or to give this release its full and proper title :
oxygene 30th anniversary edition – 3d and 2d dvd
oh, yes, 30 years have passed since this ground breaking, and massively popular, electronic album was released, and i have to say, this is one album that even now holds a dear space in my heart.
you see, many many years ago, though not quite 30, i purchased a double play cassette (in woolworths in ilkley fact fans !) with this album on one side, and the follow up equinox, on the flip.
the cassette was my first venture into the world of music with purely with synths, and became a mainstay in my mono itt branded cassette deck and so even in this primitive listening capacity, i would suggest, formed a core part of my music listening pattern for the rest of my life.
of course, prior to hearing oxygene, i was uneducated in the ways of the cool electronic music due to lack of the necessary exposure, so jean michels jarres simplistic melodies, sweeping ambience were a sonic revelation to a young’un stuck in the middle of the yorkshire dales.
this album sounded, and with its unusual artwork of the earth/skull, looked like the future.
in fact, i would even be so brave to suggest that many of the stars of technology enhanced music that blossomed in the 90s (ie the warp records/idm golden era) probably listening to this album intensely, and all the cool name dropping of can, tangerine dream, stockhausen etc, became purely an exercise in rewriting personal history thus negating this monster its true place in history.
i mean, i would be the first to admit that following jean michel jarres zoolook album, where the studio toys were developing into digital and sampling, he totally lost the ability to make music of any real value, and so drifted off into the world of hugely ambitious staged shows using various cities as backdrops, and that sodding laser harp gimmick.
thankfully though, nothing can take away the pure nostalgic rush of the debuts purity, and with the remastering makover, i have to say, this album once again sounds absolutely amazing even if the contents are overly familiar from the mass of tv documentaries that lifted particular sections ad infinitum.
for the collectors there is alongside the polished up sonics is a dvd subtitled, live in your living room.
and i have to say, this is the best ‘extra’ i have ever had the fortune to watch.
basically, jean michel jarre along with 3 other musicians, dust down the composers vast collection of old analogue synths, set them up in a basic studio seting, and recreate the album live.
all in one take, without any laptops, computers, mixing or supposedly any overdubs.
sounds boring ?
nah – its an absolute joy to watch these men and machines, (several of which are held together with metres of masking tape, and require recabling live duriung the performance to make the next recognisable swooshing noise) perform an extended version of the album with a minimum of fuss and no special effects, other than the small matter that this is also available in something called 3d stereoscopy vision. well, i guess jean michel cant stop the madness totally.
thankfully, this unnecessary visual gimmick is not required to enjoy the performance of the classic album, instead all you need is a dvd player, a pretty nice tv, and a big fat sofa, and let the nerd pleasing nostalgia-fest begin.
more detail : here