One record at a time: 204. Jean Michel Jarre - Chronologie Pt6 Slam and Gat Dacor Remixes

This is a potentially controversial entry as the debate over how to classify this release rages amongst some Jarre fans. People on both sides of the argument are convinced they are correct, but ultimately it just comes down to personal preference.

If you wish to consider this a single (or God forbid a 'Maxi') then please do so and just think of it as having been reviewed out of turn. Personally I don't care, but as I bought the CD from the album section of the shop and it charted in the UK album chart, I'm treating it as if it were an album. I have owned the CD since it was released in 1994 but I only acquired the vinyl in 2020. I had no burning desire to hear this music from wax but I was trying assemble a more complete collection at the time I bought it. 

Whatever format we consider this record to be, it has little to recommend it. I absolutely love the original version of "Chronologie Part 6" but these mixes are not only boring but completely divorced from the source material. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy some progressive house and techno, but these tracks are devoid of ideas and go nowhere. 

The first Slam mix starts promisingly but after eleven minutes of hearing the same two bar loop going round and round it becomes a real test of endurance. The second mix abandons the techno bassline and leans more heavily on TB-303 acid squeals, but ultimately it goes down the same cul-de-sac as the first. The "Main Mix" by Gat Dacor utilises a breakbeat and the occasional vocal sample, but the closest it comes to incorporating material from the original is a few chords after about five minutes. The "Alternative Mix" is just more of the same dross. In truth, the only thing of merit on this disc is the original version.

In creating this record I think Jarre and Polydor were attempting to gain credibility in the nascent dance scene by paying newer artists for remixes. The trouble with this approach is that some people will always be content to take the cash and churn out a song of their own creation rather than rework the source material. The same issue would occur a few years later when The Orb were commissioned to remix "Oxygene Part 8", but there were slightly more spectacular consequences that time. This 'album' is definitely for completists only and even the most ardent Jarre fan can afford to ignore it. 1/5 (it would be zero if the original were not present).