o2-arena-Jean-Michel jarre

Mainstream success: 1976–1982
Oxygène
Although Jarre already had several works to his name, it was his 1976 solo album Oxygène that was responsible for his rise to international stardom. The album, which consists of six numbered tracks, makes strong use of melody rather than rhythm or dissonance, and a collection of keyboards and synthesizers to create a range of sound textures and melodies. Key components of Jarre's sound included his use of the Dutch organ/string synthesizer the Eminent 310, Electro-Harmonix Small Stone phaser on the Eminent's string pads, the Korg Minipops drum machine and liberal use of echo on various sound effects generated by the VCS3 synthesizer.
All those ethereal sounds on Oxygène IV come from the VCS3 ...It was the first European synthesizer, made in England by a guy called Peter Zinovieff. I got one of the first ones. I had to go to London in 1967 to get it, and it's the one I still have onstage 40 years later
Jean Michel Jarre,
A minimalist concept album recorded at his home studio, on a small budget, it initially proved difficult to sell. Turned down by several companies, eventually a fellow student of Schaeffer, Hélène Dreyfus, persuaded her husband Francis to publish the album on his label Disques Motors. Hélène was at the time employed as an artistic director for her husband. The first pressing of 50,000 copies was promoted through hi-fi shops, clubs, and discos.
I just had three or four synthesizers and was using a Scully eight-track and a mixture of Ampex 256 and 3M tape. The whole album was done on just one eight-track and you can hear that in the piece — it’s quite minimalist and I think that contributes to its timelessness—Jean Michel Jarre,
By April 1977 Oxygène had sold 70,000 copies in France. Interviewed in Billboard magazine, Dreyfus director Stanislas Witold said "In a sense we're putting most of our bets on Jean Michel Jarre. He is quite exceptional and we're sure that by 1980 he will be recognised worldwide. Oxygène has since sold an estimated 12 million copies, and is the best-selling French record of all time. It became a huge success in his native France, reached no.2 in the UK album charts, no.65 in Canada, and broke the top 100 in the US. The album contains his most recognisable single, "Oxygène IV",which reached no.4 in the UK single charts.
With this work, Jarre has found the successful formula that he will use in his next albums: only a track on each vinyl's side comprising linked themes without gaps, with melodies and arrangements close to a synphonic fashion except (about) two more pop and catchy pieces (with quicker tempo and sharp percussion) suitable to be launched as singles: mainly easy melodies wrapped with all kind of electronic sounds and effects in a complex and good-tasted production. Other characteristic stylism of this series of his albums include naming the pieces as the album itself numbered with roman numerals, and listings of the electronic instruments employed in the cover's credits.
Excerpts from Oxygène are part of the soundtrack of 1981 Peter Weir's film Gallipoli, despite of the fact that hi-tech electronic pop music does not match well with the World War I sets sighted on the film.
Équinoxe
The ARP 2600, used extensively on Équinoxe and other albums by Jarre
Jarre's follow-up album Équinoxe was released in 1978. Équinoxe employs a more baroque and classical style than Oxygène, with more emphasis on melodic development. The album makes use of sequencing, particularly on the bass. Although not as commercially successful as Oxygène (Équinoxe reached no.11 in the British charts, nine places behind Oxygène), its release was followed by a large open-air concert at the Place de la Concorde on Bastille Day, 1979. The free outdoor event drew more than 1 million spectators (including Mick Jagger, who praised the show), setting a new world record for the largest number of spectators ever at an open-air concert, and was watched by a television audience of over 100 million people. The success of the event was not fully anticipated; the crowds were so large that Charlotte Rampling (at that time Jarre's wife) found it difficult to access the venue. Although it was not the first time that Jarre had performed in concert (he had already played at the Paris Opera Ballet), the 40 minute-long event, which used projections of light and images, and fireworks, would serve as a blueprint for Jarre's future concerts. The event helped to boost Jarre's popularity — between 14 July and 31 August 1979, he sold 800,000 records. It also served as Jarre's introduction to Francis Rimbert — brought together by Michel Geiss, Jarre used Rimbert's sythesizer setup for the performance. Today Rimbert works for Jarre on a full-time basis.
Les Chants Magnétiques / Magnetic Fields
By the time that Les Chants Magnétiques was released on 20 May 1981, both Oxygène and Équinoxe had accumulated global sales of about 6,000,000 units. In its first two months, Les Chants Magnétiques sold a reported 200,000 units in France alone. The sounds used on the album are primarily based around the capabilities of the Fairlight CMI. The CMI gave Jarre the chance to continue much of the sonic experimentation of his earlier work, using digital technology to make the collection and processing of sounds much easier. Both Jarre and Peter Gabriel were among the first artists to take delivery of the Fairlight platform and make heavy use of it.
The release of Les Chants Magnétiques coincided with Jarre's first foreign tour. In 1981 the British Embassy in Beijing gave Radio Beijing copies of Oxygène and Équinoxe. The two albums were the first pieces of foreign music to be played on Chinese national radio for decades. Jarre was invited to become the first western musician to give concerts in the People's Republic of China. The concerts were scheduled to run from 18 October to 5 November 1981. The first concert played in Beijing was initially attended mostly by officials. Before the start of the performance technicians realised that not enough power was available to supply electricity to both the stage and the auditorium. Chinese officials solved the problem by cutting power to the surrounding districts for the duration of the performance.
The stadium was almost full when the concert started, but nearly half the audience left before the end, as Beijing's buses stopped running at about 10 o'clock. To boost the audience attendance for the second night, Jarre and his production team purchased some of the concert tickets and gave them to children on the streets (Jarre originally intended for the concerts to be free, but the Chinese authorities charged between £0.20 and £0.50 per ticket).The concert was notable for the lack of audience involvement during the performance; the Chinese were apparently nonplussed by both the music and the light show, and applause was muted. The second venue in Shanghai was a different matter — Jarre actively encouraged audience participation by stepping into the crowd, which became much more exuberant than that in Beijing. The concerts were released as a double-disc LP in 1982, and featured the Laser harp, one of Jarre's signature electronic instruments.
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