Track Listing

1. Oxygene
2. Oxygene
3. Oxygene
4. Oxygene
5. Oxygene
6. Oxygene
7. Oxygene
8. Oxygene
9. Oxygene
10. Oxygene
11. Oxygene

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #54898 in Music
• Released on: 2007-04-02
• Number of discs: 1

Album Review
Oxygene 7-13 continues where Jean-Michel Jarre left off 20 years before, that is, the last track ("Part 6") of 1977's Oxygene. Much had changed in the interim, for both Jarre and synthesizer technology. The result is a set of up-tempo, highly melodic electronic trance reminiscent of Steve Hillage's work of the time, as well as German trance producers like Sven Väth. Though it will sound best to those already familiar with his music, Jarre's influence was considerable, and he continued to prove it in the late 90s. --John Bush, All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

Great music, wrong title?
This album ties with Chronologie for the honour of being my favourite Jarre album. Stunning 70s electronic instruments used to create more a more modern style of music, it just blows the mind.

Highlight of the album has to be Oxygene 12, which is a rousing dialogue between two distinct synths, set to a fast paced background. Get your headphones on, and listen to this in its full glory, it's one of the best pieces of music I've ever heard. With Oxygene 13 to bring you drifting back to Earth, it's a breathtaking finale to the album.

There's just one thing. I don't like the fact that it carries the Oxygene title. Unlike Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells 2, which brilliantly walks the tightrope between being too close to the original and too far away, Oxygene 7-13 switches between blatant rip-offs of earlier Oxygene tracks (much of pt9 is a rip-off of pt1), while much of the album is of a style completely different to the original album.

Unlike the Tubular Bells albums, the nature of the title suggests that it starts where the first album finishes. The trouble is that the albums don't compliment each other in this way. You can't listen to the two albums together, as the join sticks out like sore thumb. It seems that the album carries the Oxygene name mainly for commercial reasons, which is a shame.

If you listen to the album in isolation, it is superb. Get too caught up in the Oxygene name and you start to see the cracks. The fact remains that the music itself is incredible.

The variations continue
"Oxygene 7-13" is not really anything new. Rather, it is the original "Oxygene" revisited and prepared for a new millennium, with 70's analogue sounds treated to late 90's digital recording techniques. It is much more than simply a remix, though. What we have here is a rethinking of the original materials, recomposed by an older, more experienced, Jean Michel Jarre. He has taken his original material apart completely, and reconstructed from the components (together with material borrowed from other sources) something that is recognisably the same, whilst at the same time appearing fresh and totally different. In many ways, it really does pick up, twenty-odd years on, just where the old "Oxygene 6" left off, way back in 1976.

The sound quality on this new version (or continuation, depending on your point of view) of the original old master is fabulous. With its 24-bit mastering, and its lush, analogue textures, augmented by fresh digital samples of real-world sounds, this work comes across as a fully up-to-date and more mature rendition, whilst remaining entirely faithful to the original idea. (Edgar Froese, please take note!) I particularly liked the passing nods to other (more serious) contemporary French composers, like François Bayle. Sure, the album has commercial exploitation potential in plenty. But then, we live in an age of exploitation and, hey, an artist has to eat!

My only criticism of this release is of its length. Really, in this day and age, there is no excuse for releasing a 40-minute CD. That apart, as a J-M Jarre classic, this album really cannot be faulted - whether or not you were a fan of the original. If you have the original, this release complements it nicely.

Excellent Music - Buy it!
I haven't bought a JMJ album since Equinoxe all those years ago, and it was a nice surprise to see that he had decided to create this album, and as I was impressed by the sound samples, I bought the album and I am delighted by it.

It is much more than a tired rehash of Oxygene, there are a lot of new ideas and new ways of hearing old familiar sounds and moods from the original album. The first two tracks are just amazing to hear, tantalizingly like bits of the original. The rest of the album is well worth hearing, too.

My only gripe - well, I would have liked something more in the sleeve than a lot of artwork and a list of instruments and who helped him out: perhaps something about why and how he decided to return to his roots here? And I hope this album's success isn't the only excuse for Oxygene 14-20: if he does it, it has to be different again or it's not worth doing.