Jarre* – Les Chants Magnétiques

Nice pressing with little to no surface noise. Sounds really good.

What a desaster ... I just went through three CD versions with very different mastering results. I kept MF2 from my version from the 80s box set and the rest from my version from the Original Album Series. I kept MF3 from the bad master because of the edit and called it no-train-edit. None of the less one of my favorites and was my introduction to JMJ in 1985, I was 15 then.

Can anyone possibly tell me if this french first pressing is likely to sound superior to my UK copy?

The UK pressing sounds pretty amazing already

Fields (en)=Champs (fr)...not "chants".How is it right?...Stupid,ten words for post.

This album sounds even more incredible on vinyl! Its as if every beautiful note sticks out! The cover and (heavy)innersleeve are great too. Definitely a beautiful album and must have if you enjoy electronic soundscapes.

Practically a sequel to both, "Oxygene" and "Equinoxe" (in itself already a sequel to "Oxygene", a decent one though), each a couple of years away, one can sense Jarre's predictable synth-doodling on "Les Chants Magnetiques" reaching its painful dead end, somewhat even before the laser hits the CD/the stylus cuts into the vinyl. The opening sequence is adorable in itself but very quickly, as the album progresses, Jarre starts sounding too desperate in trying to fill in the gaps - the title suggests a bit more serious and conceptually stronger exercise but in the end the whole is just ruined with his attempt at showing (off) how accessible electronics can be, plus a truly laughable ending moment that is the hawaii-flavoured "La Derniere Rhumba" - which sounds exactly like on cheap autopilot.

Of course, there are still some beautiful examples here, like "pt. III" - adding a kalimba to amazing effect, providing one of Jarre's most adorable avant-garde moments - which should have been the key-point regarding inspiration for this album, because it does provide an interesting angle from which "Les Chants Magnetiques" could have taken off more properly into something far less predictable. Sadly, his self-indulgent soundplay here is a downright hit and miss affair.

Maybe it's a trilogy thing - but despite occasionally sympathetic synth-popping trademark (pts II, IV), "Les Chants Magnetiques" is Jarre at his least inspired and most mediocre.