OXYGÈNE

I always loved this album and it was the only vinyl Jean Michel Jarre album I purchased in my teen years. I think I was drawn to it primariily when the Part 2 music was used so well for Australian film 'Gallipolli'. The laser boly effects and powerful melody is unforgettable, I played this part over and over along with Part 4. I also remember that Part 4 music was used for various sports themes on TV, especially boating shows or sailing footage. It works very well as a background to these images.

It takes a while to really take off and I find myself a little disconcerted with the opening section but once we get to part 2 it is an incredible soundscape. The spacey textures generated by Moog synthesizer, mellophonium, and Mellotron are phenomenal. I had never heard anything like it. The final part is way darker than I was used ot and it haunted me all those years ago.

I was also drawn in by the compelling cover image of a world half eaten away revealing the rotting skull beneath. This music had an indelible impact on me as I was into Gary Numan and Kraftwerk at the time among other electronic artists. It is a pleasure to revisit this music and it is ultimately a relaxing pleasant voyage into spacey consciousness. It is undoubtedly a masterpiece that put the name of Jean Michel Jarre into the public sphere and nothing else he did came close to this perfection.

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