13. Perhaps this is because of the emphasis Jarre placed on so-called dancier fare like Chronologie when putting together Aero several years ago. Even so, the non appearance of Chronologie 4 or 6 or Oxygene 8, 12 or 13 can only be described as puzzling on something that claims to be essential. Zoolook also appears, and in its original album form, not the later remix.

However, what is there sounds generally beautiful (as one might expect), and the 24bit mastering is an improvement on the remastering of his work that happened during his move to Sony in the 1990's. It really manages to show off the scope and breadth of material like the Equinoxe and Magnetic Fields tracks that appear here. Even Fourth Rendez-Vous sounds a touch better, though you'd have to listen with decent equipment to get the real benefit, I think.

What is more interesting, however, is the second (Rarities) disc. Here, some of Jarre's earliest works, for so long available only on bootleg releases, finally see an official airing and a clean up. Most of the disc is comprised of selections from the 1972 album Deserted Palace. And they do sound better than having them on bootleg recording. Pieces like Music Box Concerto and Deserted Palace itself sound a little more vivid and clear, with strong, crisp bass and nicely defined treble. However, the beginning of Deserted Palace seem s to have gone through a blender, suddenly having the treble turned up around 10 seconds in. Perhaps this is the best that could be done with the (now fairly aged) analogue master tapes. The selection does cherry pick the best from the album, together with Erosmachine and La Cage, whose influence can be heard even into the 90's on Chronologie.

However, for a fan, this represents something of a missed opportunity. There are a number of old pieces, like Zig Zag Dance and Cartolina, that would have been nice to include. The biggest disappointment for me is the lack of any video material, or the cream of some of the 1980's remixes of Zoolook, Zoolookologie (to this day one of my favourite Jarre things ever) or the Special remix of Fourth Rendez-vous.

For me, then, this collection is a mixed bag: a feast of treats that do appear, adulterated somewhat by the disappointment for the absence of those that do not. Still, for a fan, this is certainly worth having, if only to hear some of those things with a fresh ear. --- ds (Whitby, UK), amazon.com

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