Jean Michel Jarre: Electronica 1 - The Time Machine | Album Review

Electronica 1 - The Time Machine
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Artist: Jean-Michel Jarre
Genre: Electronic
Label: Columbia

Mention the name of Jean Michel Jarre in the context of contemporary electronic music, and you’re likely to get a sneer.

Tainted with multimillion sales, Jarre is perceived (sometimes justifiably) as being too close to the middle of the road.

Here, though, he aims to drag back some credibility by collaborating with more than several sharp practitioners of electronic music – and people he himself once influenced.

Most of the time it works a treat – there's a beautiful ambient lilt to Close Your Eyes (with Air), a hint of the sublime on Zero Gravity (with Tangerine Dream), a piano-driven uplift on Immortals (with Fuck Buttons) and a cute slice of synth-pop on If...! (with Little Boots).

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Other collaborators include Moby, John Carpenter and Erasure’s Vince Clarke.

Overall? A surprisingly intrepid detour.

Tony Clayton-Lea

Tony Clayton-Lea

Tony Clayton-Lea is a contributor to The Irish Times specialising in popular culture