Blah Blah Cafe, the Jean-Michel Jarre forum

[JeromeTV]

It seems JMJ released his PopCorn single again :


and blackbird as "b-side":


Link on Spotify
and
Link on QoBuz as HiRes download



This time under his own name Jean Michel Jarre and not as Pop Corn Orchestra

[Dr_Jones]

What an unexpected release! I love that they altered the artwork to show his name. I was hoping that, since it's released so close to Record Store Day, there would be a vinyl re-release too, but it's not listed on any Record Store Day release.

For comparison: here's the Decibels A-Gogo version and compare how much they re-used:

[Finaero]

Totally didn't expect this!

(In before whoever journo's gonna compare it to JMJ's """""previous versions""""")

[Dr_Jones]

Metadata from Qobuz:

© 2024 BMG Rights Management (France) SARL, division Francis Dreyfus Music ℗ 1973 BMG Rights Management (France), division Francis Dreyfus Music

The CD version from the 90s appears to have the channels swapped, whereas this 2024 master has the same as the 7" version.
DR version for CD: 8
DR version for 2024 master: 7

[Jote]

I hope this is a beginning of a trend - I mean I've been moaning about releasing digitally previously un-released or rare stuff for ages. Maybe this is finally happening, fingers crossed. Although TBH I don't care about pre-Oxygene era that much.

[Dr_Jones]

Good point - is this the result of the BMG deal?

[Quants0]

Here's hoping they give Deserted Palace a proper cleanup and reissue at some point, nothing they put out now would surely be as bad as the versions from the Rarities comp

[Dr_Jones]

That's quite possible. I think nobody expected Pop Corn to be re-released. And Deserted Palace is released in the same year, there's even a variation of one of its tracks on the b-side of Pop Corn. The only thing is that I suspect that somewhere in time, people lost the masters of Deserted Palace since the tracks from the Essentials & Rarities CD set are probably vinyl rips.

[Dr_Jones]

Today, Beyonce released her cover version of the Beatles song Blackbird. Maybe this is a clever way to gain some attraction to JMJ because of the B-side of Pop Corn.

[shadow]

What the actual hell?! This is out of nowhere!

That's quite possible. I think nobody expected Pop Corn to be re-released. And Deserted Palace is released in the same year, there's even a variation of one of its tracks on the b-side of Pop Corn. The only thing is that I suspect that somewhere in time, people lost the masters of Deserted Palace since the tracks from the Essentials & Rarities CD set are probably vinyl rips.

How come you say this? If I recall correctly, there was once an interview with Geiss where he had done a vinyl rip, but that was ultimately never used since they were producing a new master themselves. Also in the announcement video (which they have since hidden) they did mention that they started the project by transferring the original magnetic tapes.

Quick edit:

[Dr_Jones]

How come you say this? If I recall correctly, there was once an interview with Geiss where he had done a vinyl rip, but that was ultimately never used since they were producing a new master themselves. Also in the announcement video (which they have since hidden) they did mention that they started the project by transferring the original magnetic tapes.

I suspect it, because I've think I've heard some crackle noise on some tracks. For example Rap Forest Rap Session, 12 seconds in and Deserted Palace, 44 seconds in. But it could also be noise from an old tape of course.

[Finaero]

Speaking of which, there's some notable distortion/peaking at the very end of Blackbird, which sounds abysmal on the Essential & Rarities version and is still present in yesterday's release.

I guess the original vinyl version fades out before/during that part (based on one YT upload at least) to hide it?

Also, yeah, some E & R tracks do kind of sound like they've had some kind of a vinyl noise reducing algorithm run through them (which sounds even worse thanks to the Loudness War "mastering").

(This upload of Blackbird from the Cosmic Machine compilation album has been run through a basic one, namely because of the tell-tale sound at the end of the track - but the distortion is still present ... unless of course that really is how the track sounds like on the compilation itself )

[Dr_Jones]

That distortion is really weird yeah. It's like they wanted to remove the fade-out by upping the volume of the original fade out on the single. But I do think it sounds better in this release than the one from the 2013 compilation, that one is just really weird.

I'm just thinking - should the Live a la Concorde 7" be next for a digital re-release?

[Richard-Eastham]

What does the "Special Club" text mean on the original artwork? Was it to indicate a limited release for club DJs? I like the fact it's been carried over into the new artwork but wondered what it means.

[Dr_Jones]

What does the "Special Club" text mean on the original artwork? Was it to indicate a limited release for club DJs? I like the fact it's been carried over into the new artwork but wondered what it means.

It's nothing, just some PR talk.