I first started to buy Jean Michel Jarre's records around 1987. By the time I bought the cassette of "Equinoxe" I was familiar with "Zoolook", "Rendez-Vous" and "Magnetic Fields" but much of his earlier work was a mystery to me. When I first heard "Equinoxe Part I" oozing from my bright red Ferguson Escort 3T46 personal cassette player (with auto-reverse), I was a little surprised.
Jarre starts this album with slower, atmospheric pieces that don't necessarily jump out and grab the listener. If you're looking for pop tunes and an easy ride then the first three tracks on this album may not be for you. The usual sounds of the Eminent strings are now augmented by horns from a Yamaha CS-60 and the Oberheim "Polyphonic Synthesiser". As the bass drum and sequencers of "Part 4" kick in, the mood shifts a little. Whilst this track retains the darker sounding textures, it introduces a strong melody and develops its themes into a seven minute extravaganza of VC3 effects, Mellotron choirs and a whistling ARP 2600.
Side two opens with "Part V" which is probably the best know piece from this record. There is a pleasing melody and some impressive production touches that will fulfil the casual listener. I think my over familiarity with this song means it loses some of its magic, but I still enjoy it. There are actually two mixes of this song dependent on which pressing of the album you have. The original 1978 album features a mix that was replaced on later pressings and all compact discs. You can tell the two versions apart by listening for the güiro percussion sound which is present from the start on the original but fades in after a couple of bars on the remix. I also think the VC3 type sound effects are much more prominent on the newer version. Personally I prefer the original, but the differences are relatively minor.
The sequencer driven "Part VI" is a neat diversion before the most impressive piece on the record which is predictably titled "Part VII". An ARP 2600 bassline kicks things off before the familiar Eminent strings creep in to weave an intriguing melody. As the music slowly builds new themes are woven into the fabric of the song and it develops into something almost uplifting. After five minutes or so we taken into a coda which brings us slowly back to earth in a shower of shimmering VC3 generated sound effects. As the rain starts to fall we hear a "Band in the rain" before "Part VIII" resurrects the theme from "Part V".
In my youth I liked this album a lot more than I do today. Whilst I still regard these compositions very highly, I can't get past the fact that a large part of the first side is too languid and the ending is something of a disappointment. Today I can hear how much Jarre had moved his sound on from "Oxygene" with vocoders and sequencers, but it remains too reliant on the familiar Eminent strings and constant VC3 effects. The real revolution in Jarre's sound was to be brought about by digital technology. 4/5
In the end I won an auction that also contained an early copy of "Oxygene" which was still partially contained in its original cellophane wrapper (a sure sign a record has been looked after). As I expected, there isn't a scratch on these records but they were very, very dirty. Once I had put them through my cleaning machine they looked and sounded great; but the cleaning solution seemed to turn a murky grey colour that I have never seen before.
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