Blah Blah Cafe, the Jean-Michel Jarre forum

[Aqanique]

Hello!

I'm sorry for making another post with a question about vinyls, I don't want to clog up the forum with unnecessary posts, but I just had two questions regarding the LP release of Oxygene 7-13 and was looking for some answers.

1. What's up with the LP prices on Discogs?!

I was curious to see if the album ever got an LP release as I've only ever seen it on CD, when I went to go and check Discogs, my jaw dropped when I saw the selling prices that were listed:



Is the album on LP consider rare? Or is it priced so high because it's considered some kind of "collector's item"?


2. If I wanted to get the LP for cheap, where should I look to buy it?

This one's pretty self explanatory, are there any recommended places or people that I should try my luck with?

Anyways, like last time, any helpful answers or information would be appreciated!

[Dr_Jones]

The LP is extremely rare. It was released in a time that vinyl LPs were dying (12" were still going strong). Chronologie is also hard to find, but still a lot easier to find. But by 1997 vinyl LPs were almost gone. That's why Metamorphoses was never released on vinyl.

The easiest way to get Oxygene 7-13 on vinyl is to get the Oxygene 1-3 box set, released 10 years ago. That one contains a re-release and remaster of the album.

[Aqanique]

That makes a lot more sense now, thanks for the clarification on that!

I had a feeling that there was an Oxygene 7-13 vinyl in the box set you mentioned, but I think it's rebranded with a different cover under "Oxygene 2".

Just a question about what you say about Chronologie though:

Chronologie is also hard to find, but still a lot easier to find.

Hasn't Chronologie had a recent LP repressing? I could've sworn that I saw a post about someone who got their hands on it... And as for the original, would it be worth adding to my collection for the high price?

Also, do you think there's a chance that 7-13 could get a new repressing for Oxygene's 50th anniversary? Or is that wishful thinking on my part?

[Dr_Jones]

Oh yes, there was a repress of Chronologie in 2018, I totally forgot about that. I'm not a big fan of the remasters and the same goes for this one. It's using a remaster that has some errors compared to the original 1993 release.

Same goes for the Oxygene 7-13 re-release by the way. The original LP has a nice Easter egg that the beginning of side B, Oxygene 10, has a short intro that's not on the CD and on the new vinyl release.

It would be nice to have the album released separately and not part of a box set. I don't know if that will happen though. The album is 30 years old now(!), so yeah, it would be nice.

[Aqanique]

I'm not a big fan of the remasters and the same goes for this one.

Your dislike for these later remasters is completely justified, by the way! I recently got my hands on the Magnetic Fields 2024 remaster two weeks ago, and I have to say that I was quite disappointed considering I knew what the original had to offer.

It came with this pretty tacky version of the original inner sleeve design with a short article about the album by Phil Alexander between the original Polaroid photo collage design.

Now I wouldn't have a problem with that — and in most cases the added album story would actually be a good thing to include in my opinion — but on my purchased version of the record I managed to count at least three glaring spelling and keyboarding errors that slipped past quality control, and that's just off the top of my head!

As for the material of the sleeve, my God I've never encountered such an annoying material to hold a record in my life! It's made of that kind of shiny, glossy kind of paper that they use for things like travel brochures or CD booklets (I'm unsure of the actual name of it, but I think you'll know what I'm talking about). It doesn't even function well as a holder, it stuck to the record inside and I ended up having to get my dad to help me pull it out in the end.

TL;DR

Your dislike for later remasters is completely justified, and my 2024 remastered copy of Magnetic Fields was poor in quality when compared to the original pressings, and the inner sleeve that holds the record uses an impractical material that could end up damaging it.

[Dr_Jones]

Oh yes, one of my biggest pet peeves about the vinyl resurgence is the inner sleeve. The Electronica 1 Vinyl Factory 12" releases of Conquistador, Watching You and Zero Gravity were the first I noticed this. The records come out with scratches are are static as hell. Gone are the anti-static inner sleeves. Granted, all 7" singles and 50% of the 12" singles released in the 80s were in cardboard only sleeves, but for an LP, this should be standard.

[Finaero]

I got really lucky in 2007 and 2008 with getting the vinyl version of the album - I got my first copy for roughly 25-30 € on Discogs.com in late 2007 (I don't think the seller was fully aware of its rarity, because I think it had previously gone for 50+ € on that site).

But, to my absolute surprise, in May 2008 I found one for 4 euros at a record fair - in hindsight, quite unbelievable!

(Sold the first copy for about 50 € later in 2008, which was also nice)

So looking at the prices it's going for these days, I'm still quite happy with my find

(... which turned out to be the only time I got lucky because in 2015 I did have to pay 200+ € for the original red Kraftwerk Die Mensch Maschine record and years later, paid 700 € for the JMJ 1991 boxset (which I managed to sell only for about a hundred - a few months after someone else had sold theirs for 900 ) - so overall the Oxygene 7-13 LP indeed was my only true find )

[Aqanique]

But, to my absolute surprise, in May 2008 I found one for 4 euros at a record fair - in hindsight, quite unbelievable!

Man, I wish I could have some luck like this! Sometimes I really feel like the unluckiest person in the world when someone beats me to buying a Jarre LP on eBay.

I'm trying my luck at this local record shop in the town centre on Saturday to see if they have any Jarre albums, I'm hoping that they'll have something like Rendez-Vous or Revolutions, but I highly doubt that they'll have an LP of 7-13 in stock. (Would be a miracle if they did though!)

I think the luckiest that I've been so far was either getting a near mint condition EiC Swatch Musicall from the Chronologie era, or that Destination Docklands programme with the tickets at the start of March, since the original one I wanted to get was bought the day before I was planning on purchasing it.

But hey, if they ever invent time travel then maybe I could put those tickets to good use and record the concert in 4K for future preservation!

[Aqanique]

Oh yes, one of my biggest pet peeves about the vinyl resurgence is the inner sleeve.

Do you think that they're doing away with the anti-static paper sleeves to cut production costs? I mean surely it can't be costing them that much to use anti-static paper over this new glossy material, right?

If I was to take a guess, I'd say that the record labels Jarre's been working with recently like Sony Music are prioritising quantity over quality to make more sales from vinyl represses, hence the drop in care and quality. It's especially obvious considering these recent "remasters" that have been coming out in recent years with their glaring issues in their sound.

It might have something to do with the whole "old is gold" mentality that my generation has regarding LPs. They might be using cost cutting tactics like this to produce represses quicker so that younger fans will buy them up and generate more money, since most of them won't go out of their way to seek out an original pressing. The way Sony probably sees it, the quality of the inner sleeve or vinyl itself doesn't really matter, just as long as they're making a profit from the fans buying the records for their collections.

That's just my take on it as a younger collector though, sorry if it rambles a little! Would be interested to know what others think about this whole shift in quality thing though.

[Dr_Jones]

Cost cutting is obviously the main thing. And then there's the vinyl pressing plant, which is a big problem: GZ Vinyl. The recent JMJ albums are pressed by GZ Media:

https://www.discogs.com/release/3270860 ... 3%A9tiques

There were a lot of discussions about GZ in the past:
https://www.stereonet.com/forums/topic/ ... -gz-vinyl/

[Aqanique]

Those last few images in the second link were very concerning to say the least, shocked that this crap can be sold for almost £30 on shelves in that condition!

So far I've only seen GZ Media credited for the 2024 Magnetic Fields repress, but I can't find their name mentioned on the Oxygene or Equinoxe repressings — although the inner sleeves seem to follow a similar design to the MF one, so no doubt they're just as tacky.

https://www.discogs.com/release/3264788 ... re-Oxygene

https://www.discogs.com/release/3264796 ... e-Equinoxe

The recent JMJ albums are pressed by GZ Media:

https://www.discogs.com/release/3270860 ... 3%A9tiques

Maybe JMJ should just stick with MPO if he wants to keep things cheap (the pressers of the Zoolook 40th anniversary edition), or at least switch to a trusted pressing plant with a good reputation:

https://www.discogs.com/release/3320997 ... re-Zoolook

[Finaero]

Man, I wish I could have some luck like this! Sometimes I really feel like the unluckiest person in the world when someone beats me to buying a Jarre LP on eBay.

I'm trying my luck at this local record shop in the town centre on Saturday to see if they have any Jarre albums, I'm hoping that they'll have something like Rendez-Vous or Revolutions, but I highly doubt that they'll have an LP of 7-13 in stock. (Would be a miracle if they did though!)

18 years later, it indeed remains my only true "catch" as far as any kind of collecting is considered** - its only real fault is that there's a skip on Oxygene 8, but it only appears depending on the tracking force of the stylus.

** = Who knows, perhaps instead of spending ~120 € on the original Equinoxe red- and blue-faced CDs last year, I could have find those two for the same 4 € / disc price in the late-2000s - only a time machine would tell

[Finaero]

But speaking of wild eBay prices, I don't think I've ever seen the 1st press releases of Oxygene go for prices like this...

[Aqanique]

18 years later, it indeed remains my only true "catch" as far as any kind of collecting is considered** - its only real fault is that there's a skip on Oxygene 8, but it only appears depending on the tracking force of the stylus.

Having something like 7-13 in your collection must be a real achievement though — with or without skips, it'd definitely make for some interesting conversations with other fans!

I had a mini heart attack last week when I was listening to my dad's copy of Equinoxe, it skipped during the transition between parts 6 and 7 and I thought I must've accidentally scratched it when I took it out of the sleeve. Turned out all it needed was a little dusting off and it seemed to be all good!

Do you have any other rare or unique things in your Jarre collection?

[Aqanique]

And to add onto the talk about eBay prices, there's a photobook that I'm eyeing up at the moment going for €171! I'm not sure if his photobooks are considered rarer than his LPs, but it's still a pretty wild selling price nonetheless:



Then again, I've seen listings of $250+ for books like Concert pour le Pape and Concert d'Images, so maybe the pricetag on this one is justified...