Essentially, "Essentials" isn't essential

My musical awakening occurred in 1986. I immediately gravitated towards the pop music of the day which was, thankfully, largely produced with electronic instruments. I soon discovered the music of other more recognised ‘electronic’ musicians such as Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream and most importantly Jean-Michel Jarre. Jarre soon became my childhood hero. I began to devour anything Jarre; TV programmes, books, magazines and most obviously his LP’s. I would save up my pocket money and ride my bicycle to the record department of our local supermarket. Once inside, I spent hours looking at the slabs of polythene covered wonder and deciding which part of the back catalogue I would consume next. Magical times.

As far as I am concerned Jarre’s crown began to slip with the 1990 album “Waiting for Cousteau”. Two years had passed since the Dockland’s concerts and the wonder of the “Revolutions” album. I was expecting great things from his new material, not least because I purchased my first CD player in the intervening years and was looking forward to my first Jarre CD. Imagine my dismay to find Jarre only recorded half of an album and simply plonked a 40 min dirge on the end. Very disappointing (a quick look through the mp3’s on my hard drive confirms my disappointment is somewhat prolonged as the only album missing from the 67 different Jarre albums and singles represented is Cousteau).

The slide down the musical dung heap continued through the years with momentary revivals in fortune with the odd track here and there (Chronologie 4 and 6 and some bits of “Oxygene 7-13”). Yet the decline was palpable, and as it turns out, inexorable.

This brings us to the latest “Essentials and Rarities” release. My first problem with this CD is the title. Not only do I already own about 5 other Jarre compilations called “Essential” but the selection of tracks is rather eclectic to say the least. Reading the accompanying booklet confirms Jarre picked the tracks as a tribute to his friend and old record company boss Francis Dreyfus rather than defining a ‘Best of’. So why call it “Essentials” then?

The first CD consists of music any Jarre fan knows with some odd bits on Equinoxe 4 (dare I suggest the master tape is past its best?) and the original version of Zoolook rather than the remix which replaced it on all but the first pressings of the eponymously titled album. Jarre seems to have forgotten he made “Chronologie” and picked one of the worst tracks from his “Metamorphoses” album. I ordered this package as it promised a bonus disc of Jarre’s pre-Oxygene work (all of which is available on Bootleg CD’s) and some new nifty artwork (I am a sucker for those CD’s pressed up to look like LP’s, love ‘em). I have heard all the tracks beforehand, it’s true to say the mastering is much better on this ‘official’ CD but some of the tracks are so old and have so much tape hiss you have to wonder why they bothered. So essentially “Essentails” is not essential but it might do enough to remind me of Jarre’s lost genius (and possibly make me rip my Cousteau CD just to heal a wound).