CD-Charts Position 1
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Equinoxe

by: Jean-Michel Jarre

Release Date April 02, 2007
This album is Jarre at his best, Oxygene hinted at what was to come but still contained many of the "Krautrock" tangerine dream type pieces that to the modern ear are frankly boring and dated quickly. However this album is much closer to a true modern electro-pop album. For me good electronic music is typified not by the main melodic drive but by the rhythm and by the quality of the instrumentation, the effects, the sounds, the place where the hard work is put in. This is what exemplified Kraftwerk and years later the likes of Orbital and even Enigma. On this album he achieved this happy balance of good rhythmic drive and lots of interesting sounds underneath the melody. Unfortunatly his subsequent albums abandoned this and became simple ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
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Tubular Bells Vol.1: Remastered

by: Mike Oldfield

Release Date May 29, 2000
Amazon, for some reason, has suggested to me that I might want to buy this.

Ah no.

If you are really desperate to hear tubular bells, can I suggest a good recording of Parsifal? It has the virtue of being, if only subjectively, shorter.

CD-Charts Position 3
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Rendez Vous

by: Jean-Michel Jarre

Release Date April 02, 2007
Jean Michel Jarre is like Tangerine Dream on speed and a lot more bloody tuneful. I just wish he showed a bit more of an imagination in naming his songs. It is a bit of a bugger when you are singing his virtues in a bar somewhere and you think you are discussing Third Rendez-vous and really you are discussing Fourth Rendez-vous. Talk about embarrassment, I hate it when that happens don't you? You wake from your drunken slumbers next day and it slowly comes back to you in flashbacks that? All you said was rubbish because you were one digit out. If this happens I always try and find that person and explain my mistake.NOT!

This is a very good CD verging on greatness. It is an album that you really need to play all of it in one go, hence the Tangerine ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
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Zoolook

by: Jean-Michel Jarre

Release Date May 03, 2004
I love this album, having bought the original in 1985, I still play this loud and proud.
I love Ethinicolor, its full version is a truly overlooked track, as it was shortened on subsequent albums.
As for the others, they are great too!

CD-Charts Position 5
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Autobahn

by: Kraftwerk

Release Date June 22, 1987
I was a teenage kid when I first heard the edited single version of 'Autobahn' in 1975. That's 1975. Just to re-iterate, 1975 - when only rich rock stars knews what a Moog was, let alone what to do with one. This album was so far ahead of its time, it's untrue.

The years have gone by and I've only become more fascinated by Autobahn. Taken literally, it's a trip down a German motorway rendered with analogue synthesisers. It could have become a camp museum piece, but the spacey, classically-influenced arrangement and wonderful invention have rendered it a classic. There's just something about it that never seems to date.

Kraftwerk would later continue the themes of retro-futurism that they touched upon here, but I don't think they were ever more experimental or more musical. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
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Oxygene 7-13

by: Jean Michel Jarre

Release Date April 02, 2007
Are you going to like oxygene 7-13 ? The answer is straight forward enough. You will probably like or dislike it to the same degree that you like or dislike oxygene and equinoxe. Its as simple as that.

CD-Charts Position 7
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Music Of The Spheres

by: Mike Oldfield

Release Date March 17, 2008
Why are people clicking one star just because it sounds like Mike Oldfield, it is his style. It doesn't really sound like Tubular bells it has a classic music quality to it. Great music.

CD-Charts Position 8
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Chronologie

by: Jean-Michel Jarre

Release Date April 02, 2007
Of all the Jarre albums I own this is without doubt the most played. The album is a wonder to listen too with it's dreamscape musical flow of the opening of Chrono Part 1, to the the sampled drum loops from his early works of 'Eros Machine' (the twanging of a ruler) for the thumping Chrono Part 2, the delightful Chrono Part 3, the truly awesome Chrono Part 4 with the forever whistling too end solo lead, the ambient Chrono Part 5, the foot stomping bass to Chrono Part 6, the dreamy whisps of Chrono Part 7 and finishing with the highly enjoyable Chrono Part 8, this is one catchy album that has to be played again, and again, and again. This album ranks high and sits well amoungst his earlier material such as 'Equinoxe' and 'Oxygene'.

The ony down side to the 'Chronologie' album is the ending of Part 4. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
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Le Chants Magnetiques

by: Jean-Michel Jarre

Release Date April 02, 2007

The one track that stands out for me is part 4. Some great sequencing here (these current "virtual" versions of classic synthesisers are all very well, but you can't beat having the actual "tactile" instruments (with real sliders and knobs!) in front of you) and a great, simple melody to go with it. The ending of this track played LOUDLY on my HiFi used to make my guests jump......:-)

There are a few too many JMJ cliches here (and an AWFUL last track) and this has dated this album somewhat in my view. The production though seems very "clean" and open.

Well worth a listen and one of the last electronic albums of the "analogue synth plus sequencer" era.....

CD-Charts Position 10
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Les Concerts En Chine

by: Jean-Michel Jarre

Release Date April 02, 2007

The one track that stands out for me is part 4. Some great sequencing here (these current "virtual" versions of classic synthesisers are all very well, but you can't beat having the actual "tactile" instruments (with real sliders and knobs!) in front of you) and a great, simple melody to go with it. The ending of this track played LOUDLY on my HiFi used to make my guests jump......:-)

There are a few too many JMJ cliches here (and an AWFUL last track) and this has dated this album somewhat in my view. The production though seems very "clean" and open.

Well worth a listen and one of the last electronic albums of the "analogue synth plus sequencer" era.....