Customer Reviews

Revolutions

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

...however, I understand why some fans rate this album. Personally speaking, I loved Oxygene, Equinoxe and Rendezvous....but never liked this one.

This was indeed a bold project for Jarre, and I understand the 'Industrial' theme, but after a dramatic opening with part 1 the whole album seems to get bogged down in musical durge, which as depressing as it is may appeal to the purist.

There is no real break from the misery, until you reach London Kid which by no means a classic, brightens things up no end. After that though it's quickly downhill with a rather flat tribute to a lady called Dulcie September (who?)

I was present at Jean-Michel's 'Destination Docklands' London Concert in 1988 and it was the most wonderful, moving experience I have ever seen in my life - despite playing some 'Revolutions' tracks. Just goes to show how awesome this guy is.

My personal advice is that you should avoid 'Revolutions' if you are a first time buyer, the same as 'Zoolook'. Both are an aquired taste.

Revolutions like Rendezvous is classical in nature but falls foul of bad execution - poor synth sounds. Even the track with Hank Marvin on guitar is quite a disappointment. The Industrial Revolution track is the best followed by "Revolution, Revolutions" which is the version played live in 1990 at La Defense with the Arabian orchestra not the original version with the Turkish Flute. The new version of the track is better but no the old version is no longer available which is a shame. Tokyo Kid sounds really under-developed and doesn't go anywhere.

Don't get me wrong, Revolutions is a good album but lacks direction after the first 5 tracks. It ends on a high with L'emigrant, the usual typical choral Jarre piece.

Along with 'Rendezvous', this was one of two Jean Michel Jarre albums expressly created to accompany a concert, this time a large event in the newly-demolished Docklands at London. Reaching number two in the UK pop charts, the music was overshadowed by the event, which was a shame as it was, at the very least, an interesting departure from Jarre's previous work. Taking the 'Rendezvous' / 'Zoolook' format of having a big long piece on side one and lots of shorter songs on side two, it opens with the clanking, Wagnerian 'Industrial Revolutions', which burbles along happily for a quarter of an hour or so. Side two starts off with the Hank Marvin-guesting 'London Kid', which is dull, and wobbles between the fatuous ('The Emigrant', and 'September', which may well be sincere but isn't actually very interesting), and the profound. 'Tokyo Kid' is thoroughly bizarre and extremely effective - ambient washes mixed with an evil-sounding trumpet solo, whilst 'Computer Weekend' is the closest Jean Michel Jarre got to being Kraftwerk (although not particularly close). 'Revolutions', meanwhile, is his first go at doing contemporary dance music, and, although hardly Altern-8, is good in it's own way - a kind of 'world rave', with a Cylons intoning slogans over the top. As with 'Zoolook', this album has individual track names, and non-electronic instrumentation.

If you're into synths, this is *the* Roland D50 album, too.

All in all, it's worth it for the tracks with 'Rev*' in the name, although 'Rendezvous' was much more consistent.

I first heard this album thanks to a web site that lets you purchase music in mp3 format. Unfortunately though, the sound clips really aren't long enough to give you a good idea of what to expect, and this is particularly true in the case of Jean Michel Jarre's works. But what I heard of Revolutions was more than a little intriguing. Unfortunately, whereas I was able to borrow Magnetic Fields and listen to it from end to end, I wasn't able to take that route with Revolutions because I don't know anyone who has it. So my only option was to purchase the album. I placed the order with Amazon last week and it arrived yesterday, two days earlier than they estimated that it would. And while there have been times where I've made that leap of faith and regretted it immediately, that wasn't the case with Revolutions. While I do acknowledge that this album has a much more mainstream, commercial sound to it than, say, Oxygene or Equinoxe or even Magnetic Fields, I still really enjoyed it. I must have gotten the 1994 reissue, because when I ripped the CD to my computer, which I do with most of the albums I listen to most frequently, the track names were different from the list they had on the site where I heard the sound samples. Those were the titles for the original 1988 release. The titles on my CD conformed, however, to the 1994 rerelease, albeit they were mostly in French. So I was at least reassured by that. Not that it was really an issue since what was burned onto the CD was what I expected to hear.
The album begins with the Industrial Revolution suite which comprises Ouverture and then parts 1 through 3. Ouverture has a cool mechanical rhythm to it and a melody that in its way is almost ominous. But it's incredibly catchy as far as I'm concerned. There isn't much music that really gets my blood racing, but this and Oxygene II did just that.
Part 1 starts off with an interesting little Egyptian or perhaps Turkish sounding melody played on what I assume is the synthe version of bagpipes. It's accompanied by mechanical sounds that I at first found more than a little annoying, but they did sort of grow on me. It reminds me of what I imagine it would sound like to hear, say, a Giant blacksmith working a huge bellows. The track quickly picks up with an uptempo, almost urgent melody that I really enjoyed.
Part 3 of this long sweet which, unlike Oxygene or Equinoxe doesn't bleed as seamlessly into each new part, though it still does fit, has a tense, I would even say urgent sound to it. Another neat track.
London Kid is a quieter track than the prior ones, although it does still have something of an uptempo, rock sound to it. It actually makes me think of something that might conceivably be used as the theme song to a TV show about some swav, groovin' detective with a smart mouth. Yeah, I probably have a weird imagination, but oh well. It's better than having none at all.
Revolution, also called Revolutions, is probably one of my favorite tracks on the album besides the Industrial Revolution suite, or Revolution Industrielle as it's called on my copy. It starts out softly with a cool melody played on what sound to me like a combination of violins and woodwinds of some kind, then rapidly picks up with a pounding rhythm and a cool melody. There are also, interestingly enough, voice clips spoken in English, created by what sound incredibly like the old Echo speech synthesizer, which was to my knowledge the very first speech synthesizer designed to allow blind people to use computers, the Apple 2 to be exact. And being almost twenty-nine years old I can certainly remember those days.
Tokyo kid is less catchy than the prior tracks, but that doesn't mean it's horrible. I liked its rhythm and thought the melody was cool. It's just not one of my favorites.
Next we have Computer Weekend, which I really liked. In fact my only complaint was the instrument used to play the main melody. The melody itself I find quite catchy, but the synthe human voice just got on my nerves, not enough that I wouldn't listen to the track but it did detract somewhat from the catchy rhythm.
Next we have September, which is the only song on the album I didn't particularly care for. The rhythm was kinda cool and so was the melody, but it was still an almost forgetable piece. Not horrible but not great either.
The album closes with The Emigrant, which is probably another favorite of mine. It closes the album on what was for me an extremely triumphant note. In fact it sounded to me like something that would fit extremely well as the background for the closing credits for a good movie or even a video game. Needless to say I really liked it.
So all in all, I found Revolutions to be a very good album, well worth the eleven bucks I spent on it. Some of you who gave this album poor reviews may think I have poor taste in music for liking this album, but we're all entitled to our own opinions. I just happened to really enjoy this CD, the one exception being September. So if you haven't heard this album yet I recommend you find a way to listen to clips of it if you can find some. That should help you decide if it's to your liking. As I said before, I don't regret buying it.

And that's coming from a confirmed heavy metal fan! But the simple truth of the matter is that this is musical genius that transcends genres. The talent is so overwhelmingly evident it's no wonder Jarre carved himself out a niche very much of his own making.

A few specific reasons why I call this thing a work of genius would include;

* The gradual working in of motifs in the first four tracks, essentially just four parts of the one concept. This level of adding layers is the sort of thing you'd think would be preserved for classical music and the use of motif in particular is something that I'd more normally associate with soundtrack music.

* The differing feels within the album on the various tracks. Within a single disc Jarre has gone to different places and it all hangs together as a piece of work which is an achievement in itself.

* Jarre wears his heart on his sleeve. There are a number of dedications on this album championing various causes both specific and non specific. Having worked himself a comfortable niche within which to operate Jarre could have just gone along putting out more of the same and not offering anything of himself. But here we get a glimpse of what makes this artist passionate and that makes for a more inclusive and impressive experience.

And those are just three reasons off the top of my head why I'd heartily recommend picking this album up as soon as you can. There are others but space restrictions forbid me from waxing lyrical ad infinitum.

Revolutions~ Jean-Michel Jarre is a very uneven cd. The first 4 tracks are stupendous and are built up in an ouverture, part I, part II and ending with part III. This is a stroke of pure genius. Revolutions is an alright track however it does sound dated and that is not a good thing barely 20 years after it initial release. London Kid is one of my least favorite Jarre tracks and it truly sounds like cheap elevator music at best. Tokyo Kid and Computer Weekend are alright. September is a tribute to a person so remote that I have no idea whom it is. The track is sugar sweet and that is not good when it comes to this kind of music. The Emigrant ends on a down note. If the album instead had stuck with the industrial them the entire album and had part 4, part 5, part 6 and a finale then we could have talked about probably his best album since oxygene. However, it ends up being just average and that is such a shame when Jarre can do so much more then this.

This may not immediately sound like Jarre within the first few minutes, but once you get into the ethno-electronica groove it's an intense experience.

I don't agree that this is one of Jarre's weakest albums. Sure, most of his stuff after "Waiting for Cousteau" got progressively less and less original, but this is still Jarre at the top of his creativity.

Jarre gets away from the long-winded album style and lays down some very complex and enjoyable tracks here. There are a couple of less-than-stellar songs, but most of the album is full of juicy stuff that you can listen to over and over again. I know I do.

I am reviewing the entire album of this name....

This disc seems very patched together; not a cohesive piece or album like Zoolook, Rendevous, or Chronologie. If you are new to JMJ, I suggest one of those first, or his earlier Oxegene.

A lot of Revolutions sounds cheesy and forced. When I listen to this disc, which is rare, I pick out a few of the better tracks and skip the rest.

With self assurance we see the young handsome french composer promenading under Le Arch with rich brave compositions, sprouting CO2 smoke and his mighty light-synth. Bravo! . . . But theres something missing. . . . Where is the muse? . . . These dazzling enlivened pieces feel emotionless. Over the years Jarre's compositional acumen has progressed, but along the way he lost that intangible magic that floated his first three albums. . Yet losing his own muse he nonetheless has proven an influence upon others. This is evident with track #6 "Revolutions" impressing Cirque du Soleil "Verekai". And I'm sure I have heard track #8 "Computer Weakend" on some TV commercial. But what really impressed me was track #7 "Tokyo Kid". A profoundly electro/human burlesque arrangement measuring bimorphic relationships.

Electronic tunes at their best. Listen to this and chill. I still chill with this after all these years. What can I say. His music is so universal, the Iranian radio and tv, have been using his tunes since the revolution for all their sports programs, of course without giving him credit. The power of good music.