Well, I won't have my CD from Amazon UK until tomorrow it seems. F**k you Amazon, pay your taxes!, but about 12am I found the continuous play of the album on Youtube.
I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post the link, but it's easy to find. PM me if you have any issues finding it. So I listened to the album until 4am, which is why I'm totally knackered today. Luckily I took a "Jarre day" so I don't have to go to work.
These are my thoughts so far. I'm not a musician so this is just what I hear in
layman's terms.
Movement 1. Love it. This is the epic Jarre I like. It's not quite in the First Rendez-Vous class, but it's nearly there.
Movement 2. A very nice track. Some may say it's too Vangelis, or too Revolutions, and sounds dated, but it's a good track.
Movement 3: Has been growing on me, but I doubt it will be played a lot. I like the bass line and the laser effects, but the Mellotron lead takes some time to get use to. It sounds very
Chronologie to me.
Movement 4: Jarre seems to have gone full Morricone with this one. It's nice enough but for me the least interesting track on the album.
Movement 5: This track is either too short, or doesn't need to be there at all, I can't decide.
As it is, it just seems to be under developed. It's just there, nothing more.
Movement 6: Has divided opinion. This is not the Jarre I love, and I'm not sure what it is doing on this album, but it's catchy enough. I don't dislike it.
Movement 7: For me this is both the highlight and the biggest disappointment. The start sounds fantastic, with it's Equinoxe7-like bass line, and the sharp lead and sampled speech.
I would have liked this sound to repeat for a while longer, but it changes too soon, and then...the track is over. This would have been an amazing 4 to 5 minute track, but it's still outstanding imo.
Movement 8: Is great, but not as good as the original imo. The aggressive bass line has been added for continuity from the previous track I guess, but it didn't need it.
Jarre got this track right the first time, and it didn't need altering.
Movement 9: Love it. To me it sounds like a Concerts in China track, but maybe it's my old ears but the lead synth sounded a bit harsh and hurt my ears via headphones.
Movement 10: You get the slowed down Watchers intro which is very Band in the Rain, then I really liked the first couple of minutes after that. Then, I'm not sure if all started to sound all a bit random, but it seemed to lose it way and maybe it's just me but it started to sound similar to the middle part of Magnetic Fields 1. I liked it, but I think this is the track I'm going to need to listen to the most, as I can't quite put my finger on why I'm not loving it.
In Conclusion.
JMJ has done a great job. It sounds like he's spent time on the album, and not just knocked it up in a few weeks. It has it's highs and lows and is a bit disjointed. It doesn't flow like the original and to be honest has very little to do with it.
I think Jarre has added some background effects similar the original (thunder and gargling water) so it has some connection to the original but for me they are not needed. It's not up there with his best but it's very interesting, doesn't have any real weak tracks and for me is easily his best solo album since Oxy 7-13.
I need to play it more today though...if I can keep awake. More coffee needed!
