Customer Reviews

Metamorphoses

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Having read the other reviews (5 when I wrote this), I feel that I have to comment on them and give my opinion.

First of all, if you expect something like Oxygene and Equinoxe you will be very disappointed because only one track (Millions of Stars) come close.

I know a lot of people who has bought this album and they can be divided into two categories: 1 - those who love it 2 - those who hasn't understood it

I know what I'm about to say will probably make some people a bit cross, but it's my impression that people who either play music them selves, or in another way knows a lot about music love the album. Somehow they (we) have heard something that others haven't and it's hard to explain what it is.

There can be no doubt that JMJ is one of the best studio musicians, just listen to the tons of tiny effects/details in the music and you'll agree. This is typical Jarre, he knows exactly what he wants, and he knows exactly how to get it. The way he incorporates a mobile-phone, lawsprinkler and a modem is amazing. Many bands have used a lot of unusual effects, but it rarely work. The way this album is produced is simply unmatched, I have over 500 cd's in my collection and nothing comes close.

Like many other people I was surprised when I first heard the album beacuse of the radical change in style. In 1997 (right after the release of Oxygene 7-13) Jarre said that analogue synthesizers were the electronic instruments of the future, but when he released Metamorphoses, he told me that he may have been to faithful to them and that computer technology was progressing so fast that it is capable of making the (almost) same sounds as the AS. This came as a shock to me. Jarre not using analogue synthesizers is like Oldfield not using Bells, but it works! Of course there are analogue synthesizers on the album, but it isn't as vital for the music as before. Instead he has chosen to sing/talk himself (vocoded of course) and use the talents of Natascha Atlas (C'est la Vie), Laurie Anderson (Je me souviens) and Sharon Corr (Rendez-Vous á Paris). I won't review the tracks, but if I was to name my favourites I have no doubt: - Rendez-Vous á Paris - Gloria Lonely Boy - Millions of Stars

These three tracks are simply brilliant, the blend of synthesizers, solo violin, string orchestras, vocoders and drum machines is amazing.

On the other hand there are a few tracks I don't really like too much: - Tout est Bleu

Ok, only one track then, but it simply doesn't fit with the others. This track is far to commercial and discolike for me, some like it but it's the general opinion among fans that it's the weakest track.

I hope you haven't read this in the belief that you know whether to buy the album or not. Read the other reviews and then think about this.

If you want some really intelligent music that requires your attention, then this is the album for you. But if you want something to dance around to or simply put on when you're doing something else, I think you should be careful. All the details in the music requires several play-throughs and you need to focus on the music itself.

Finally, I can tell you that this certainly isn't New Age. In fact Jarre has never made New Age. He's the godfather of Electronic Music. The godfather of New Age is Vangelis (I love him as well). Jean Michel Jarre has one of the unique minds and talents in modern music. I hope you will learn to appreciate it.

If you expect a composer to stay monotone and offer you the same stuff over and over again, do not follow an adventurous composer like Jean Michel Jarre. I certainly could not have predicted this style of album from JMJ but that's what makes him so great. We've already seen that he is a master at creating a symphonic soundscape utilizing synthesizers (If you have not heard them listen to Equinoxe, Oxygene, Chronologie, etc.).

Zoolook may have hinted at Metomorphoses's coming. This is the first album of Jarre's that utilizes lyrics so prominently. Of course when Jarre's voice is used it is manipulated using a vocoder.

The tracks don't flow into one another as is the case on most Jarre works. But the progression of the music is fantastic. The tracks are mostly upbeat and lively. A lot of different textures are explored. C'est La Vie is influenced by Arabic rhythms and sounds. Rendezvous a Paris is a hip-hop/rap/rock/classical piece. Millions of Stars is most like traditional Jarre pieces along with Miss Moon and Gloria, Lonely Boy. Tout et Bleu and Give Me a Sign are great dance pieces along with C'est La Vie. The more interesting upbeat pieces are Hey, Gagarin, which is inspired by Yuri Gagarin, the first human to orbit the earth in space. It is an unbelievable tour de force. Bells is likewise beautiful with Jarre-exclusive melodic mastery. Silhouette caps off the album with an unusual vocal arrangement, like a prayer.

I've listened to the album a few times and it has grown on me. Jarre's composition and production techniques are unparalleled. Most composers try to dazzle you with the sounds they can generate with modern technology. Jarre only uses sounds to enhance his compositions. The sound effects at the start of Bells and throughout Miss Moon demonstrate this.

If you have an eclectic taste for music, listen to this album with an open mind knowing that Jarre is morphing from what he's done in the past. Can't wait until the next album Jean Michel. Happy listening.

I can't write a review worth beans, but I just have to throw in my $0.02.

I love this album. I've been a JMJ fan since the early eighties and I've got all of his stuff. This album blew me away. So did Oxygene 7-13. They're both similar in the sense that 7-13 is like Oxygene II. Metamorphoses is like Zoolook II. But yet they're both absolutely evolutionary rather than more of the same.

The sound quality of Metamorphoses is unmatched. Amazing dynamic range.

It's a little different than what people might expect, but don't let the term "lyrics" fool you. It's really hard to say that it has actual lyrics and vocals. The human voices are so heavily digitally tweezed--JMJ uses them like instruments. These "songs" aren't sung.

Get it!

There was a doze of self-repeating in the Oxygene 7-13, but that kind of repeating I can always listen to. That was still the authentic Jarre sound. Metamorphosis bring out the vocals and that is supposed to be the fresh and innovative parameter in the Jarre opus (even though there have been all sorts of vocals and vocal-like sounds in the previous albums). Intelligent and melancholic music that is what I am used to when it comes to Jarre. This album goes a bit over that, and in my opinion it is too much. "Randez-Vouz A Paris" Would be my favorite track and "Hey Gagarin" the weakest. I hope next time Jean-Michel Jarre will go a bit closer to his own style.

The father of the new age music, Jean Michel Jarre, enters this year 2000 with a new material, but very different from all his previous works (actually, we have witnessed some significant changes throughout his whole career, but this is a completely new concept in relation to his past albums). First of all, he employs vocals of different female singers in most of the songs -some of them sung with french and english lyrics-and he himself sings some songs (something really asked by his hard fans since a long time ago, but this is a way of speaking, because actually in 2 songs he uses a voice processor, like a robot voice, and in the others he just talk, but at last we can hear him 'singing'). Only 3 songs can be considered as totally instrumentals, one of them the magnificent and fine "Bells" (nothing to do with Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, though, as logic, it includes sounds of bells). His usual arrangements, which always have accompanied, enriched and distinguished his music from other new age performers, the electronic sounds used very profusely in Oxygene 7-13, Chronology and other previous materials, now are hardly listened because of its absence, and instead of that, you can hear a more modernistic and pop style, very high-tech, danceable, with keabords, syntesizers and strings, but almost cleaned of his traditional or spacial sounds. Possibly, at first impression, you can even say: this is not Jarre music! and not to appreciate it properly (many people did so when Zoolook, Revolutions and Waiting for Costeau were released). My usual recommendation, when one listens something new, is to listen the material not once but several times, carefully and open-minded, because sometimes it's hard to accept a new presentation of something already known. Jarre has always been a musical revolutionary. He's always featuring new prepositions, tendencies and renditions in order to expand his own musical world and then show it to the world. I think this album can be paralelled with Revolutions. In both of them he features voices, human and electronic, most of the songs are free of his common musical effects, and the style is quite different; besides, the songs aren't connected one after another as they are in Oxygen 7-13 or Chronology, I mean, after finishing one song we can hear the common and short silence which exists between two different songs, according to the traditional albums, but up to that point we can make comparisons, because Revolutions sounds more orchestral, somehow classical, and Metamorphoses is chiefly technopop. For me, I like more the usual 'Jarre Music': spacial, ethereal, relaxing and very energetic, exciting, full of incredible effects and sounds, which makes me dream awake with all sort of stars, to feel like flying or visiting the sky or the universe, but the man is innovative, very creative, and doesn't always stick to certain parameters. I really hope that in his next material, he will return to his roots and make his usual superb music. In my personal opinion, this new material won't yield such huge hits as Oxygen 7 or 8, Chronology 4 or 6 and others, I mean, 'pure new age music', but the music is good, the songs are well balanced, the arrangements, voices and the sound quality are really excellent, at its best level, according to the present recording technology, in a few words: it's a historic recording. But above all, we musn't forget the most important thing: this, his new material, which offers a different style and, of course, a new human and artistic side from the composer, with a work opposite to the previously done -but not less good, on the contrary, its a progress-, represents something that everybody suffers when really longs for a true change: a metamorphoses.

I recently picked this album up in Germany while on vacation. As someone who has been a Jarre fan for over 15 years I must say that this has been my favorite Jarre album since Rendezvous. In the past, every album Jarre as made has had a different feel. So it's no surprise that Metamorphoses is different from past emanations. It still has that classic Jarre sound (samples, analog synths, filter sweeps) but Metamorphoses has a bit more edge and drama than past albums. This album does feature some singing but the voices are used more as instruments than to convey a message. On this album Jarre intelligently combines classic acoustic elements with techno and trance like bass elements. He also uses some edgy and heavily processed sounds to give this album a lot of drama. It's all very cool. If you're a Jarre fan this album is definitely worth the price. If you're new to Jarre and like Enigma or Delerium this one is a great place to start.

As a fan of Jarre's work since the beginning (I started with Oxygene), I've followed his musical growth closely. I was starting to worry that he had run out of ideas, particularly after Oxygene 7-13 (which I loved, but I always worry when an artist has to resort to a "sequel" instead of creating something new).

Not to worry! Jarre has taken a step in the evolution of his sound as big as the one he took when he released Zoolook, and just as with that album those who can't abide variety or change are running scared.

The new album is Jarre, and no one else; his sound is undeniably present, though substantially different from his previous work, particularly the more atmospheric works like Oxygene and Equinoxe.

If you want nothing but those albums, by all means play them until your cd player burns out, but if you celebrate the growth of a musician's sound and style, Metamorphoses (aptly named!) is a rich, complex blend of classic Jarre elements with new and exciting techniques and sounds. Well worth the time!

Defenatly one of his best from my point of view . So many different moods and so much use of techno-pop . I use to like his older music but I gess my test develops at the same direction as his new album .
Out of his other albums ... I would say it is more close to the " Zoolook ".
If you are Jarre's fun and a " Walkman " tipe of person - this is your album .
My favorite part ? I would say 11'30"-15'50".

As Jarre CDs go, which is usually very well, this is one of his best. There is an array of atmospheric tunes, strident tunes, vocals, all of them unique and well-planned-out. A first-class collection of music

I am a little disipointed on this CD. This is nothing like his Oxygene 7-13. In fact this is one of his worst so far. I am a big JMJ fan and I bought this CD on blind loyalty, even with the large price tag. It is very slow and down beat with, get this, voices and singing? I enjoyed JMJ's use of a choir in the past, but this is not the same. Still, if you are a die hard JMJ fan, dont take my word for it, form your own opinion.