BlahBlahCafe - Jean-Michel Jarre forum

Hello Jarrenauts, one and all.

I've received the first batch of remasters from Amazon Germany, that being the live concerts. Rather than crowd the original thread about the remasters, I thought I'd post here my reviews of each CD as they come.

Of course, this is just my opinion and you may not agree, but I'll try to be as descriptive as possible so you can make an informed decision.

I'll do an A/B comparison of each remaster vs the original CD release (not the 1997 remasters).

Playback as follows:

1\ CDs ripped to FLAC using an AccurateRip-verified drive (Pioneer 111D)
2\ Soundcard is an Asus Xonar STX connected to a Lehmannaudio Black Cube Linear headphone amp via Chord Crimson RCA cables.
3\ Foobar2000 playback via ASIO
4\ Headphones used are my beloved AKG K701, which is probably the most clinical and analytic set of cans you can get without spending £1000+

I hope these reviews come useful to someone

So, without further ado, I'll post my first review!

Cities in Concert Houston Lyon





I reviewed this first at the request of a friend (who isn't on this forum, but should be reading this. Hello Andy o/)

ARTWORK
As you can see, it probably has the most beautiful artwork of the three concerts, as well as that gorgeous CD (excuse the low quality, I have a crappy scanner).

There are no typos or playback time mistakes that I can see, neither on the booklet or jewel case. The booklet has some pictures, credits, and a blurb about the background behind the concerts.

Sound Quality
Let's get the nasty bit out of the way first: these CDs are LOUD. They don't quite cross the 0.0 dB mark, but peak at 0.9996, so yeah. Dynamic Range on this CD is 7 dB, versus a much more impressive 13 on the original (which is A LOT quieter also).

That out of the way, the concert itself sounds fantastic. One thing I never liked about the original was how the audience seemed to be in your face, while the music seemed like it was playing a mile away. With the remaster, the audience has been shoved to your left and right, with the music taking frontstage. There's still an impressive sound stage, with guitars and percussion taking their sides respectively, but overall the music is where it should be, including dominance of things on one side vs the other, just like a real live concert would sound, and just like the original CD. A great example is the saxophone at the end of Rendez-Vous 4.

Bass is enhanced throughout (much to my surprise as I was convinced the remasters would be too treble-y), and individual instruments can be heard easily, which came as a nice surprise as I started hearing things I hadn't heard before.

There has been a subtle reverb added to each track. Nothing distracting, but it lends the music a sense of live-ness and livelihood.

Stereo separation is enhanced dramatically, I was surprised again that I hadn't really noticed some left/right panning on many segments from the original CD, but here it's more pronounced. I should mention that it isn't overdone, which is a blessing.

Finally, the tracks on the CD are less than the original, because Ethnicolor and Rendez-Vous 2 are both a single track, rather than subdivided (I never quite understood why Ethnicolor was subdivided on the original album I must admit).

Overall, a pleasant surprise to find the album so engaging and, to be honest, good. The only negative issue is the loudness, which is a shame really as it does blast out, but overall the benefits of the remaster outweigh this negative, in my opinion at least.

Thanks for this review. I hope the other releases will have the same quality.

Did you bought Docklands also ?

Thanks for the review.

You're both welcome

@Icarus: Yes I did, I bought all 6 remasters, and funnily enough the studio albums have arrived today

I'll review them all properly. I haven't listened to Docklands properly yet but it does sound quite good when I've had a quick listen. Loud still though

Destination Docklands





This one happens to be one of my favourite, favourite Jarre concerts and albums. Not because I attended it, sadly, but because this, and La Defense, were my first brush with the greatness that is Jean Michel Jarre. Enough back story, on to the review.

Artwork
As you can see, the album's cover art has changed colour from the frankly dull black/yellow/red/white of the original release (not counting Jarre Live! obviously) to a more British-themed colour scheme, which I personally prefer. The CD is no where near as awesome as that of Houston Lyon though.

Interesting to see that the album now says "The London Concerts" rather than "Concert".

The booklet contains the usual stuff of a blurb about the concert and some pictures. Sadly, the listed playback times on the back of the CD and in the booklet aren't accurate, for example Computer Weekend is listed as 5'18, whereas the actual track is 5'08. I cannot understand or forgive such a mistake if I'm honest.

Sound Quality
As is the case with Houston Lyon, this release is LOUD. Again, the tracks peak at 0.9996 dB, with a disappointing Dynamic Range of just 6. The original CD isn't all that better mind, with a DR of 9, but it is much quieter.

I would have loved to say that this release is as engaging as Houston Lyon, but sadly it isn't. It would appear that all that's happened is that someone has cranked up the overall gain of the original CD, upped the bass and treble, and hit record.

Some extra subtle reverb seems present too, and stereo separation has been increased, but this has come to the detriment of some tracks. For example, Industrial Revolution Part 1 has some very weird left/right panning that, on VERY careful listening to the original CD, is present. Because of the enhanced stereo separation on the remaster, it becomes quite obvious and quite annoying.

The most annoying thing about the album is the lack of consistency. The remastering tweaks have actually benefited some tracks (Magnetic Fields 2, London Kid, Rendez-Vous 4) adding some extra punchiness to the music, and I think the reason behind that is that the live percussion is pronounced on these tracks, and the remaster brings the quality of that out.

However, tracks like Oxygene IV, Rendez-Vous 2, and the whole Industrial Revolution suite sadly aren't as lucky. The boosted low/high frequencies leaves the mid ranges very low, weak, and a bit pathetic. Take Oxygene IV, the bass line is over-exaggerated but the actual main tune feels like it's being played from a concert next door to the main one. It's worsened buy the fact that the "pssssssssss" left/right effect during the song is so boosted that it kinda fatigues to listen to. Oxygene IV on the original CD is a much more pleasurable experience.

I really, really wanted to like this release. I listened to it 4 times using a variety of headphones, including some Shure SE846 IEMs and, if anything, they made matters worse buy really bringing out many of the album's deficiencies. I even had a listen in the car, but don't even get me started on that disaster.

Overall, unless you're a massive fan of the tracks that have live percussion, then I'd stick with the original CD here. Sadly.

Great reviews, keep 'm coming.

Who in the world could have seen sucky remasters coming!? Colour me suprised!





No not really...

Do you think the new album will also follow this HIGH standard of mastering?

Remastered by Dave Dadwater for Yakuda Audio.

Who is that guy that messed up some things?
Jarre's music deserve better remastering!
But overall (Remastering, artwork) is still much better than the 1997 remasters of Scott Hull.

Greetings,


Christophe

shadow wrote:Who in the world could have seen sucky remasters coming!? Colour me suprised!





No not really...

Haha, but you see the disappointing thing is that Houston is actually really good, and the three tracks I mention in DD are really good as well. It's the inconsistency that's annoying :/

China seems much better than DD, a full review later.

I heard the Remasters 2014 on the AeroSystem One once transferred from CD to MP3 and they were quite good (apart from not the highest volume). I really think the main issue is what speakers / headphones you are listening from.

Kanta wrote:I heard the Remasters 2014 on the AeroSystem One once transferred from CD to MP3 and they were quite good (apart from not the highest volume). I really think the main issue is what speakers / headphones you are listening from.

Thing is, music should sound good no matter what speakers or headphones you use. Sure, it should sound better the better the kit, but good all round.

Also, I have fairly high end kit, so it should really sound good on them.

I think the problem is that Destination Docklands wasn't very good even on the original CD, too much emphasis on the crowd in my opinion. This translates to a worse remaster.

I listen to "Cities In Concert Houston Lyon" and "Destination Docklands" (the only remasters of 2014 that I have at the moment) and they sound good in my laptop and iPhone. Ok, the sound of the crowd at "Destination Docklands" is too high and sometimes anoying. But this was also at the first release in 1989!

Only One bath thing: bot of the discs sounds incredible loud (ouch, my poor ears).

Greetings,


Christophe