OXYGÈNE

Jean Michel Jarre's breakthrough album is an atmospheric and playful electronic release which proves Jarre to be a stylistically diverse and sometimes compositionally playful synthesiser wizard. The influence of preceding electronic acts (Tangerine Dream in particular) is noticeable and much of the album is in a rather ambient tradition, through it regularly transitions into somewhat more energetic passages which keep the listener's interest engaged and helps with the pacing of the piece. For those who've listened to a lot of electronic material from the era it might not stand out in the absolute top tier, but it's a very credible release from an emergent voice with promises of even better material to come.