oh, yes, 30 years have passed since this ground
breaking, and massively popular, electronic album was released, and i have to
say, this is one album that even now holds a dear space in my heart.
you see, many many years ago, though not
quite 30, i purchased a double play cassette (in woolworths in ilkley
fact fans !) with this album on one side, and the follow up equinox, on
the flip.
the cassette was my first venture into the world of
music with purely with synths, and became a mainstay in my mono itt
branded cassette deck and so even in this primitive listening capacity, i would
suggest, formed a core part of my music listening pattern for the rest of my
life.
of course, prior to hearing oxygene, i was
uneducated in the ways of the cool electronic music due to lack of the necessary
exposure, so jean michels jarres simplistic melodies, sweeping
ambience were a sonic revelation to a young’un stuck in the middle of the
yorkshire dales.
this album sounded, and with its unusual artwork of
the earth/skull, looked like the future.
in fact, i would even be so brave to suggest that
many of the stars of technology enhanced music that blossomed in the 90s (ie the
warp records/idm golden era) probably listening to this album
intensely, and all the cool name dropping of can,
tangerine dream, stockhausen etc, became
purely an exercise in rewriting personal history thus negating this monster its
true place in history.
i mean, i would be the first to admit that
following jean michel jarres zoolook album, where the
studio toys were developing into digital and sampling, he totally lost the
ability to make music of any real value, and so drifted off into the world of
hugely ambitious staged shows using various cities as backdrops, and that
sodding laser harp gimmick.
thankfully though, nothing can take away the pure
nostalgic rush of the debuts purity, and with the remastering makover, i have to
say, this album once again sounds absolutely amazing even if the contents are
overly familiar from the mass of tv documentaries that lifted particular
sections ad infinitum.
for the collectors there is alongside the polished
up sonics is a dvd subtitled, live in your living room.
and i have to say, this is the best ‘extra’ i have
ever had the fortune to watch.
basically, jean michel jarre along
with 3 other musicians, dust down the composers vast collection of old analogue
synths, set them up in a basic studio seting, and recreate the album live.
all in one take, without any laptops, computers,
mixing or supposedly any overdubs.
sounds boring ?
nah - its an absolute joy to watch these men and
machines, (several of which are held together with metres of masking tape, and
require recabling live duriung the performance to make the next recognisable
swooshing noise) perform an extended version of the album with a minimum of fuss
and no special effects, other than the small matter that this is also available
in something called 3d stereoscopy vision. well, i guess jean michel cant stop the madness totally.
thankfully, this unnecessary visual gimmick is not
required to enjoy the performance of the classic album, instead all you need is
a dvd player, a pretty nice tv, and a big fat sofa, and let the nerd pleasing
nostalgia-fest begin.
