Jean-Michel Jarre anounced Equinoxe Infinity

Absolutely love this album!

Once thing I've noticed so far that none of the streaming providers (Tidal, Spotify, etc) offer gapless version of the album, i.e. each track fades out at the end, which isn't how it supposed to sound.

 

Amazon music have a ‘continuous mix’ as track 11 to allow the listener to enjoy the album without breaks between songs.

 

it's a stupid and annoying thing to do considered spotify and C support gapless playback.
Is it playlist friendly, maybe?

 

Spotify had it too for Oxgene III but it was geoblocked in some countries.

 

Received mine last week from JPC.de. Got the awful #2 cover (the red one).
Not overly impressed with it. Not a patch on the original. I'm going to give Jarre 50 Years Of Music a go.

 

I’m listening on Apple Music and it has the tracks sequenced correctly.

 

I got my Equinoxe Project boxset over the weekend from Grooveland. Shipping was slow and the package arrive torn open and re-taped (I wonder if it raised flags with US Customs with it being from Amsterdam), but fortunately the box was in great shape. Packaging included the two LPs (red cover on Equinoxe Infinity vinyl), two CDs, and a few posters. I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet though.

 

Just did the same. You're right, the tracks don't fade out at the end.

I contacted Tidal support and after going back and forth, they've messaged me saying that they're going to contact the Content Team in order to get this resolved.

Fingers crossed.

 

I do not get mine until the 25th, so I have only heard it once (at low volume) all the way through. I thought Oxy 2 and 3 were almost as good as the original Oxy. But compared to the original EQ, this one does not seem to be nearly as good.

 

The Reviews are in.

Spill Magazine – Aaron Badgley

Equinoxe Infinity

Rated at 8/10

Perhaps it is their age, perhaps it is their level of confidence, but there are a number of established artists releasing albums in which they do what they do best. They are not trying to compete with the today’s pop sensations but rather cater to their own artististic integrity and perhaps their loyal, core following. Jean-Michel Jarre is one of those artists. Over the last few years he has rereleased older material and created sequels to older works. He continues in that vein with this new, brilliant album, Equinoxe Infinity, which is a sequel to 1978’s Equinoxe.

Jarre continues with his exquisite electronic-based music, creating mood, emotion and atmosphere. He does this so well, that he is able to convey a story or theme through an album without a single lyric. This is quite an accomplishment. This is basically a concept album about Earth being watched by unknown spectators. The purpose of their surveillance, you are to decide, but Jarre is able to convert this through the use of music, sounds and arrangements.

The album is broken into ten movements, each one quite distinct and quite stirring. Listen to “All That You Leave Behind (Movement 4)”, which starts off quite melodic and beautiful, and ends with robotic sound effects indicating that things are not boding well for us humans. Then give a listen to the title track, “Equinoxe Infinity (Movement 10)”, which is worlds apart from “All That You Leave Behind (Movement 4)”. Both fantastic songs, but the mood and the focus is different for both of them, the former, somewhat disturbing, the latter somewhat sad.

What Jarre does on this album, which makes it so great, is to develop a somewhat retro sound. This is electronic music from the ‘70s, with a little technology from today, and it adds to the overall album. Jarre writes interesting and melodic songs that capture your attention and keep it. And, let us be clear, this is an album that should be enjoyed from beginning to end in one sitting. Sure the movements are great songs, but the material works better when it is listened to in context with the other songs.

Jarre has released yet another stellar work. Fans will enjoy the album, and in many ways it is a brilliant introduction to his work for those not familiar with it. Fans note that there is a Super Deluxe version available, which includes the original album. The packaging also includes two different sleeves, both brilliant.

Music OHM – Ben Devlin

Equinoxe Infinity

Rated at 3/5

There’s something a bit poignant about the process of music growing older. When the tide is in it’s all a calming blue, when it goes out you’re left with the imperfections that were always underneath. Nostalgia can paper over these, but generally new songs in a retro style are more popular than music that was the future once.

These thoughts surface while listening to Equinoxe Infinity, the latest album by Jean-Michel Jarre, an artist whose sound ‘kept with the times’ for a while but stopped updating sometime in the late ’90s when trance and eurodance were big.

It feels a little uncharitable to say this about an artist at the ripe old age of 70, when most other genres don’t value modern production styles as much. But it does leave the pitch-shifted vocal samples of Infinity (Movement 6), first heard in 1984’s Zoolook, sounding a bit ridiculous in light of how far technology has surpassed it – Where Are U Now this ain’t. The less ‘contemporary’, more odyssean sections such as the title track (Movement 10) fare better, as their spacey atmosphere has aged better despite harking back to the earliest points of Jarre’s career.

Equinoxe Infinity opens with The Watchers (Movement 1), the album’s most cinematic moment with bassy rumbles and plenty of swirling sci-fi sound effects. The synth lead is epic, the sound design is immaculate and the record is given a near-perfect start. The following track, Flying Totems (Movement 2), is the first sign of that dated aesthetic, synths and sequences that haven’t been heard in about 20 years, but here the effect is more charming – and besides, why hasn’t the music of Gouryella and Mauro Picotto experienced a revival yet? Kitsch becomes less of a dirty word as the synth strings rise in euphoric fashion.

Robots Don’t Cry (Movement 3) pays homage to Jarre’s breakout single, Oxygene IV, borrowing its drum machine and its driving 6/8 meter. The track comes and goes without much of an impact, and a wandering mellotron line can’t save it from all being a bit forgettable. All That You Leave Behind (Movement 4) also fails to impress with its awkward rhythms and clunky bassline, and at times the elements don’t seem to line up properly. The record at its best shows the compositional vitality of early electronica’s best records, but at its worst it can sound surprisingly amateurish.

Better moments come later on: the propulsive beat of The Opening (Movement 8) and buzzing saw lead could easily soundtrack an action sequence in computer animation, all video game graphics and rubbery surfaces (think 2007’s Teo & Tea video). It is Don’t Look Back (Movement 9), however, that provides the album’s real highlight with its crystalline string samples and the audio equivalent of water droplets rippling out into surreal reverb. The basis of the track is simple, but what comes out of it is exquisite and makes the case for Jarre’s continuing relevance better than anything he has made in years.

The earlier sci-fi comparison is apt, with Jarre as electronic music’s George Lucas, updating his classics with new technology that doesn’t always do the original style any favours. The magic of the original does resurface in plenty of places though, and the tracks that play to Jarre’s strengths as a producer yield some magical results. In the era of Stranger Things and synthwave, the more traditional aspects of his sound could have shone through more, as they did in 2016’s superior Oxygene 3. But Equinoxe Infinity is still worthwhile in its own patchy way. Let’s call it a neap tide.

Reflections of Darkness – Susanne Schaller

Equinoxe Infinity

Rated at 10/10

Exactly 40 years ago JEAN-MICHEL JARRE released ‘Equinoxe’ and now comes the follow-up, ‘Equinoxe Infinity’. First track is ‘The Watchers’ which starts with very ominous sounds going over into some more soothing tones. Then we have the monitory sirens giving us a warning. For some reason I see machines watching us. Next up is ‘Flying Totems’ and that is sounding much more positive and happier. JEAN-MICHEL JARRE has the rare gift of painting whole scenes into our heads with synthesizers only. Song number three is ‘Robots don’t Cry’ which is moving forward and is a danceable song. All songs go over into the other and so they fit perfect together. ‘All That You Leave Behind’ starts some kind of ominous as well paired with warning sounds going over into some happier parts. So, it is not all dark. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Song number five is ‘If The Wind Could Speak’ and there we have a little surprise. Some cute childish samples. Just a short cute track.

Next up is ’Infinity’ which is directly moving forward starting like a brilliant and perfect Synth Pop song. A flawless 80s Synth Pop track in a modern robe, awesome! Song number seven is ‘Machines Are Learning’ and as the name maybe betrayed us already, we here have some robotic samples and some darker parts as well. Next one, ‘The Opening’, ties directly on the song before that track is very strong song with some edges and corners paired with flawless Synth sounds and a powerful chorus. Song number nine is ‘Don’t Look Back’ and is slowing us down a bit with melodic synthesizers sounding happy. Last track is the name giving track ‘Equinoxe Infinity’ which starts very spherical and melodic. We hear many different elements which make it sound happy and so it is the perfect closing track for the album. He is the God of the synthesizers! Nothing less and nothing more! So mark Friday the 16th November in your calendar!

Louder Than War – Paul-Scott-Bates

Equinoxe Infinity

Not Rated

Forty years (to the day) after the release of the landmark Equinoxe album, The Godfather of Electronic Music releases the sequel.

Jean-Michael Jarre is a tease. A tease with the album title. A tease with the album artwork. A tease with the sounds that he uses (repeats?) on Equinoxe Infinity. The recent surprise announcement of this new album, hot on the heels of the forty-one track Best Of Planet Jarre, has had fans positively frothing at the mouth.

Fans will need to introduction to the 1978 original, Jarre’s fourth album has seen him develop a sound that was unique to him – dynamic, rhythmic and employing bassline sequences it initially received a harsh critical response but has since become one of the most instantly recognisable pieces of electronic work ever via the likes of Equinoxe Parts 4 and 5.

With Equinoxe Infinity comes ten brand new tracks (or movements) which cleverly follow the path of the original album. Breaks of thunder and lightning with bubbling and running water are repeated with synths sounding ‘vintage’ but with a modern twist. Jarre often teases with lead-ups which could break into versions from the original album at any one time and this, is perhaps when his genius shines through.

Equinoxe Infinity may not hold much appeal to the newcomer unless they are of a particularly inquisitive nature but it is worth remembering perhaps that the likes of Vince Clarke et all owe a massive amount to the work of Jarre. Without him, the bouncy pop of Erasure, Pet Shops Boys, and many others may simply not have existed with huge chunks of 80s pop non-existent.

The opening track, The Watchers induces a sense of wonder, inquisitiveness, fear even as the characters from the original album artwork move from cartoon to monolithic oppressors and track two Flying Totems introduces the gurgling bassline of Jarre that has become synonymous with his sound.

Treated voices on tracks like All The You Leave Behind and If The Wind Could Speak offer more than a passing resemblance to years gone by and the title track Infinity is nothing short of a master at work creating a track that could quite easily sit beside its original contemporaries.

At just less than forty minutes, Jarre has transformed what many would consign to disaster into a clever work which is both as tender and sympathetic to the original as one would wish it to be. A dream come true for Jean-Michel Jarre diehards and maybe an insight into an electro mastermind for others.

Jarre Fan – Elfworld

Equinoxe Infinity

Rated at 7/10

This autumn Jean-Michel Jarre turned 70. In the past three years he has released two double albums, one single album and this September, a huge compilation box called Planet Jarre. The latter to celebrate his 50th anniversary as an artist. He’s also been touring most of these years with a ground breaking light and laser show, and he also played Coachella this year.

And on November 16th he releases his fourth album in three years. The Frenchman has once again returned to one of his classic albums.

But where Oxygene 7-13 and Oxygene 3 were some kind of continuation of the original story, Equinoxe: Infinity is not a direct sequel to the original Equinoxe from 1978. The inspiration this time is the mysterious figures, the Watchers, from the original 1978 record cover. Who are the Watchers? What are they observing? Us?

Jarre also want to bring attention to AI (artificial intelligence), and how it can affect our society. Will it be our extinction or a blessing? Nevertheless, the album is published with two different covers, one showing heaven and the other showing hell. And it’s random who gets which cover when you buy physical copy, so you don’t know beforehand.

The opening track, The Watchers, does quote a bit of the first track on the original Equinoxe. However, the rest of the song is in a musical landscape we haven’t heard from Jarre before. Truth be told, The Watchers sounds more like a Vangelis ala Bladerunner track than Jarre.

But don’t worry! The entire album reeks of the Jarre trademarks. Like cascading arpeggios, bubbling sound effects, sustain and cross fades. However, there’s also material here that is very far from what he’s done before. Both good and bad.

The second track, Flying Totems, literally steals the theme of Industrial Revolutions Part 2 from the album Revolutions, released in 1988. However, it really works here, with its horn like synth lines, spiced up with Commodore 64 like sounds.

On the third track we move into a landscape consisting partly of Oxygene Part 2 and Oxygene Part 4 (yeah, the hit with the penguin video), lots of wonderful string sounds via the Eminent synth, and a playfulnes that is both nostalgic and catchy.

It’s on the fourth track, All that You Leave Behind, that we really venture into uncharted territory for Jarre. The track is pure Ennio Morrocone, thanks to the wailing harmonica sound running through the tune (sounding like the one The Orb borrowed on Little Fluffy Clouds). But just as the track moves over into rhythms and synthpop, he also starts mixing in melody lines that sound very similar to things he did on his first two albums, Deserted Palace (1972) and the soundtrack Les Granges Brulees (1973).

On If the Wind Could Speak and Infinity, we get parts of Deep Forest, mixed with parts kitchy Eurodance of the worst kind. All spiced with some Kygo and Avicii. If you mix this with 80s sounding “ahh ahh” synthesized voices, playing the main theme, we get a track that will make some listeners projectile vomit. I simply can’t decide whether I like Infinity or not. The parts where he paraphrases Equinoxe Part 5 from the original album are kind of fun. But I don’t know… At the same time, it is catchy.

Machines are Learning has a wonderful sequencer loop of the best Jarre kind. And he experiments and plays around with sounds and sampled voices, which makes it all into a wonderful transition leading into The Opening. The latter was also included on Planet Jarre. It’s a smoking hot pop song. Part Jarre, part Depeche Mode and part Nine Inch Nails. It should have been a bonafide hit single!

Don’t Look Back is like a waltz, and is definitely something Jarre has never done before, and it leads into the title track. This melody starts very Bladerunner-like (and repeats the theme from the first track), but then it goes into an ambient landscape like The Orb used to do. As the song goes on, Jarre is running amok and plays around with a wall of sounds. This is what he does best, and what made me a fan in the first place. The song, and record, then ebbs out in a satisfying way.

Jean-Michel Jarre, the godfather of electronic music, is clearly showing that he doesn’t care about fan expectations, nor does he give a **** about critics and he realises that the days of selling millions are over.

So then he simply concentrates on making wonderful electronic music. And I’m thankful for it!

Prog Archives – Aussie-Byrd-Brother

Equinoxe Infinity

Rated at 4/5

Legendary French electronic icon Jean-Michel Jarre returns with a `sequel' to one of his most highly regarded works in 1978's `Equinoxe', and even if it's rarely ever too challenging or ground-breaking, and doesn't actually remind of the original much at all, 2018's `Equinoxe Infinity' still has plenty to offer. Jarre brings his army of digital and analogue keyboards to deliver a punchy and endlessly melodic set of bubbly electronica, sleek synth-pop, spacier dramatic themes, New-Age/ambient touches and one or two dancier spots, and like many of Jarre's past works, the pieces (all subtitled with `Movement') seamlessly segue into each-other forming an ever-evolving aural collage...or kind of like a cool spacey mix-tape!

The first half/side A is particularly strong, and `The Watchers' is a suitably announcing opener with fizzy electronics and the first use of a stirring main synth melody that will pop up elsewhere in the disc, sounding reliably like the Jarre albums of the Seventies. The twinkling electronica of `Flying Totems' teems with life with a victorious and dramatic theme, and the moody `Robots Don't Cry', one of the strongest moments of the disc, is a slinking head-nodding electronic brood with seductively clipping programming bringing a buoyant energy, and scratchy Mellotron and ringing electric piano motifs rise up out of its lush ambient caresses. `All That You Leave Behind' is an uneasy ambient interlude with tolling bells that lurches into a spacey heavy grind, but the brief `If The Wind Could Speak' wraps the first half with glitching synth-pop and slightly kitsch female voice samples flitting in and out.

However, the flip-side's `Infinity' is going to be the breaking point for some listeners! The catchy dance piece, all inane wordless vocal samples and clichéd repeating synth theme is probably the closest the artist has come to delivering something as obnoxiously cheesy and lightweight as a `Summer Dance Anthem', but while the track is not really surprising considering Jarre's diversity and desire to keep one foot in the door of commercial relevance and modern dance music culture, it's still a little grating (although some will probably appreciate its uplifting positivity). Thankfully the disc fully recovers with `Machines Are Learning', a mix of darting sequencer programming and whirring cut-up robotic voices, the superb `The Opening' has a confident and defiant recurring dramatic theme over pulsing beats (lovely ambient outro as well) and `Don't Look Back' elegantly weaves cello-like samples over glistening electronic trickles. The unhurried seven minute closing title-track `Equinoxe Infinity' is unexpectedly subtle and subdued, reprising earlier musical themes and revealing slowly unfolding ambient passages of Tangerine Dream-modelled deep-space atmospheres and fusing them with a Vangelis-flavoured cinematic soundtrack-like sophistication.

While there's often not a lot of depth to it, and Jean-Michel clearly slapped a fancy arty Hipgnosis/Storm Thorgerson-like cover on it and used the 'brand name' title to attract more fans even when there's not much to suggest this has any proper connection to the earlier album at all, `Equinoxe Infinity' is a classy work with a slick polished production from a legendary electronic artist that's easy to enjoy, with several moments that lift to real greatness, and plenty of Jarre fans should get exactly what they want with it!

Super Deluxe Addition – Paul Sinclair

Equinoxe Infinity

Not Rated

With his Planet Jarre best of/box set only just released, Jean Michel Jarre has surprised fans with the announcement of a new album, Equinoxe Infinity, for November.

This is a sequel to his fourth studio album, Equinoxe, which was released 40 years ago and the artwork (created by Filip Hodas) references the original cover. Best let JMJ explain his thinking behind the music and the artwork:

“In days where vinyl is coming back big time, artwork deserves more attention. The cover of Equinoxe has always been one of my favourites. Are these strange creatures watching us? Watching space? Watching machines? Watching a natural phenomenon? We don’t really know. They’re not scary, but odd and mysterious. So, I took the original ‘Watchmen’ of the Equinoxe cover to continue the story.

Filip Hodas is a super talented young artist who I asked to create two different pieces in line with my vision. One cover shows mankind at peace with nature and technology, and the other depicts a picture of fear and distortion with machines taking over the world. With these two, I want to bring attention to two scenarios we are facing today with our love for and our dependence on innovation and technology. The music of Equinoxe Ininity is the soundtrack to those two different worlds.”

The album cover art is random (at the request of Jean Michel Jarre) so you don’t know which one you are getting!

Equinoxe Infinity is issued on CD and vinyl, but a box set called Equinoxe Project brings together the original album and the new one, on CD and vinyl (i.e. it’s a four-disc set). The box comes with four posters and a download card. The standard vinyl also includes a download and one poster.

Equinoxe Infinity and the Equinoxe Project box set will be issued on 16 November 2018.

Nest HQ – Molly Hankins

Equinoxe Infinity

Not Rated

If you close your eyes while listening to the totality of Jean-Michel Jarre‘s Equinoxe Infinity, I swear you can travel to another world whether or not you believe it’s just your imagination.

The legendary French producer and composer perhaps just made his most prolific voyage of an album yet, expressed in 10 movements, which are defined as a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. The definition goes on to say, “While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession.” The same is very much true for this album; you must take the high-quality audio edition of the full 40-minute ride to be able to appreciate how brilliantly, expansively orchestrated it is.

On my third listen to one of the singles “ROBOTS DON’T CRY,” the third movement, I begin to pray there are plans to turn Equinoxe Infinity into a staged production of some sort. It seems like there’s a deep story beneath the cascading sci-fi synths and classical instrumentation — if he’s not using live musicians on most if not all of this album, I’m even more impressed. You can slow-dance to “ALL THAT YOU LEAVE BEHIND” or fight a VR dragon in slow motion to the album’s hyper-cinematic opener “THE WATCHERS.” Moving forward, “IF THE WIND COULD SPEAK” quite literally blows in with an inkling of the very first vocal we hear on this album: a distant, robotic female voice that sounds like she could be trapped in an old Skrillex demo that somehow slipped through a wormhole. “INFINITY” is the first borderline banger with more vocals, these ones bright and shiny with dancing synths to match, but we still haven’t heard a single audible word uttered on this album.

“I love oxymorons, made of two opposing words, two opposite feelings,” Jean-Michel said in a press release, and it shows because this album is full of them. Between movements 6 and 7, we go from “INFINITY” to the reality that “MACHINES ARE LEARNING,” which takes the mood from blissful synth-wave reverie to ominous AF instantaneously. Again, there’s a robotic vocal, but no words can be made out. One thing’s for sure, though: the machine is trying to communicate something. Perhaps it’s further revealed by the next song “THE OPENING,” which sounds like a bright pink portal powered by distorted synths and a heavenly Fifth Element-style vocal floating over. We’re reminded “DON’T LOOK BACK” before arriving at the album’s final and title track, “EQUINOXE INFINITY.” I feel like I just came back into my body after a much-needed trip into the ether, and fortunately the last song clocks in at 7:33 because you’ll want to squeeze every last drop of magic out of this outstanding album.

 

But what does Darren think about it?

 

And how about that Wonky kid?

 

It’s nice for Jarre that his new album is so well received. But many reviewer observations highlight the problems I have with it: that it reminds me of Oxygene, Zoolook and his 80’s albums, but not Equinoxe. That every track has a distinct sound signature, while all original Equinoxe tracks share one sound signature. Well, I’m probably just wishing for too much. Since Oxygène 7-13 I was hoping for some kind of Equinoxe reinterpretation. And personally I don’t think Infinity is it.

PS. Funny how one of the reviewers thinks that Oxygène IV is in 6/8 meter, while it’s not. It’s a 4/4 triplet groove, or 12/4.

 

As Wild Frank pointed out, Amazon has a continuous mix as does Spotify as track 11 'Continuous Mix'

 

And there was me thinking all music I listened too was in 9/8.... No, there are no prizes for guessing my usual musical listening material... Reminds me of Marillion's "Grendel" vs Genesis' "Supper's Ready" with the former being in a thinly disguised but nevertheless solid 4/4...

 

I agree. He should have called it The Watchers and left off any Equinoxe references.

 

Cool album. Listened to it maybe half a dozen more times now, but I am going to have to spend even more time with it. Still not sure what to think of this album overall, except that it should not be called Equinox, as it really seems nothing like it. The tracks are so short and different, it almost seems like a collection of sorts. There is no unifying theme. It seems to go from a grand soundscape to a pop hit in the middle, and then back to being grand.

The original EQ sounded a lot like Oxy, but this in no way sounds like Oxy 3. Way different but worth listening to.

 

Really love this album, and decided to download from HDTracks after having the Apple Music since it came out.

Extremely disappointed to find ridiculous and thoughtless fade-outs between each track. This is not how JMJ would want you to hear this. It really destroys the mood, and critically upsets the intensifying drama and anticipation between Machines Are Learning and The Opening as an example. The whole album suffers.

I told HDTracks and they refunded me and advised they would contact the label about this matter. If it’s ever re-released without fade-outs, then I will re-purchase.

 

My 24/48 download from 7digital Canada includes a continuous mix (39:54) like most of his recent releases.

 

I have nothing by Jarre in my collection but want to acquire some of his albums now since i'm in a electronic music vibe these days (Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Vangelis, etc.). I think i'm going to start with his first four albums, so is there any particular masterings i should look for? Cheers.

 

On CD everything before 1997 (Polydor/Disques Dreyfus) is fine. If you like some digital compression, the 1997 remasters on Epic/Disques Dreyfus are okay (not my cup of tea). The Equinoxe MFSL disc is fine, but not worth the money. I’ve never heard the Oxygène MFSL.

If you like Oxygène, the DVD version of the New Master Recording from 2007 is the one to have, IMHO. Although compressed, the DVD contains the “live in your living room” version that adds several parts. And those new parts make it a lot better as an album. You can find it on YouTube too.

 

Just a heads up...He’s got a new album out on Friday if your interested.

 

Thank you very much for your help, i'm going to look for the early CD releases then, hope they're very dynamic. Cheers!

 

IMO, @Yost has covered the options pretty succinctly. Personally, I actually prefer one or two of the 1997 remasters but, for Oxygene, definitely get the 2007 CD/DVD combo - in addition to a pre '97 incarnation.

Amongst the 1997 releases, the stereo channels in Equinoxe and Zoolook are reversed (i.e. the original right channel became the left channel and vice versa) and the latter has some audio artefacts that have been introduced (erroneously presumably). Of course, the left/right channels can be swapped in a sound editor and they're back where they should be. On the other hand, maybe it's just fun to listen to them as the artist didn't intend. Or did he?

 

A bit more detail, but don't loose any sleep over it...

For Oxygène, Equinoxe, Magnet Fields and The Concerts in China I have the 1987 discs on Polydor/Dreyfus, with the Dreyfus logo at the top of the disc faces (earlier ones have a red and black Polydor logo at the top). I think these are the run of the mill early masterings. They can all be found individually, but I bought them as part of this set: Jean Michel Jarre* - 10th Anniversary Compact Disc Set .

I don't know anything about other Oxygène early discs, because I wasn't very interested in the album at the time.

For Equinoxe, the first mastering is different, and contains the original LP mix of Equinoxe 5. It can be found on some "red face" and "blue face" discs (but not all!!!) and its matrix ends on "01". I still have to find this one, and it's my favourite Jarre album. All discs with matrix "800025-2 02" and higher are the same (as far as I know) and contain a different mix for Equinoxe 5. (I now realise I don't know which mix is used on the MFSL disc). The MFSL disc sounds wonderful, except for track 5 that is strangely more compressed than the rest. But the original Polydor sounds good too, so you only need this if you are a big big fan of this album.

For Magnetic Fields the "03" mastering and higher matrix numbers sound the same as far as I know. I do have the "02" mastering too, and it sounds quite different. It is dull on lower volumes, and gets better if you have a good amplifier and raise the volume (a lot). But it's quite impractical in normal listening environments. Probably the most dynamic, though. No idea if a "01" exists and how it sounds. Magnetic Fields sounds a bit "cold" and "tiny", but that's basically a production choice. The LP sounded the same. If you want fuller and warmer sounding Magnetic Fields tracks, you need the Concerts in China album, where the analog synths are more prominent in the mix.

I have only one version of the Concerts in China (from the set mentioned above) and it sounds very good.

You mentioned the first 4 albums, and I guessed it were the ones above. If you are also interested in Zoolook, you need to know that the first mastering has the original LP mixes of Zoolook and Zoolookologie (my preference because that's the way I listened to the album for years). The "02" mastering was wrongly authored and is a mess. Although very rare, avoid at all cost. And the "03" mastering (and higher) have the remixes for Zoolook and Zoolookologie (and their places swapped in the track list).

All of the above is also discussed in separate threads on this album.