Blah Blah Cafe, the Jean-Michel Jarre forum

[Aqanique]

Hello!

So with May coming up soon, I'm planning on getting a new thing to add to my Jarre collection and I stumbled across this exclusive box set of the "Electronic Night" concert from 1998. It looks pretty cool but I'm unsure whether or not it's worth its price tag on eBay seeing as the concert isn't exactly loved by a lot of fans.

From what I've seen it looks like it contains a VHS and CD of the concert, a CD with some tracks by Tetsuya Komuro stored in a book, and two other books which I'm not sure have inside of them. (I'm going off of what's listed on the Discogs contents: TK1998 Box Set)




Could anybody help clarify the books' contents and whether or not it's worth buying, or should I just stick to my plan of buying the Twelve Dreams of the Sun photobook? Any advice is appreciated!

[Dr_Jones]

The book is not great, but OK. It's got photos of the concert itself, mainly close ups though. It could have been better.

The whole box set is a great item to have. The CD is surprisingly good. I didn't go to the concert due to all the remixes, but as a "live" album it works rather well. The live VHS is a fine edit of the concert, but you need a VHS player for that (shame, DVD was already out at that time). But there are plenty of VHS rips online.

[shadow]

Personally I'm not that big a fan of the concert, but if you do, it's a great set overall.

[Finaero]

The boxset would be a good catch for a nice price (I think I bid on it a few times 10+ years ago but always got outbid at the last minute or so), and I think the CD version captures the highlights of the concert better (which makes sense considering it's been touched up in the studio as well) -- not to mention the final moments of Rave-O-Lution that (especially these days) has this feeling of also being the finale to the era of massive JMJ concerts.

[Aqanique]

The boxset would be a good catch for a nice price

The one I'm looking at right now is practically in mint condition, it has the original protective sleeve and everything, but it's currently going for £125. Only problem is that because it's being shipped from Japan, eBay estimates that it would take around two months to ship to me in the UK!

On the other hand, the TDOTS photobook only costs £86 and ships from the USA, it's also estimated to arrive within a week or two of purchase.

Would you say the £125 price is a good price for the box set? I'm trying to grow my collection based off of how rare an item is to find for sale, so I'm not entirely sure if I should buy it and risk missing out on my other watched items like the Europe in Concert tour programme.

[Dr_Jones]

Be aware that anything from Japan requires import fees too. If it's above a certain amount, that is.

[Finaero]

Oh yeah, a total of £125 with all import fees already included in the price would only be reasonable for an unopened/practically mostly unused (esp. concerning the VHS cassette) set. Otherwise on Discogs the prices have been in the 50 € range for the past few years -- the current ones on sale are located in Japan (and one in the US) so the final price would still be more expensive and closer to 100: https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/10 ... =price,asc

[Dr_Jones]

An intact plastic outer sleeve is good to have. I have taken good care of the box all the time, but the plastic has detoriated and starts crumbling now.

[nexxxus]

An intact plastic outer sleeve is good to have. I have taken good care of the box all the time, but the plastic has detoriated and starts crumbling now.

Same here, with the rigid plastic protection that cracks and breaks in places.
I recently got my old VCR working like new again for digitally transferring old VHS tapes, including the one in this box set.

I remember those happy, nostalgic years.

In Paris, on the Champs-Élysées, in 1999, at the Virgin Megastore (like a child in a candy store), I stumbled upon this box set. I couldn't leave without it.

I was there to see Mike Oldfield at the Grand Rex. The concert program is still in the 'electronic night' box set, by the way! It fits.

What a time!

I appreciate this box set for its comprehensiveness, even though it's more of a tribute to Tetsuya "TK" Komuro (the 'Works' CD is great).

But it was the World Cup, and France won... A different kind of show, which I appreciate for certain tracks like 'Paris Underground', for this nostalgic time...

It's a precious item.

[Dr_Jones]

It was a nice time, wasn't it? In 1998 signs that the dreadful 90s were coming to an end, with bands like Air and Madonna's Ray of Light album making pop music exciting again. And although I objected against a concert with remixes at the time, Electronic Night had a lot of that energy (heh) and positivity. Also, this box set is still one of the better live releases of a JMJ concert.