As The National Blood Transfusion Service has NEVER said, "Merry Christmas To All Our Bleeders&...
As The National Blood Transfusion Service has NEVER said, "Merry Christmas To All Our Bleeders"
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Fictitious Headline: “Jean-Michel Jarre Pulls It Off”.
Pulls It Off?
Creates an original new evolutionary step in electronic music?
Plays a new musical instrument using a nuclear reactor as its power source, whilst dressed in a lead-lined overcoat and gauntlets at the centre of a 25-mile exclusion zone?
No – when I say ‘Pulls It Off', I mean 'a fast one'.
He seems to have craftily dressed a ‘Best Of...’ compilation as something new. Let’s be charitable and call it a ‘Re-mix’ at least.
‘Le mouton, habillé comme l’agneau’ as we say in English
“Well, fancy buying it if you knew that” I hear you say.
Well, I didn’t, but I did get it for Christmas having dropped heavy hints months ago that I’d heard he’d got a new album coming out.
On first appearances, Aero IS something new. For one thing the normal CD jewel case feels slightly thicker and heavier, this being explained on first opening by the fact that it contains not only a CD but also a DVD. Not for him the
mainly audio but partly multi-media CD with a ‘bit of video’ tacked on, oh no, here you get two disks.
I didn’t pay the disk much attention until getting home from our Lake District Christmas hideaway.
Then I got home and played it.
“Hang on”, thought I, “this is familiar”, and it was.
Out of 15 tracks on the CD, there were two that I hadn’t previously had on existing albums, before we were burgled several years ago and I then bought a ‘Best Of..’ called Essentials. That latter fact alone puts the new ‘Aero’ into stark contrast with what I’d expected from a ‘new’ album. It seems to contain at least a 50% crossover with the former, and if that’s not a trifle cynical, I don’t know what is.
To be fair, there is evidence that many of the old familiar tracks are re-mixed, as anyone with a solid background memory for albums like Oxygčne and Magnetic Fields will notice.
AH YES BUT….
Having said all that, I DO actually LIKE the album. The remixes reaffirm what I’ve always liked about J-M J albums; their ability to let melodious electronic music sweep over you (that’s when you get a proper chance to let it do that), leaving you feeling quite relaxed at the end.
I won’t give you a listing, as someone else has done that for you elsewhere on Ciao but suffice it to say that out of 15 tracks, I’d never heard a mere 3 of them; Aero Opening, Aero, and Aerozone. In any case, J-M J albums tend to be thematic, with a common melody pervading the whole, so describing a track called Oxygčne IV is much like describing Oxygčne III
Then of course there’s the DVD……..
This contains 26 tracks, following much the same pattern, but of course, there’s the video aspect - well no, actually there isn’t unless you count over an hour’s worth of staring into someone’s eyes. The entire musical background is accompanied by a close up, highly lit to wash out skin tone, of a pair of eyes. Sometimes they move from side to side, and sometimes they close, looking like their owner is about to cry, but for the whole time, the camera never moves in the kind of way that some of Andy Warhol’s cameras didn’t either!
Aha, I thought, seeking respite from this hypnotic gaze, I noticed that track 26 was titled ‘Bonus track – Rendez-Vous IV (Live version)’. Whoopee, one of J-M’s light shows!
No, just those bloody eyes again.
So is there any advantage to the DVD, unless you’re a trainee opthalmist?
Well I think so, but then I’ve got a Dolby 5.1 digital surround sound system intended for movie use. 5.1 channel sound won’t be to everyone’s liking, especially those that know where ‘the first violins are supposed to sit’ in normal stereo, but somehow, being enveloped in J-M’s electronic (but melodious) music melds well with the latest technology. You can even benefit from the more dynamic sound of DTS 5.1 sound if your system will handle it in preference to Dolby.
It really does sound good, and I’d be prepared to ditch my old ‘Best Of..’ album in favour of this one.
I just think they had a cheek making out it was a new album, that’s all.
I can’t tell you how much was paid for it (around a tenner, I suspect), and I feel it would be rude to ask, as it was a present.
Ruth’ll be miffed enough when she sees what I think of it!
CONCLUSION
Recommended for first-time buyers of J-M J albums, after all, it’s as good a ‘Best Of..’ as any other, especially for anyone with a home cinema set-up.
Not Recommended for J-M J fans who think they’re going to be adding a lot of new to tracks their collection.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
I suppose those are "the eyes" at the top of the page, Chris? What a disappointment for you (and Ruth, too)! - ♥ - jes ≈≈≈≈{; -)-{{::::: |||||<
markd_uk 07.02.2005 08:54
I dropped heavy hints that I wanted this for Christmas and didn't get it, unfortunately. Maybe this is a good thing, but I do like Jean Michel Jarre and even a fresh remix might sound good in my car. Good review.
LUNAH_C 23.01.2005 22:21
I was quite disappointed with this CD. Good review though.
Aero is Jean Michel Jarre's first experiment in surround sound as well as being the most ... more
respectable "best of" album in 13 years. The album features reworked versions of his golden oldies and three new pieces. The result of the new orchestration is a m...
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![Aero [CD + DVD] - Jean Michel Jarre](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/90340325.jpg "Aero [CD + DVD] - Jean Michel Jarre")
Jan 1st, 2005
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