Blah Blah Cafe, the Jean-Michel Jarre forum

[Finaero]

On my second-day impression, I still mostly agree with my yesterday's thoughts, except now I'd drop "Exit", "Switch On Leon" and "The Architect" into a "not bad, but I don't really feel like listening to them in particular on their own" category. Still don't care to listen to "These Creatures", "What You Want" and "Walking the Mile".

No idea why JMJ thought three versions of "The Heart of Noise" were needed. Same with "Automatic" (parts 1 and 2) on E1, it could have been just one track.

On a related note, when it comes to the entire Electronica experience, "Stardust" still remains the most JMJ-like track of them all.

[Ziggy]

Im also having the glitch download.
Man man man, everything that can go wrong, must go wrong...

How hard is it to put a cd and a vinyl in a box and send it to a couple of people...
How hard is it to encode and make unique links with proper mp3's.

[shadow]

The Origin should've been the first track on The Time Machine as it was the track that started the entire project with the other two versions being the closing tracks of The Heart of Noise. Having the album come full circle that way. Much like how Chronologie ends the same way it starts.

Automatic is basically one track, it's just split in two. I guess you can compare it to how Ethnicolor and Second Rendez-Vous are split into seperate sections on some releases.

Walking the Mile has sort of grown on my when I flipped my mindset. It's a jazz track, and as that it works just fine honestly. It just doesn't work when combined with all the other tracks.

Im also having the glitch download.
Man man man, everything that can go wrong, must go wrong...

How hard is it to put a cd and a vinyl in a box and send it to a couple of people...
How hard is it to encode and make unique links with proper mp3's.

The thing with the Deluxe Boxset is that it's more than just the CD and vinyl's. And I honestly think this album was pushed out the door to complete it in the six months separating it from The Time Machine. The CD's and Vinyls aren't difficult to press. But the rest takes a bit more time however. The .mp3's links are fine, it's that whoever uploaded the files onto the server either didn't check what was uploaded, or somewhere during the uploading it went wrong. And considering all files have the identical problem I'd say they messed up with the files rather than the upload.

[jeanbatman]

Walking the mile is very apart from all of Jarre has already done… I can't find anything that can sound like it in the Jarre catalogue…

[Domestos]

Ah, I'm trying but I'm really not feeling this one

Me either. I like about half the tracks, whilst with E1 I like all but 2 or 3.
There is one exceptional album (18-20 tracks) from this project.
I'm sure if JMJ was honest he would say some of the tracks didn't turn out the way he wanted, but it was always going to be a big ask. You can't knock the Mans ambition.

With a couple of exceptions I think it's the vocals that don't do it for me. They take me out of the track and I think 'I'm not listening to JMJ here'.

Ah. I could definitely trim both parts into one album that I like though.

[shadow]

Walking the mile is very apart from all of Jarre has already done… I can't find anything that can sound like it in the Jarre catalogue…

The closest you'll get is Sessions 2000.

[Vumiko]

My quick critique of E2:

Overall, I feel E2 didn't receive the same care and attention as E1. The quality of the music is much lower in my opinion - save for a few tracks.

Some of the issues I have are with the vocals: very difficult to understand the lyrics due to over processing / effects. I also feel the vocoder was overused on the E2 project.

My favorite tracks are:

-Heart of Noise pt 2
-Brick England (love the lead line in the chorus....this is the JMJ I miss hearing)
-Here for You (would love a slightly darker version)
-Gisele (deserves better intro and vocals)
-Why This, Why That and Why
-Falling Down

"Ok" tracks:

-Electrees (Just Hans Zimmer with some classic Jarre sounds thrown on top. The cinematic collaborated of Edgar is much more engaging)
-What you want (more interesting than If!)
-Circus (could have been better)
-Walking the Mile (not bad..)

Terrible throwaway tracks:

-These Creatures (Doesn't do ANYTHING for me emotionally or musically)
-As One (sad attempt at a pop anthem)
-Exit (possibly the worst track on the album. The Train and the River is a far more interesting musical experiment)
-The Architect (this track really doesn't go anywhere despite two top electronic artists finally coming together)
-Swipe to the Right (best part of the song is the very end where you can hea a littler vintage JMJ. There really isn't a strong reason to have Cindy on this project other than to get attention...like E.S. On Exit)
-Switch on Leon (toxic?)
-The Heart of Noise Origin (not necessary and doesn't complete the E-project on a high note)

Thank you Jarre for the entire E-Project suite of music....Although I feel you spread yourself too thin on this project, at least you're back and passionate about making music again. Looking forward to the tour and SOLO album

[Domestos]

I don't really understand the thought behind 'As One', it's just a throwaway re-mix of Primal Scream's Come Together.

[Jon]

I really like the album except for one track, What You Want (I'm not a fan of Peaches, but Jarre hence why its there). If I were to swap that track out with another artist I would have gone for Kate Bush. As Jarre acknowledges Luigi Russolo's The Art of Noises (1913) it would have been a fitting tribute to have had one or two of the members of The Art of Noise (1980s) on the album to make that connection more substantial. Overall, the whole Electronica project was worth the wait and good to see Jarre back and enjoying himself.

[Finaero]

Now that this project is over with...

... what's the status on unedited Paris La Defense concert on DVD/Blu-ray?

[Adam]

As Jarre acknowledges Luigi Russolo's The Art of Noises (1913) it would have been a fitting tribute to have had one or two of the members of The Art of Noise (1980s) on the album to make that connection more substantial.

Totally agree with you, I'm sure if Jarre had asked JJ Jeczalik or Anne Dudley or both they would have said yes, after all AoN are also pioneers in electronic music and sampling.

[Dr_Jones]

As Jarre acknowledges Luigi Russolo's The Art of Noises (1913) it would have been a fitting tribute to have had one or two of the members of The Art of Noise (1980s) on the album to make that connection more substantial.

Totally agree with you, I'm sure if Jarre had asked JJ Jeczalik or Anne Dudley or both they would have said yes, after all AoN are also pioneers in electronic music and sampling.

Or Trevor Horn!

[Christophe]

We can have suggestions of collaborators for a 3rd, 4th or 5th Electronica-albums, but then there will be never a solo album I guess. If the 2 albums taken 6 years to work on we will have the next Electonica album in 2022. Nooooo, please, let him work in the few years on a complete solo album.

Greetings,


Christophe

[ralf]

Another collaboration album??

YES, but.....

only with Hans Zimmer.

[Dr_Jones]

From the PSB fanclub magazine.