Jean Michel Jarre: Oxygene -- New Master Recording

Anyone else picked this up yet? I suspect most folks here won't be familiar with this album, but it's a milestone in electronic music, having sold millions of copies back in the day. For reasons which escape me, Jarre has decided to re-record the album, note-for-note. The new sleeve has a nod to MFSL packaging, with a black banner at the top that reads "New master recording".

I got this and I'm perplexed. It is indeed a new recording, not a remix, yet it's almost exactly the same as the existing album from the 70s. Given that it was all done with analog gear (some of it now very rare), it probably took a lot more effort to recreate this than it did to originally record it. To put this in perspective, this would be like Led Zeppelin re-recording their fourth album and not changing anything. Aside from some very slight changes (slight performance differences, a bit of reverb added, some difference in randomly-generated synth noises), it's exactly the same. The *only* difference that the casual listener would notice is that Part III (which was the end of side 1 on the vinyl) doesn't have any chirping birds on the new version. Everything else is as close to identical as you could get without going back to the original multis.

As far as for why this was done, I have no idea. AFAIK, Jarre owns the rights to his albums, so I don't think it's a money/label dispute. A surround mix has been released as well, and I could see the need to re-record the album if the original multis have been lost. I guess I'm just amazed that someone would go to such effort to re-make something that already exists.

 

Thanks for the info, I think I'll have to get this.

Here's his Myspace page with the description:
http://www.myspace.com/jeanmicheljarre

JMJ redid it himself (30th Anniversary of original worldwide release).

Grew up listening to Oxygene & Equinoxe. Great head music

 

Have it.

I interviewed JMJarre for Revolver magazine a few weeks back. It's a 30 anniversary edition. He told me he wanted a new recording using modern day techniques, because the original was recorded on 8 tracks in his rather primitive (his words) home studio. The great thing is that he used all his vintage gear, so the music itself still has the 'feel' of the original album.

The package I have has a CD and a DVD, with surround sound mix and a 3D 'In Your Living Room' in the studio gig recorded in Belgium. The set comes with 3D glasses to get the full effect. There is also a regular visual option in the menu.

The CD sounds great to my ears. The DVD is also very nice, although I can imagine that watching a few middle aged men playing a wide variaty of synths in a studio environment will appeal only to the die hard fans. Even in 3D.

A cool set though.

 

I love this album! Had the vinyl when I was a kid.

I definitely have to pick this up!

Thanks for the info, I hadn't known of this.

 

I've got the Mobile Fidelity CD and LP. The cd is a dissapointment, but not bad - just no verve like the lp. I'm told the original UK Polydor lp is superb.

How is the sound of the new cd different from any of the original cd versions?

 

Glad to hear of it, although I'm instantly reminded of poor Michael Oldfield, endlessly re-making Tubular Bells because he's doomed to be remembered primarily for that...

"Same tempo - different notes!...This one is done with BIGGER BELLS!...Same melody, only played backwards!..."

 

Hard to compare because the recordings were made 30 years apart, but I like his approach. The new version sounds modern (clearer sound, a little more bass, etc.) but since the arrangements are quite similar and JMJarre used mostly vintage gear, it does the old piece justice. All IMHO of course.

 

You have a point there, but Jarre kept on making new - and quite different - records, and I like most of them. Zoolook is one of my favorites.

During the interview he told me that back in the days no major company wanted to touch his album, bcause it was punk nor disco. So he ended up with the local label Dreyfus.

 

Thanks for the opinion. Looks like I'll have to buy this yet again. Perhaps there will be a vinyl release also?

Will look for your interview. Any idea when?

 

I'd love to get this for the surround mix...
A few years back he went and re-recorded some pieces of his past, and did it especially for surround... it's called Aero, and I wholeheartedly recommend it...

Always been a Jarre fan, especially his 70s and 80s stuff...

 

Revolver is (also) a Dutch mag. So unless your Dutch is fluent...

 

Jean Michel Jarre has been on this wavelength ever since AERO. For that project he re-recorded from scratch some of his old tunes from different albums at 96/24 using the same old analogue instruments. He also mixed AERO directly to 5.1 surround. Unfortunately, the disc is only available in Dolby Digital and DTS (better) surround. I wish he would have released a DVD-Audio of it at the originally recorded frequency and bit depth. It is also a little too compressed for my taste.

I imagine that this 'remake' of "Oxygene" will have similar characteristics to those of AERO. Correct?

BTW, I believe that Jarre has all his music writen down in scores and he obviously knows how to read music, so he can play it all back note for note. Given he is also using the vintage instruments, the only difference will be the mix, reverb or mastering choices in his re-recorded material. (As well as the new recording technology used).

Unfortunately, AERO came out coinciding with the time that the US was mad at France eveb banning French Fries, so I do not think that the album is very known there.

 

Yes, but he also uses a lot of random noises, particularly in Oxygene. And he was always a big fan of the VCS3, which is (in)famous for never making the same noise twice.

I recall reading several years ago that Jarre gave away the (obscure at the time and now ridiculously rare) RMI harmonic synth that he used a lot on Oxygene in a contest of some sort (I *think* this was in Future Music or some magazine like it, but I really can't remember). It also included his patches for the instrument, which were on punch cards. Given that Jarre once recorded an entire album, pressed one copy, auctioned it off to charity and then destroyed the master tape, I would not have put it past him. So... did he have a back-up, or did he manage to find another?

 

In fact Tubular Bells 2003 was exactly the same concept as the new Oxygene: a complete from-scratch re-recording of the original (as opposed to spin-offs like Tubular Bells II, Tubular Bells III, The Millennium Bell etc.). TB2003 seems to have finally gotten it out of his system, though.

 

I would love to hear this. I have the MFSL cd and it's okay not great but I've always loved the music.

 

I've been on the brink of listening to this new recording, but haven't yet gotten around to doing so. I'm not a very big Jarre fan (I like Vangelis' scoundscapes much more), but I 've loved Oxygene from the start in 1977. Yes, it was a milestone in electronic music, that also sold unexpectedly well in Western Europe. For a long time this was the only Jarre album I owned on cd (and vinyl), but later on I bought Equinoxe as well.
Nevertheless, I'm a bit put off by the thought of re-creating a piece of music, as brilliant as it may be. A few years ago I bought the 'sequel' - Oxygene 7-13, and though it holds up rather well on its own merits, it left me rather disappointed, simply because of the connection with the original masterpiece. So that's why Mike Oldfield endless re-creation of Tubular Bells was the first thing that sprang to mind when this one was announced. And no matter how you look at it, it's only a sonic upgrade of a piece of music we already know.

So I'm still a bit sceptical, but I like his approach of using the same vintage analog gear. Might give it a listen, though I think I don't care much for the dvd.

 

(I prefer TB2 to the original by a good distance)

Is the surround mix of this new recording any good? I thought Aero was quite busy in places, so how does this compare?

I too have an affection for Zoolook.

 

Wasn't Oxygene released on the Motors label, and later re-released on Dreyfus (and Polydor internationally)? I seem to remember the follow-up Equinoxe was the first JMJ record to appear on Dreyfus.

 

My original LP copy is on the Dreyfus label, but I re-purchased it a few years later after having worn out the original. Still have the original 45 of Oxygene IV, which is a French pressing on the Motors label, so I think you're right about that.
I've never seen a copy of Oxygene on the Polydor label actually, but maybe Polydor distributed this album in the US. My original vinyl copy of Equinoxe (dating back from '79) is on Polydor, though. But this may be the result of that international deal he struck after the success of Oxygene. Later issues of the CD were released on Dreyfus.

 

Plenty of Polydor Oxygene LPs in the UK

 

Thanks for reporting this; I'll have to grab the new set. I've enjoyed this album since I first discovered the CD... geez, must be over 15 years ago now.

Interesting he would go through the work to re-record this faithfully. If not for the surround option, I might not bother, but this definitely has me curious to hear.

 

IMO, there must be quite a big difference in the recording approaches to both the more recent Tubular Bells and the new Oxygene. For one, Tubular Bells has some improvisation (guitar), which Oxygene does not because - sound effects notwithstanding - all that is played is written down.

I remember I asked Mike Oldfield that given the classic version of Tubular Bells is so well-known, if he felt that the new version was close enough to be liked among those accustomed to the original one (including him). He went into explaining how he recorded the original on one track and then learned, played and synchronized the guitar solo with that of the original. It was the only way he could redo this because it was all originally improvised.

As to Jean Michel Jarre's interest in surround, I remember him mentioning around the time that AERO came out that surround was like the first time you listen to music on headphones, just that the experience is three-dimensional.

 

I just picked up a Daily Mail giveaway CD of the New Master Recording. I played it last night in the car and it felt very familiar indeed. I'm mystified as to the whys and wherefores of this release (especially as it ended up being given away, as did Tubular Bells) and was hoping to find some info here.

Given that its 5 years on from the last post, does anyone have some 'firm intel' on this?

 

Apparently it was done because JMJ's old label wouldn't give ownership of the original to him, so he re-recorded it. Similar to Def Leppard's situation, I guess.

 

That figures.