OXYGÈNE

The first time I heard this album in 1976, I realized that Jarre had simply taken the music of Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream, edited it (5-7 minutes instead of 15-20 minutes), and made it catchier and more melodic. The schtick got old after a few albums, but it sure worked for this debut. The 16-minute "suite" opening the album (tracks/parts 1 & 2) equal or surpass just about anything ever done by Schulze and Tangerine Dream (and I'm a huge fan of both). One aspect of "Oxygene" that didn't sound like either of those German acts was Jarre's liberal use of stereo effects on the second track. My progressive rock-loving buddies and I had some amazing "stereo parties" in those days (I'll spare you the details), and this album got played a lot. Admittedly, the third and fifth tracks are mediocre, but nowadays it's easy to program them out. I was lucky enough to hear him perform this and some later material in Houston in 1984, when he set up an elaborate outdoor show that turned nearby highways into parking lots and downtown buildings into backdrops for film and laser lightshows.