Blah Blah Cafe, the Jean-Michel Jarre forum

[Jote]

Michel Geiss has not even listenned to this album!
He told me.

And? Is this supposed to prove that the album is poor?

Do you think that album is poor? I didn't think nor say that.

So what's your point then, do tell?

[SF01]

Is there aything exclusive in the Continous Mix that isn't in tracks?

[Dr_Jones]

No, it's just the album.

[Jote]

Is there aything exclusive in the Continous Mix that isn't in tracks?

It exist only because of streaming services (so that you can a) still listen to the entire album even if it's in "random"/"shuffle" mode, b) to provide gapless playback regardless of how streaming services handle it (my experience with Amazonia for instance is that Spotify handles it poorly))

[SF01]

Is there aything exclusive in the Continous Mix that isn't in tracks?

It exist only because of streaming services (so that you can a) still listen to the entire album even if it's in "random"/"shuffle" mode, b) to provide gapless playback regardless of how streaming services handle it (my experience with Amazonia for instance is that Spotify handles it poorly))

OK, thanks for the info, so no "hidden messages" in there?

[Finaero]

Blimey, even this one is over three years old now Still sounds great, too (even Infinity )

[shadow]

Time really flies, remember eagerly awaiting for it to arrive. Still don't think it's anywhere near the original, but it's without a doubt a really fun one to spin still.

[Dr_Jones]

Oh yeah, it's and album I find myself going to in my playlist regularly. The opening track is stellar, it's got some low-points too (movement 3 is not my favourite JMJ tracks at all) but after movement 6, it's great again! I like that it tries to copy the original's album structure with side B having a "3 tracks connected by a bassline"-sequence. It makes it a bit predictable, but on the other hand it feels familiar (in a good way) too

[Jote]

I like that it tries to copy the original's album structure with side B having a "3 tracks connected by a bassline"-sequence.

I like that it tries to do that. I don't like it how it fails at it miserably, the reasons being:
- transitions are too short
- BPM of Mvt6 is 100, BPM of Mvt7/8 is 97.5
- the intro of Mvt7 is missing one 1/16 note (i.e. one of the bars is shorter; 15/16 instead of 4/4) which completely destroys that illusion and throws off
- some of the intro notes of Mvt7 are tacked onto Mvt6 ending (bad track splitting), so Mvt7 doesn't start correctly when listening to it separately

I just can't get past that. I mean shouldn't we really expect such glaring mistakes to be fixed? This is not some amateur work, is it?

...I had to make a custom version of Mvt7 (added that missing note in the intro) to be able to listen to it (and also fixed that splitting issue moving the last couple of bass notes of Mvt6 to Mvt7 where they belong)

[tomann]

I love that album .
For me the best ( with Oxygene 3 ) he ever did since Chronologie .
I love all the movements , like a movie soundtrack . This album is very cinematographic.
A movie mixing " 2001 a space odyssey " ( the watchers replace the black monoliths ) , " Planet of the Apes " ( the artificials intelligences replace the apes ) , and Wall E ( I imagine lost robots musical band playing on a destroyed earth under the rain while the movement 5 ) .

[Dr_Jones]

I like that it tries to do that. I don't like it how it fails at it miserably, the reasons being:
- transitions are too short
- BPM of Mvt6 is 100, BPM of Mvt7/8 is 97.5
- the intro of Mvt7 is missing one 1/16 note (i.e. one of the bars is shorter; 15/16 instead of 4/4) which completely destroys that illusion and throws off
- some of the intro notes of Mvt7 are tacked onto Mvt6 ending (bad track splitting), so Mvt7 doesn't start correctly when listening to it separately

Hmm, I didn't notice the change in BPM. I'll take a listen to that.
The absence of the 1/16 note doesn't bother me much; subconciously it makes me feel like something has changed in the status quo and that I have to pay attention (to be honest, I didn't know what it was that makes me feel something was not right, it's the 1/16 note missing)
But the thing that bothers me there is that the bass sound changes, like it's a crossfade (which it probably is).

[tomann]

There is an volontary offset in the bass rythmic between mouvement 7 and 8 .
The same between Equinoxe 6 and 7 .

[Jote]

Hmm, I didn't notice the change in BPM. I'll take a listen to that.

Because it's very subtle.

But the thing that bothers me there is that the bass sound changes, like it's a crossfade (which it probably is).

Hence my point about too short transitions. Had this transition been longer the crossfade would've worked just fine. All in all it looks like a hastily pieced together unrelated things. But I know it's not exactly true. For instance, in Mvt7 the bass sound changes around 01:40 to something very much similar to Equinoxe 7 albeit played faster; the same sound is then used in Mvt8. According to my knowledge the entire Mvt7 was originally built around that 01:40 bass line (but was later changed to another, more beefy bass sound that ended up on the final version), and that sound is much more cohesive with the bass from Mvt6.

[nexxxus]

Sorry for the question but channel R and L are not inverted on EQUINOXE 2018 edition ?

[Dr_Jones]

No, the Equinoxe 2018 edition has inverted channels too.