From The Guardian.
‘Hi-fi shops played it as an example of state-of-the-art music. I didn’t tell them I made it with Sellotape in my kitchen’
Jean-Michel Jarre, musician, composer
I played in rock bands as a teenager and would use a tape machine my grandfather gave me to get processed sounds out of my guitar. During the French student uprisings of 1968, this felt like a way of being rebellious. I loved it when people said: “What is this crap?” But by the mid-70s, I wanted to bridge the gap between experimental music and pop.
I had done production work for some rock artists, earning enough to set up a studio in my kitchen. I didn’t have much equipment, though, just a few guitar pedals and my first synthesiser, an EMS VCS3, which looked like a telephone exchange. I realised that using a Revox tape machine to delay the sound that came out of one loudspeaker created a huge sense of space.
With so little to work with, I had to be creative. My old Mellotron had only a few working keys, but I still managed to write Oxygène (Part II) on it. My primitive drum machine – a Korg Mini Pops – was the sort of thing people played in pubs, but by using Sellotape I could make it play two preset rhythms at the same time, creating cool beats. Part IV, which became iconic, was a mixture of “slow rock” and “rock” , while Part VI combined “rumba” and “bossa nova”.
Nobody knew about synthesisers back then. When I first heard Kraftwerk’s Autobahn, I thought they were a Californian band trying to imitate the Beach Boys. But I still saw Autobahn as a pop song with vocals – and I was into electronic music with no singing. Somehow, I wanted to link it all with nature and environmental issues. Then in an art gallery one day, I saw a painting of the Earth peeling away to reveal a skull and thought: “That’s the album cover!”
For the full article, please see The Guardian website.
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- Jean-Michel Jarre - The Essential Jean Michel Jarre - UK - vinyl LP - £8.00, $10.24, €8.96 (New Item) (arrived 19-Feb-2019 10:53)
JEAN-MICHEL JARRE The Essential (1983 UK 14-track compilation LP, picture sleeve. The sleeve shows only minor wear from storage & the vinyl is in Excellent condition with the odd light sign of play PROLP3) […]
- Jean-Michel Jarre - Oxygene IV - German - CD single - £25.00, $32.00, €28.00 (New Item) (arrived 14-Feb-2019 14:21)
JEAN MICHEL JARRE Oxygene IV (Original 1989 German 4-track CD single, featuring the Single Version, Live Version, Industrial Revolution and September, within a card wallet picture sleeve. The sleeve displays just a little light general wear and is otherwise excellent) […]
- Jean-Michel Jarre - Revolutions - UK - CD single - £35.00, $44.80, €39.20 (New Item) (arrived 14-Feb-2019 14:12)
J-M JARRE Revolutions (Original 1988 UK 3-track mix CD single, includes Extended Mix and Instustrial Revolutions, picture sleeve PZCD25) […]
- Jean-Michel Jarre - Magnetic Fields - UK - vinyl LP - £8.00, $10.24, €8.96 (New Item) (arrived 05-Feb-2019 12:22)
JEAN MICHEL JARRE Magnetic Fields (1981 UK 5-track vinyl LP, complete with picture inner, fully laminated picture sleeve. The sleeve shows just a little light shelfwear & the vinyl remains in near 'as new' condition with few signs of play POLS1033) […]
- Jean-Michel Jarre - Rendez-vous - UK - vinyl LP - £12.00, $15.36, €13.44 (New Item) (arrived 14-Jan-2019 16:38)
JEAN-MICHEL JARRE Rendez-vous (1986 UK 6-track vinyl LP, including Last Rendez-Vous: Ron's Piece, intended to be the first piece of music played and recorded in space. The picture sleeve has some slight discolouration but the vinyl appears barely played POLH27) […]
- Jean-Michel Jarre - Equinoxe - UK - vinyl LP - £15.00, $19.20, €16.80 (New Item) (arrived 10-Jan-2019 15:28)
JEAN MICHEL JARRE Equinoxe (1978 UK 8-track vinyl LP, the fourth album and second major release featuring some of the composer extraordinaire's most famous work, fully laminated picture sleeve. The sleeve & vinyl are near mint POLD5007) […]
- Jean-Michel Jarre - Oxygene - French - vinyl LP - £15.00, $19.20, €16.80 (New Item) (arrived 03-Jan-2019 15:37)
JEAN MICHEL JARRE Oxygene (1979 French Disques Motors issue of the 1976 6-track vinyl LP, the mainstream breakthrough for the iconic French instrumentalist/composer, containing the first six movements to the Oxygene piece, fully laminated picture sleeve. The sleeve displays minimal wear and the vinyl appears barely played, a really nice example MTO77000) […]
- Jean-Michel Jarre - Revolutions - German - vinyl LP - £15.00, $19.20, €16.80 (New Item) (arrived 14-Nov-2018 10:47)
JEAN MICHEL JARRE Revolutions (1988 West German pressed 7-track vinyl LP with the blue & red split label, housed in the glossy picture sleeve. The sleeve shows only only minor edge wear and the vinyl looks barely played) […]
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