Oxygene [Original recording reissued]

Jean Michel Jarre | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 21, 1993)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Label: Dreyfus
• ASIN: B000001ZS3
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,704 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #29 in Music > Indie Music > Dance & DJ > Electronica
  • #34 in Music > Indie Music > New Age > General
  • #35 in Music > World Music > Europe > Continental Europe > France

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still takes me into another world, October 24, 2004

By 

A. David Garza Marin "Tron.BAS" (Iztapalapa, D.F. Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oxygene (Audio CD)

I heard this album back in 1978 in its LP form, locally printed by Polydor. Since the first time it took me to another dimension, a world I can only imagine with my eyes closed. I really loved this album first sight (first heard?), but I had my concerns about the quality of the the sound of the LP pressing made by the local Polydor (well, I didn't like the quality of sound records printed by the local Polydor until 1985). I bought this record once and again from international sources, even in tape (cassette) and time after time I thought that the sound quality wasn't satisfactory for me...

Then, as a last chance, I bought in 2003 the new CD issue, Digitally Re-mastered 96 Khz - 24 bit technology issued by 2000 year... Just to hear this disk, I bought a totally new digital audio system... And then my ears heard the sound I expected to hear since I had 14 years old. This disk is one of my very favorites, together with Magnetic Fields, Equinoxe and Zoolook (in that order), although the rest of the Jarre work is exceptional too.

I am a music lover, specifically Rock oriented. But only Jean Michel Jarre and Tomita had moved my attention to electronic sound, and they're my favorites in this arena. Oxigene puts a milestone in my life, and I think that would be done with yours if you listen to it carefully, lights off, eyes closed, well tempered sound and putting your mind in white. The sound will draw enough images in your mind to blow you away. Definitely, one of my best choices in music.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Classic of Modern Electronic Music, February 9, 2000

By 

Ras Bolding (Denmark) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oxygene (Audio CD)

When Jean-Michel Jarre released Oxygene back in 1976 there was hardly a market for electronic music. German pioneers such as Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, and Klaus Schulze had all achieved recognition but, unfortunately, not much fame. With Oxygene, Jean-Michel Jarre brought electronic music to the masses and he did so without compromising the music. Oxygene, split into six parts, is a musical journey through surreal ambient soundscapes, electro-minimalism, synth-pop, and proto-techno. Even today the sound as well as the compositions stand out, so if you want to know how techno, ambient music, and trance started out, you definitely need to listen to this masterpiece!

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Making the electronic organic, February 11, 2005

By 

Tim Brough "author and music buff" (Springfield, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Oxygene (Audio CD)

Jean Michel Jarre pulled of an incredible move when he released "Oxygene." He made the world of electronic music safe for composers. While a small, select few folk were making music with the earlier synthesizers of the day, most of them either concentrated on making novel reinterpretations of classical (think Tomita or "Switched On Bach",) cold, mechanical drones (Tangerine Dream) or music that was intentionally robotic (Kraftwerk). While I love just about all of the aforementioned artists, "Oxygene" was the first album that made me think of synthesizers as instruments as opposed to toys.

Jarre did this by making the songs of "Oxygene" play out like a classical composition. Each movement had distinct and original melodies and each sounded like it could hold its own as a song unto itself. The themes also sounded like they could be as organic and enveloping as the album title suggested; this was earthy music long before the term "new age" got slapped on everything that was vaguely atmospheric and meditative.

NB; Also a reason I still listen to this with a touch of nostalgia; my high school put on a production of "Hamlet" that used "Part II" as the processional music for the entrance of King Claudius.