OXYGENE by Jean Michel Jarre
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Recommendations/Featured albums
Forum Description: Make or seek recommendations and discuss specific prog albums
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=109164
Printed Date: March 10 2025 at 14:18
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: OXYGENE by Jean Michel Jarre
Posted By: Son.of.Tiresias
Subject: OXYGENE by Jean Michel Jarre
Date Posted: October 22 2016 at 05:43
|
40 years ago Jean Michel Jarre released his brilliant OXYGENE album. It was on FM radio next year. I instantly fell in love with it. And for me itīs still best "new age/electronic music" album. I really like its freshness and positive mood thru the album, very spirit lifting. To my senses itīs flawless. OXYGENE defines the sub-genre.  t  Merci, Monsieur Jarre ------------- You may see a smile on Tony Banksī face but thatīs unlikely. |
Replies:
Posted By: Mystic Mamba
Date Posted: October 22 2016 at 06:43
| I agree. I listen to the 4th movement quite frequently as a matter of fact. Great experimental album! |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: October 22 2016 at 06:46
  well earned place in my fabulous 5 foundation prog albums...some of my fondest memories are of my sister and I listening to that album and chasing each other around the house pretending we were fighting battles in orbit over Tatooine.... ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: Nogbad_The_Bad
Date Posted: October 22 2016 at 11:16
|
Wonderful album, played to death in my youth, still gets plenty of play, hasn't aged at all. ------------- Ian Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-avant-jazzcore-happy-hour/ |
Posted By: geekfreak
Date Posted: June 30 2017 at 04:32
|
wow memories glory this album has some many fond memories for me and it still playing now ------------- Friedrich Nietzsche: "Without music, life would be a mistake." Music Is Live Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. Keep Calm And Listen To The Music < |
Posted By: Replayer
Date Posted: June 30 2017 at 08:36
|
Even though Jarre and Vangelis are prog related, they were important influences in my journey of discovering prog. Of Jarre's albums, Oxygene and Equinoxe are still my favorites. |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: June 30 2017 at 20:14
| Given the recent release of Oxygene 3, I found a few months ago a compilation of the 3 Oxygene albums, and I didn't miss the opportunity to get them at a good price. Of course, the one I really wanted to get was the first one, and indeed it is the best of the three, by far. I really loved that album, great ambient and all, and I certainly wouldn't say it sounds dated. I guess I have to get that Equinox album, and perhaps some compilation or live album to round it up. Perhaps then some Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze would be in order too. |
Posted By: verslibre
Date Posted: July 03 2017 at 15:18
For Tangerine Dream, these live albums are their best: Encore (1978) Pergamon Live at the Palast der Republik (1980) Poland The Warszw Concert (1983) Rather, they are the best ones, if you're just starting out. Then get the rest. If you're going to check out a compilation, avoid the pricey box-set Tangents because it contains a lot of re-recorded material. (The same applies to the Booster series, but those are fine sets.) Instead, grab a used copy of an old compilation called Dream Sequence. Or, even better, go for the 5CD set The Virgin Years 1977-1983. https://www.discogs.com/Tangerine-Dream-The-Virgin-Years-1977-1983/release/3659996" rel="nofollow - https://www.discogs.com/Tangerine-Dream-The-Virgin-Years-1977-1983/release/3659996 ------------- https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1&_ssn=musicosm" rel="nofollow - eBay |
Dellinger wrote:Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: July 03 2017 at 22:11
| Thanks, I guess I'll put those ones on my list, besides Phaedra and Rubycon. |
Posted By: Blaqua
Date Posted: July 03 2017 at 23:27
| Listening to tracks such as Oxygene parts II and IV has always brought to my mind images of futuristic, robot-dominated worlds. Timeless and universal music. |
Posted By: Aussie-Byrd-Brother
Date Posted: July 04 2017 at 01:27
|
`Oxygene' is absolutely worthy of its status! It's accessible and melodic yet avoids being too new-age or lightweight. It's so easy to put on in the background and enjoy. Oddly, I only heard it properly and picked it up in the last two years or so. I came across it in an Op-shop for something like $1 or $2. I knew its reputation, but expected it to be cheesy and kitschy. Instead I was shocked to find that it was genuinely decent (as described in the first paragraph), and I'd obviously been exposed to various samples and segments from it throughout my entire childhood and life, even on radio, because I vividly recalled plenty of themes that I knew from it - as I properly listened to it for the first time!  In retrospect it would make for a fine introduction to newcomers to prog-electronic music, I kind of wish I found it right at the start of getting into that genre! |
Posted By: mechanicalflattery
Date Posted: July 04 2017 at 01:39
| I'll be the naysayer here, Oxygene is a fine enough album, but I can't imagine it's picking up any new fans. Most of the people who seem to love it either first heard it way back in the 70's or were introduced to electronic music as a whole through the album. Compared to a lot of other classic 70's electronic (Tangerine Dream is an obvious example), Oxygene just hasn't aged well. The electronic elements are relatively dated, and the neoclassical influences painfully cliched, as if Jean Michel Jarre had just gotten through listening to a staunchly conservative "20 greatest classical pieces" compilation right before composing the album. Part 4 is a notable weak point; countless electronic artists since then have used repetition to vastly better effect. Alright, that's my devil's advocacy over with, continue to congregate over your collective love of the album. |
Posted By: Aussie-Byrd-Brother
Date Posted: July 04 2017 at 02:08
|
Hmmm...I guess the point I was kind of trying to get at is that, because it's really not too demanding or complex, it would be an `easy' introduction to what can kind of be found in the real classic and weightier prog-electronic stuff? For instance, the first four PE albums I owned (and initially for quite some time had a LOT of trouble early on getting my head around) were: Tangerine Dream - Phaedra (I initially found it quite terrifying and strange, plus it's also a crossover of their early Krautrock albums and the emerging electronic dominance) Tangerine Dream - Ricochet (Didn't like all the guitars in the first half, and it felt so repetitive...which was kind of the point I'd work out later!  )Klaus Schulze - Blackdance (I found this to be very suffocating and dark - which it IS! )Adelbert von Deyen - Nordborg (Loved the cover, but it was too droning and icy...exactly what makes it so good now!) So my point is....all of these albums were quite difficult to initially get my head around, whereas I would have appreciated something a little easier to get into, which is what `Oxygene' would have offered! |
Posted By: Meltdowner
Date Posted: July 04 2017 at 03:05
|
Posted By: AEProgman
Date Posted: July 04 2017 at 06:32
|
Love the album. This album holds good memories for me as I was a point in my life where I had tired of the rock world and turned away from rock in general (including prog) and went into the hunt for what I called "contemporary instrumentals" since I hated the term New Age. I discovered this album, along with other Jarre's, Vangelis, Kitaro, and various others. I also remember Larry Fast's album Synergy - Electronic Realizations for Rock Orchestra (or something like that) was a favorite. Little did I know I was finding my back into prog, only electronic! However, it would be some 10 or 12 years before I would fully come back into the rock world after spending a phase in Classical, then Jazz after the PE phase. Also, anyone remember the "Hearts of Space" radio program that would play PE type stuff?
------------- 
|
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: July 04 2017 at 16:19
| I don't know him that well but certainly know of him. It's funny because late last week I saw a guy(who I subsequently talked to for at least an hour)wearing a Jean Michel Jarre t shirt in the book store. The guy was into a lot of progressive type of music(mostly old stuff since he didn't seem to know much about any newer stuff; then again he was probably at least in his late fifties). |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: July 04 2017 at 22:04
I just got that album this year. I was born after the album was initially released. And yet I loved it. So yes, it's still getting new fans... even if we may not be so many. And it did amaze me how it didn't really sound dated... at least for me... or perhaps I'm just not too much into electronic music anyway. However, when I first heard Rick Wakeman, for example (whose music I do love), the music did sound a dated to me... a lot. However, I've been exposed to 70's music, mostly prog, for over 15 years since I first heard Wakeman, so I might just be more used to that kind of music. 70's Wakeman doens't really sound dated to me anymore, it just sounds like music. |
Posted By: verslibre
Date Posted: July 05 2017 at 18:41
Yep, that's the one. That one and Audion are his best, IMO. I do remember HoS, along with VH-1's New Visions, which aired Tangerine Dream, Suzanne Ciani, Oldfield, etc. ------------- https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1&_ssn=musicosm" rel="nofollow - eBay |
Posted By: brainstormer
Date Posted: July 21 2017 at 18:13
|
Yes, Oxygene was pure progressive music. I bought it when it first came out and his next one, and I guess that he and Vangelis kind of set on a different courses in my own opinion of what is a progressive composer. I don't doubt that Jarre created good work after his second, but few non-classical people resonate with me as always being able to do pretty much "conscious work" their whole life in the realm of music that will be taken as serious in years to come. I don't take "selling out" the same way as others, if you create good music that many love, and isn't decadent, it has certainly great value. Just because it isn't on the level of a classical master or someone like Vangelis isn't really important because very few are. Maybe one day I will discover Jarre's later works, I just don't seem to really be that attracted to them.
------------- -- Robert Pearson Regenerative Music http://www.regenerativemusic.net Telical Books http://www.telicalbooks.com ParaMind Brainstorming Software http://www.paramind.net |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: July 21 2017 at 18:42
I'm not complaining about classification here, and certainly both could be considered prog related, but to me Oxygene and Equinoxe are, while not Prog-proper, progressive electronic albums. Progressive electronic albums of perhaps a less experimental and more accessible variety -- not the Kosmische that had defined and informed Progressive Electronic to such an extent. And Vangelis I consider to be Prog under the parameters of this site, mostly for his 1970s output. The Dragon is Prog-proper to my ears, but also others when it comes to PA prog category parameters. To me he is a Crossover artist as he has done more than Electronic and has been mainstream. It wasn't what I consider so much to be Vangelis Prog period that first turned me onto his music, it was more his 1979 through mid 80s period. Antarctica, Blade Runner and China is what I used to be really bigg on, and those had a huge effect on my listening habits. Definitely both Vangelis and Jarre were important influences on my Prog journey (so was Gary Numan for what its worth). |
Posted By: Davesax1965
Date Posted: July 23 2017 at 02:46
|
I wouldn't call Oxgene an "experimental" album, it's pretty much a symphonic and composed album which uses very standard composition techniques, but unusual, for the time, instruments. It wasn't anything new, it had all been done before (mainly by Tangerine Dream) but it was more accessible than, say, Phaedra or Ricochet and captured the public attention. Jarre went rapidly downhill from there. Equinoxe was a good album, but Magnetic Fields et al were just dreadful. He is a shameless self publicist as well. ------------- |
Posted By: scruffydragon
Date Posted: July 23 2017 at 10:39
| I first came across Jarre in the 70's thanks to my French teacher. She used to play parts from Oxygene, Equinox, and magnetic fields between lessons. So as we entered the class room this music was playing.When some of us asked about it she explained that a lot of the French people liked it and it was very popular over there, and it's where she picked up her tapes. Like a couple of my mates I ended up eventually purchasing the albums myself on tape. Oxygene was my first introduction to electronic music. I am still very fond of those early Jarre albums. |