The Symphonic Jean Michel Jarre

Won't Stop No At Marshmallow Planets

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Tadlow Music, 2006



It is not for sure, but not entirely uncertain either that recent team-ups of popular music with a classical environment left Ancient Synthwizard Jean Michel Jarre quite: motivated. I figure, he figured:

"I CAN'T call myself an up-to-date Music Creator and possess NO record with a Symphonic Orchestra under my Ancient Synthwizard Butt! Nons ways, NONS WAYS at ALL!"

So Tadlow Music delivers. Tadlow Music delivers you The Symphonic Jean Michel Jarre, and, fortunately enough, this double disc release brings a rather stable selection of the strongest elements Jarre had to offer to this day.

I would be curious to see what - if any - weaponry Jarre fans would choose to punish me with if I were to tell: Jean Michel usually relies on supersimple compositional methods, and comes up with output that is risk free to offer and similarly safe to appreciate, yet his recent efforts do not necessarily possess the creative power that fuel such classic composition of this author as Magnetic Fields 1. You couldn't watch a science TV show and miss out Magnetic Fields 1 for many many years. It is interesting to observe that even the song in question is clear and simple in it's structure, yet entertains you with such rampant power and elegant beauty to itself that it can go for eight minutes without you being bored for a moment. Very powerful vibe. Ah, did I mention that Magnetic Field 1 is included on The Symphonic Jean Michel Jarre? In a symphonic arrangement, as well. Definite peek moment.

This is all cool. No doubt. Yet Jarre sometimes exhibits a tendency of judging the musical significance of his own ideas incorrectly. He seems to fall in love easily with his invocations, which is probably acceptable. What is not particularly OK in my opinion is that he usually satisfies with the naked, raw idea and chooses NOT to entertain the musical thought further on. Thus there are risks that you will have the Iron Maiden Experience. The Iron Maiden Experience is this: you have some casual wind-blows-me-hair guitar riff and a galloping bass and rhythm section in the background. The wind-blows-me-hair guitar riff then collides with various powerchords to fill in your 4/4 and you are good to go. I am aware that Iron Maiden has some quite significant songs, but I am pretty sure they can deliver two blatantly boring pieces for each classic they wrote. The method and related experience I was outlined is clear manifestation of musical bullcrap, you see.

"We have to sell out 4*4/4 there, guys."

"Can you play like - some stuff in the foreground?"

"Like: "Pariramm-paaaa-pappppiraraaaa!" ??"

"Ye, OK. You do that and I'll go like: "TAN-dada-TAN-dada." Ye?"

"Ye. This for four by four times?"

"Ye. They'll fall for it. They always do."

"Ye."

"Ye."

A similar approach, say that I herein, unravels in the music of Ancient Synthwizard Jean Michel Jarre from time to time. When it does not, then he is very good. Alas, he should publish music that came by just THOSE moments, in my opinion. Remember his latest studio release? That one was particularly lacking any inventiveness and sounded more as a collection of thrown away ideas. My impression truly was that Jarre sold even his failed attempts to come up with new compositions. I am so sorry I forgot the name of the record as now it is quite hard to identify in the massive release palette he has even in a quite brief period. This is yet another strange aspect. If I see things correctly, Jarre releases a record virtually every next Sunday - sure, I am exaggerating a bit, but not THAT much, mind you I. To elaborate my prior implication about Jarre having definite uncreative periods, I can recall his 2004 album Aero though. Man. That sucked. That sucked badly. All in all, in my experience and opinion Jarre usually weights in as highly acceptable via seven songs out of ten, as far as the remaining three go: two will be brilliant and one will be silly, or vice versa.

Now having our almost stupendously lengthy introduction section ruthlessly concluded, let us start earing out what the Jarre Thing exactly has to deliver if surrounded by an orchestra, instruments and synthetizers all pointing at you.

Disc 1:

The opening track Chronologie 1 is the perfect opening statement to start up an installment with electro-orchestrated aspirations. I mean it is the perfect opening track if and when "electro-orchestratism" - sorry 'bout that - is of focal importance. Chronologie 1 delivers you a nice, thick string fabric to lay down on and supports this simple yet elegant buildup with some massively effected digital cellos to offer nice, casual solos - summoning a sci-fi buildup that is quite pleasant to relate to. Enjoy that 3:00 minutes flat you have without the senseless human choir kicking in. Surely, it is not their fault, they even do a wonderful job as far as the actual job goes, but the nice sci-fi buildup is dead gone as Jean Michel Jarre points his mighty fingers to the First Pink Marshmallow Planet you will encounter. An elegant, brief, cautious sci-fi statement is chased away and unravels unto silly, overwhelming choirfest characterized by a supersmiple musical idea. All is not too bad though: at the climax some thick throated opera singer claims her presence and renders a nice little monologue to the magnificent stars to surround Jarre's Pink Marhsmallow Planets, even better: the ending portion makes elegant fun of basic compositional methods utilized in classical music. Jarre borrows emotional building blocks from Offenbach's Kan Kan, and places sci-fi psychedelics atop of them - the resultant sensation is cunning and stable, also a nice and effective way to wrap this one up. At the end up of the day, you can't help but notice that Jarre eventually arrived at quite interesting places with his seemingly redundant choirs to pose as the focal negotiation of this piece, yet I still tend to think that the very beginning of Chronologie 1 is strong and autonome enough so it could be work way better and way more functional as a stand alone statement than the intro section it gets semi-clumsily utilized as here.

Amazingly, the follow-up statement is entitled Chronologie 2. I notice Jarre has some exquisite fixation towards certain pathos-filled words, I am not entirely sure, but I recall as I would have seen stuff like Oxygen 13, even. Hm. Chronologie 2 is such blatant, shameless and hilarious of an effect craver that you suddenly fail to show a blaming factor of all this and decide to keenly follow up the pathos filled melody offered as focal theme instead. This is a funny piece: it is hard to decide whether Jarre takes you for a complete imbecile, anticipating you to live through Chronologie 2 as a serious "symphony??" or does he indeed make quite serious fun of the basic concept of symphonies? Hmm, I am not entirely sure of the correct answer, and this is why Chronologie 2 is kind of: kind to me.

What about yet another Chronologie statement, this time by the title Chronologie 3? I must admit this is a very intricate placement from the Jarre Thing, as this third piece to conclude the Chronologie trilogy speaks in fluent, flawless classical registers. A gloomy, cunning composition, exhibiting a nice, reoccurring focal period in which pathos grows so massive and strong that the buildup collapses under itself, finding a logical and elegant way to reoccur again. Why this placement is so original? I think it is because the prior installment left you wondering if you were taken for a fool or were just entertained. During Chronologie 3 though, your impression that you picked up the correct Jarre record to date solidifies steadily.

Oops. Now me sees Gloria, Lonely Boy is to follow up. I have no clue what this "Lonely Boy" business is, yet the song itself is blatantly peaceful and beautiful. A lady is singing about this particular Gloria character of whom identity I have not the dimmest idea, but I do hope she/he feels better after hearing this. The song pretty much feels like an attempt to calm someone down deeply hurt. Very strong, lazy - in a good sense - composition and a very nice, integral performance from all participants. A supermassive, memorable peek moment.

Equinoxe 4 is the piece I can so passionately scratch my face off listening to. A cautious, nice opening vibe to start up the piece, blown the hell away by a 2nd theme that flattens everything out that comes contact with it. Blah! This time the opening vibe is way more powerful than the senseless focal melody eagerly and ruthlessly voiced by brass instruments, but who cares, truly. The focal melody is Jarre's selfish personal fixation this time around, an idea he refuses to admit not being strong enough to worth showing around for several minutes. Equinoxe 4 has definite aspirations to exhibit meritorious emotional elements invoked by Magnetic Fields 1. By the calm starting vibe and the sinister mid section - yes, even the structure is similar to Magnetic Fields 1 - it has some degree of success, yet the focal, big-ass brass theme flattens the elegant buildup out hopelessly. This is not too bad, not too bad - but not too good, not too good, either.

Fishing Junks at Sunset is an oriental stroll around. It's cute. And, above all: it's truly cute. Did I mention how cute Fishing Junks at Sunset was? It is, trust me.

Souvenir De Chine is the gloomiest and one of the strongest moments of the double release. A superthick string section and a nice rhythm pattern are the focal elements here. Amazingly, the Jarre Thing yet again exhibits modest musical sanity here: he recognizes the massive layer of stringed instruments as strong as it is indeed, and spares them the upper solo registers, the register that would surely compromise this buildup, mind you. Souvenir De Chine is basically a rhythm section, yet such a melodic rhythm section it is that it does not need any solos to - I dare say this - filth it. An exquisite piece.

Magnetic Fields 5- The Last Rumba is some Rumba. It IS a cool Rumba, too!

Industrial Revolution - Overture is an easily approachable piece to represent and manifest Jarre's compositional skillset when the author is free to rely on a supportive orchestra and synths. It is a stable piece with a constant pulsation to it, offered for you by hammers to emphasize the modal atmosphere the title suggests. It is beyond questions that every instrument gets a role here, and gets a functional one. Apart from that: nothing more to unravel or to remain here.

Industrial Revolution - Part 1 is a quite subtle, cheerful piece. Massively, yet - should we say? - haughtily classical, with a cunning tendency to interchange between the delightful and the determined registers. This piece is organically connected to the follow-up statement, Industrial Revolution - Part 2. The resultant mood here maintains it's accessibility while opening up to a massively cinematic scale. A quite significant fabric of two connected statements to show off Jarre's evident capabilities to write music once he is serious about that.

Disc 2:

While I basically find Eldorado a pretty good song to provoke massive flows of saliva out through the corners of your mouth, I must admit that it has it's supersilly charms to it, and I tend to think that Jarre himself had not much more intention with it than to clearly include and reveal those. I dare to say that the song has elements and moments quite similar to the compositional methods utilized by guitar god Steve Vai on HIS symphonic statement.

I fail to pick up on Oxygene 13's originality which might be existent yet it is extremely well hidden. Some melancholic stuff it is, I suppose - but seems to have no intention to going anywhere, and, throughout this recognition you wish for it's end to arrive via that senselessly fast yet oh so! relieving manner.

Fortunately, the symphonic rendition of Magnetic Fields 1 has ended up as a quite firm and solid statement. The supportive synthetizers are now substituted by stringed instruments and focal solo synths are rendered via thick, clear brass instruments. A trademark effort in Jarre's career, Magnetic Fields 1 still has that paradoxical, fresh (!) retro sci-fi feel to it, while the fact that makes a quite special piece of this musical statement is that it has nothing more to it than this ever-present, fresh retro sci-fi feel. Then again: what more could you ask for? The fact that it offers nothing more or different than retro sci-fi feel is what we are so grateful for and signing on for here.

Emmigrant is yet another faceless, overwhelming stare-to-nothingness via senselessly overblown tones of Symphonic Orchestra Overkill. Immensely tiresome to relate or listen to, I figure Jarre tried to summon an atmosphere similar to Richard Strauss's improbably powerful Thus Spoke Zarathustra. My opinion would be that either you go for that particular majestic-space-sensation via senseless power as Strauss did, or you better off staying: SILENT.
You with me here, Jean Michel? SI-LENT. All in all, Emmigrant is one of Jarre's numerous failed attempts to create majestic space music, but it still remains a nice depiction of the Pinkest Marshmallow Planets you ever witnessed, nevertheless.

"This: Stinks! This Also: Sucks!" - Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Richard Strauss nodded. Jean Michel Jarre Hid Away. And Their Words And Gestures Made Perfect Sense, Indeed.

Oxygene 4 is both cute and persistent enough to successfully convince you about the meritoriousness of it's musical assumptions, also a funny testament of how easily Jarre ends up being overly fascinated by his own ideas. Oxygene 4 introduces a nice little chord harmony and feeds it to you till the end of spacetime or a highly illegal blackout process. The brass instruments make a nice modal interchange this time around, emphasizing the harmonies from time to time. Cute, simple, easily approachable and filled full by a casual, funny mood: Oxygene 4 is: actually good.

Rendez-Vous 2 kicks off powerfully, just to arrive to a strange spot characterized by some crazy-ass synthetic choir to rape out further pathos (??) out of a buildup that is filled with it already. Apart from this particular moment, Rendez-Vous 2 relies heavily on a nice, narrative musical language. Cinematic touch becomes evident. At the midsection though, the entire song pours down to an entirely different dimension. A superthick, dark synthetizer gravitates this tense period as paradoxical guiding light in a secret tunnel, where other instruments including choirs are just supportive elements and serve the welcomed purpose of musical secrecy rather pleasantly. Later the cinematic buildup introduced earlier comes back, and, amazingly enough: Jarre spares you the highly redundant synthetic choir section this time around, wrapping the statement up with some seriously intense opera chick instead.

Rendez-Vous 4 is quite weightless and silly in my opinion, but these qualities are the appeals at the same time. Definitely not an unpleasant piece, yet it's significance is superscarce at best. This is the proper music for some bubblegum commercial, or for some Space Travel Agency, organizing Trips With No Return to the Pinkest! Biggest! Marshmallow! Planets! Your ticket-checker is the Jarre Thing!

Acropolis offers a rather peaceful, elegant fabric with a tint of secrecy in it, and, fortunately enough, Jarre refuses to summon massively molested sci-fi pathos to compromise a stable structure. That particular sequence where two neighboring notes are colliding to form the chord harmony on is the focal attraction here, the moment you wait for, the moment the song gravitates to as a focal statement. A rather nice buildup at the end of the day, though I would be probably left even more happy with choirs absent.

The concluding piece Computer Weekend is some huge huge + sign on The! Pinkest! Sky! You! Ever! Witnessed! To! Surround! Your! Favorite! Pinkestest! Marshmallow! Planet! Featuring the all-time superclassic harmony progression to fuel such popular statements as La Bamba or Wild Thing, Computer Weekend is a big Yes! for life and stuff related, also a strange, but no doubt, somewhat humorous way it is to conclude a double disc release fueled mainly by mild secrecy, gloom and pathos.

At the end it seems safe to say that a rather eventful, integral series of statements you hear and witness with thy magnificent ears. Jean Michel Jarre once again proved to be a significant factor in the musical game, erasing the memory of a period in which he had considerable problem to produce evident quality. With The Symphonic Jean Michel Jarre you can't possibyl go entirely wrong, though your best option is to spot your own personal favorites for time to time and listen to them as stand-alone selections surrounded by neighboring musics of different origins.

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