- Oxygene (album)
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Oxygène 
Studio album by Jean Michel Jarre Released July 1977 Recorded August 1976 – November 1976 Genre Electronica, New Age, ambient, pop Length 39:44 Label Disques Dreyfus Producer Jean Michel Jarre Jean Michel Jarre chronology Les Granges Brûlées
(1973)Oxygène
(1976)Équinoxe
(1978)Professional ratings Review scores Source Rating Allmusic 
[1]Oxygène (English: "oxygen") is an album of instrumental electronic music composed, produced, and performed by the French composer Jean Michel Jarre. It was first released in France in December 1976, on Disques Dreyfus with license to Polydor. The album's international release was in summer 1977. Jarre recorded the album in his home using a variety of analog synthesizers and other electronic instruments and effects. It became a bestseller and was highly influential in the development of electronic music. It is Jarre's first mainstream success, and can be seen as his first real artist album. It has been described as the album that "led the synthesizer revolution of the Seventies."[2]
Contents
Track listing
- Written and arranged by Jean Michel Jarre.
- "Oxygène (Part I)" – 7:40
- "Oxygène (Part II)" – 8:08
- "Oxygène (Part III)" – 2:55
- "Oxygène (Part IV)" – 4:14
- "Oxygène (Part V)" – 10:23
- "Oxygène (Part VI)" – 6:20
History
Prior to 1976, Jarre had dabbled in a number of projects, including an unsuccessful synthesizer music album, advertising jingles and compositions for a ballet. His inspiration for Oxygène came from a painting by the artist Michel Granger that was given to him by his future wife Charlotte Rampling. The painting showed the Earth peeling to reveal a skull and Jarre obtained the artist's permission to use the image for this album.
Jarre composed Oxygène over a period of eight months using a number of analogue synthesizers and an eight-track recorder set up in the kitchen of his apartment.[3] However, he found it difficult to get the record released, not least because it had "No singers, no proper [track] titles, just 'I', 'II', 'III', 'IV', 'V' and 'VI'".[2]
The motif of the track Oxygène IV is a variation on a phrase from Popcorn by Gershon Kingsley, which Jarre himself had previously covered under the pseudonyms of The Popcorn Orchestra and Jamie Jefferson.
He eventually found a publisher, Francis Dreyfus, head of Disques Motors (now Disques Dreyfus). Dreyfus was the husband of one of Jarre's fellow-pupils at the Groupe de Recherches Musicales of Pierre Schaeffer, where Jarre had learned to use synthesizers, including the EMS VCS 3, which was to play a major part in the music of Oxygène. Although Dreyfus was initially skeptical of electronic music, he gambled by pressing a run of 50,000 copies. The album went on to sell 15 million copies.[2]
In 1997, Jarre produced a sequel album called Oxygène 7–13.[4] This refers to the original album as being the first six movements from a larger complete piece of work, despite the time difference between the release of the two albums. It was written in the same style and using some of the same instruments, although the work is much more uptempo. Jarre was clear about not trying to copy the mood or atmosphere from the original album, but using the same work approach to "create a mood later".
In 2007, Jarre produced a new version of the album, recorded live on a stage, but with no audience, for a DVD release that included 3D video. The title of the new DVD CD set is Oxygène: Live in Your Living Room, with the enhanced CD being called Oxygène: New Master Recording.[4] He used the same instruments, but performed the work with three other collaborators (Dominique Perrier, Francis Rimbert and Claude Samard), rather than overdubbing all parts himself.
The album
Oxygène consists of six tracks, numbered simply Oxygène Part I to VI. Its sound has been described as "an infectious combination of bouncy, bubbling analog sequences and memorable hook lines."[3] The album reached #2 in the UK charts and #78 in the US charts.[5]
Usage elsewhere
Various tracks from "Oxygène" were used to score the 1980 Swedish film Barnens ö.
Parts of the album were used as incidental music for the original radio version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.[6]
The track "Oxygène (Part I)" was used in the film documentary entitled Palawan : Le Dernier Refuge on the life of oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau.
The track "Oxygène (Part II)" was used in the Australian film Gallipoli to accompany the crucial running sequences.[7]
The track "Oxygène (Part II)" (the fugue part beginning from 1:36) was used as an alternative title theme for the British sci-fi TV series Space: 1999 in the German dubbed version as shown by the ZDF during the late 1970s.
"Oxygène (Part II)" was used in the introductory scenes of Cosmos by Carl Sagan when it was first aired in the Brazilian Television in 1981.
"Oxygène (Part II)" was used in the advert for the Citroën C5 in 2001.
"Oxygène (Part II)" also appears in Jackie Chan's movie Snake in the Eagle's Shadow while the main character is training "snake" style.
"Oxygène (Part IV)" was used as the theme tune for the UK medical series Where There's Life, broadcast between 1981 and 1989, and presented by Dr. Miriam Stoppard.
"Oxygène (Part IV)" also appears in UK comedy series Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge's second episode as magician Tony LeMesmer (David Schneider) performs a magic trick on Partridge's show.
"Oxygène (Part IV)" appeared as the theme music for the Phoenix from the Flames feature during the 1998 World Cup series of Fantasy Football League on ITV, complete with Frank Skinner and David Baddiel singing the words "Phoenix from the Flames" over the instrumental. (ITV used another Jean Michel Jarre piece, Fourth Rendez-Vous for their main football coverage during this World Cup).
"Oxygène (Part IV)" was used in the first episode of Hardy Bucks when The Boo was dressed as Superman in a lookalike competition.
"Oxygène (Part IV)" is also used in Mega Crane novelty claw machines manufactured by Elaut.
It has been used in television station interstitials and station identifications, such as Canadian television station CBXT in the early 1980s accompanied by a spinning CBC logo on a black background, primarily before the end of the broadcast day.
"Oxygène (Part IV)" was played during the closing credits of the BBC documentary Micro Men.
"Oxygène (Part IV)" featured on the soundtrack of 2008 video game Grand Theft Auto IV.
"Oxygène (Part I)" is used prominently in the "Adventure Call" sketches of Limmy's Show. "Oxygène (Part IV)" is also used briefly at the start of each sketch.
Key components of Jarre's sound included his use of the Electro-Harmonix Small Stone phaser on synthetic string pads provided by the Dutch-built Eminent-310 Unique organ, and liberal use of echo on various sound effects generated by the VCS 3 and EMS Synthi AKS synthesizers.
Cover versions
- Hank Marvin covered "Oxygène (Part IV)" on his 1993 album Heartbeat.
- Hipnosis covered "Oxygène (Part IV)" on their 1983 single Oxigene (also known as Disco Mix).
Personnel
- Jean Michel Jarre – ARP Synthesizer, EMS Synthi AKS, VCS 3 Synthesizer, RMI Harmonic Synthesizer, Farfisa Professional Organ, Eminent 310U, Mellotron and the Rhythmin' Computer (later revealed to be a Korg Minipops-7 rhythm machine)
Production
- Produced by Jean Michel Jarre
- Engineered and mixed by Jean-Pierre Janiaud; assistant engineer: Patrick Foulon
- Mastered by Scott Hull
References
- ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r83189
- ^ a b c Green, Thomas H. (2008-03-27). "Oxygene: ba-boo-boo beew". telegraph.co.uk. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3672108/Oxygene-ba-boo-boo-beew.html. Retrieved 2009-03-14
- ^ a b Greg Rule, Electro Shock!: Groundbreakers of Synth Music, p. 238. Backbeat Books, 1999. ISBN 0879305827
- ^ a b Edwards, Mark (2008-03-16). "Jean Michel Jarre's return to planet Oxygene". entertainment.timesonline.co.uk. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article3542056.ece. Retrieved 2009-05-28
- ^ "Oxygene Review". http://www.connollyco.com/discography/jeanmichel_jarre/oxygene.html.
- ^ "The Music of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy". h2g2. bbc.co.uk. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A4147652. Retrieved 2008-04-14. "The author say the source is "This information comes from the original radio series script book.""
- ^ Jonathan Rayner, The Films of Peter Weir, p. 134. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2003. ISBN 0826415350
External links
- Oxygène at Discogs
- Oxygène and Oxygène: New Master Recording at JarreUK
Jean Michel Jarre Studio albums Deserted Palace (1972) · Les Granges Brûlées (1973) · Oxygene (1976) · Equinoxe (1978) · Magnetic Fields (a.k.a. Les Chants Magnétiques) (1981) · Music for Supermarkets (a.k.a. Musique pour Supermarché) (1983) · Zoolook (1984) · Rendez-Vous (1986) · Revolutions (1988) · Waiting for Cousteau (a.k.a. En Attendant Cousteau) (1990) · Chronologie (1993) · Oxygene 7–13 (1997) · Métamorphoses (2000) · Interior Music (2001) · Sessions 2000 (2002) · Geometry of Love (2003) · Téo & Téa (2007) · Oxygene: New Master Recording (2007)Live albums The Concerts in China (a.k.a. Les Concerts en Chine) (1982) · In Concert / Cities In Concert, Houston-Lyon (1986) · Jarre Live / Destination Docklands, the London Concert (1989) · Hong Kong (1994) · Jarre in China (2005) · Live from Gdańsk (Koncert w Stoczni) (2005) · Live Printemps de Bourges 2002 (2006)LP - 7'' single only La Cage / ErosMachine (1971)Compilation albums The Essential Jean Michel Jarre (1985) · Images – The Best of Jean Michel Jarre (1991) · AERO (2004) · Sublime Mix (2006) · Essentials & Rarities (2011)Remixes by other artists Related articles Categories:- 1976 albums
- Disques Dreyfus albums
- Jean Michel Jarre albums
- Concept album series
- Electronica albums
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