Les Negresses Vertes "Famille nombreuse" (1991)

Famille nombreuse
release date: (Nov.?) 1991
format: vinyl (gatefold) / digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Sodi & Clive (aka Clive Martin)
label: Delabel / Razzia Disques - nationality: France

Track highlights: 1. "Famille heureuse" - 2. "Perpétuellement vôtre" - 6. "Sous le soleil de Bodega" - 8. "Hou ! Mamma mia..." - 9. "Infidèle cervelle" - 10. "La France a ses dimanches" - 12. "Car c'est un blouze"

2nd studio album by French band Les Negresses Vertes, which here enlists eleven members, although the cover photos only counts ten members. Prior to this, the band featured on the international Cole Porter tribute album Red Hot + Blue from 1990 with their version of "I Love Paris".

Here, the band attempts to continue in the same style from Mlah (1989), but nevertheless with more polished arrangements, which lacks the rebellious streak that caused the band to be compared to Madness and The Pogues. However, the album does succeed in presenting a more common tone, where Mlah pointed in various directions and also reflected music from a sea of ​​styles, and in that regard Familie nombreuse is an album that roughly stays on the same ground throughout. It's original, but in my mind it's missing that extra kick the debut contained. Having said that, the music here is by no means poor, but at times sticks out as slightly uninspired, although I personally find that the album actually improves in the latter half - perhaps simply because these songs share some of the traits from Mlah.

Familie nombreuse [meaning 'large family'] is the band's final with the its front figure, lead vocalist, and one of its major songwriters: Helno Rota, who died of an overdose in '93 (at the age of 29), after which the band's line-up changed considerably. The band continued to release albums up until around 2001, after which they have been less active. However, around 2018 and up to the 30th anniversary of this very album, Les Negresses Vertes (reformed with several of the original members) resumed their live performances, playing tracks from Mlah in particular (see here and here - and here a promotion spot for their tour).

[ 👎allmusic.com 2 / 5 stars, Popdose review ]

Les Negresses Vertes "Mlah" (1989)

Mlah [debut]
release date: (Jan.?) 1989
format: vinyl / cd (1991)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,92]
producer: Clive Martin, Sodi (aka Sodi Marciszewer)
label: Delabel - nationality: France

Track highlights: 2. "Zobi la Mouche" (4 / 5) - 3. "C'est pas la mer à boire" - 4. "Voilà l'été" (4 / 5) (live 2019) - 5. "Orane" - 7. "Les yeux de ton père" - 8. "Il" - 11. "Marcelle Ratafia" - 12. "La danse des négresses" (live)

Studio album debut by French 8-piece orchestra Les Negresses Vertes ['The Green Negresses', or: 'The Green Black Girls'] consisting of lead vocalist Helno (aka Noël Rota, aka Helno Rota de Lourcqua), guitarist and backing vocalist Melino (aka Stéfane Michel Mellino), accordion player and guitarist Mathieu Canavese (aka Mathieu Crespin), bassist Paulo (aka Jean-Marie Dominique Paulus), harmonica player and trombonist Abraham Sirinix, trumpeter and percussionist Twist (aka Michel Ochowiak), pianist and percussionist L'Ami Ro (aka Joël Ruffier Des Aimes), and drummer Gaby le Magnifique (aka Laurent Gabriel). The band formed in the Autumn of '87 in Paris and has roots in the South of France and with many other national ties - e.g. to Algeria, Poland, Italy, and Spain. The album was originally released on French Off The Tracks Records and Razzia Disques, while international editions were released on several labels including Virgin, Sire, Polydor, and Warner Bros.

Stylistically, Mlah represents a huge mix of styles but is primarily bound to French musical traditions. There are obvious parts of folk rock and punk rock, which in places point in the direction of French Mano Negra, and / or British The Pogues, and then elsewhere more in the direction of Madness in a French version of ska. You'll also notice a strong influence from traditional music such as 'gypsy music', flamenco, muzette, and waltz, and the band's music has thus been referred to as 'gypsy punk' - although that designation is far from sufficient. Some have called Les Negresses Vertes a 'global-folk-punk-band', although that only serves to prove it more than ordinarily difficult to categorise the band's style.

I purchased the album back in '89 - and actually played it quite a bit, but unfortunately, I lost the vinyl version along the way. However, I have since got hold of a cd reissue containing two bonus tracks, and a copy of the same vinyl issue I once owned. The original version comes with 12 tracks and a total running length of approx. 42 minutes, while the '91 cd issue is approx. 48 minutes.

Mlah is the band's first, and in my view also their absolute best. There's an immediateness and a joy of playing, and the album mostly sounds like what it is: recorded live in a studio with all members in high spirits, which is aptly conveyed in the official music video for perhaps the their best-known song: "Zobi la Mouche" -  also listen to "Voilà l'été".

Highly recommended.

[ 👍allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Jean-Michel Jarre "Equinoxe Infinity" (2018)

Equinoxe Infinity
release date: Nov. 16, 2018
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,42]
producer: Jean-Michel Jarre
label: Columbia Records - nationality: France

Track highlights: 1. "The Watchers (Movement 1)" - 2. "Flying Totems (Movement 2)" - 3. "Robots Don't Cry (Movement 3)" - 6. "Infinity (Movement 6)" - 8. "The Opening (Movement 8)" - 10. "Equinoxe Infinity (Movement 10)"
[ Official trailer: "the making of the album" ]

19th (or: 20th/21st/22nd ?) studio album by (now) 70-year-old Jean-Michel Jarre is the sequel to his classic 1978 album Equinoxe celebrating that album's 40th anniversary, much to the same formula he applied by releasing Oxygène 3 in 2016 to celebrate his '76 masterpiece Oxygène. The album contains ten tracks and has a running time just below 40 mins.
Musically, it's no big surprise when he pays tribute to his old classic - as he did with the "Oxygène"-trilogy by remodelling new compositions to echo his previous work in a way where you understand the reference point but also by incorporating new elements from progressive and minimal house as well as other styles of electronica to add something contemporary. He takes the listener back in time and shows us many of his own inspirational sources of modern electronica and the whole thing is moulded with grace and technical finesse of an experienced composer, who is familiar with all the twists and turns and every detail in the big pool of electronica to make it such a pleasant journey.
Yes, you have to like non-vocal-based progressive compositions, and if you fall into that segment, it's most likely that you too will find this a mighty fine accomplishment, and one of Jarre's better albums in recent years.
[ Gaffa.dk 5 / 6 stars ]

Jean-Michel Jarre "Oxygène 3" (2016)

Oxygène 3
release date: Dec. 3, 2016
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,36]
producer: Jean-Michel Jarre
label: Columbia / Sony Music - nationality: France

Tracklist: 1. "Oxygène (Part 14)" - 2. "Oxygène (Part 15)" - 3. "Oxygène (Part 16)" - 4. "Oxygène (Part 17)" - 5. "Oxygène (Part 18)" - 6. "Oxygène (Part 19)" - 7. "Oxygène (Part 20)"

18th (or so) studio album by French electronic pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre, who here makes his third sequel to his famous Oxygène from 1976. The most apparent reason to release the album is perhaps that he can celebrate a 40 years anniversary of his first album in the series.
Stylistically, he continues in the same style of progressive ambient electronica that links the three albums together.
The first album was unique and it has its own unequalled position in music history. The second turned out as a fine rework on the basis of his masterpiece without repeating the model. It was both full of references but also shaped with innovative new elements that made it more than just a remake. Oxygène 3 feels on the other hand as more like a remix of the first two journeys. Jarre obviously tries to do what he did on Oxygène 7-13, but simply too bluntly, and the album sounds more like new interpretations of the other two without adding new originality to the project. It's fine but I just don't think, it reaches the qualities of the two predecessors.
It's far from poor or mediocre though, and the music may serve as an example of Jarre at his best, 'cause this style is ultimately what makes him interesting as an artist - not most of his synthpop releases of the 1980s when he became an international pop star. The whole genre of electronic owes so much to his music, and with this he demonstrates the capabilities other artists found inspiring.
It is his least interesting part of the three "Oxygène" albums but nevertheless an album that deserves attention.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Jean-Michel Jarre "Electronica 2: The Heart of Noise" (2016)

Electronica 2: The Heart of Noise
release date: May 6, 2016
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,32]
producer: Jean-Michel Jarre
label: Sony Music - nationality: France

Track highlights: 1. "The Heart of Noise, Pt. 1" (feat. Rone) - 6. "Here for You" (feat. Gary Numan) - 7. "Electrees" (feat. Hans Zimmer) - 8. "Exit" (feat. E.S.) - 9. "What You Want" (feat. Peaches) - 11. "Switch on Leon" (feat. The Orb) - 13. "Why This, Why That and Why" (feat. Yello) - 18. "The Heart of Noise (The Origin)"

17th studio album by Jean-Michel Jarre is his second part in collaborative works featuring artists of various electronic styles. Both albums were recorded over a six year period from 2011 to 2016 and they are difficult not to regard as one and the same project, and thus should have been released as a double album. Both albums are highly experimental, and overall it's nice to witness a collaboration work like this where you witness a symbiotic end-result of the process involving different takes on a genre and style leaving equal evidence from both artists. That also means that the individual songs point in different directions as the featuring artists represent very different styles but together with Jarre the output still has his fingerprints all over, making it quite interesting, but not as a perfect overwhelming work of art. Both of the two parts are quite extensive, the first part running for more than 68 mins and this one just above 74 mins.
Recommended.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5, The Guardian 4 / 5 stars ]

Jean-Michel Jarre "Electronica 1: The Time Machine" (2015)

Electronica 1: The Time Machine
release date: Oct. 16, 2015
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,32]
producer: Jean Michel Jarre
label: Columbia Records - nationality: France

Track highlights: 4. "Automatic (Part 1)" (with Vince Clark) - 8. "Suns Have Gone" (with Moby) - 11. "Zero Gravity" (with Tangerine Dream) - 12. "Rely On Me" (with Laurie Anderson) - 13. "Stardust" (with Armin van Buuren)

16th* studio album by Jean-Michel Jarre is his first real studio album in 8½ years following the album Téo & Téa (2007). It consists of 16 tracks composed and played with 15 different collaborators featuring artists such as Air, Vince Clarke (Erasure), Moby, Fuck Buttons, Pete Townsend, and Laurie Anderson, and as its title suggests, it's the first of two collaborative albums of this sort.
Musically and stylistically, the album represents (at least on some of the songs) a move towards vocal-founded electronic and more strict compositions in terms of popular music tradition. According to Jarre himself, who had invited various artists to participate in his project, his intentions were to make an album that paid tribute to electronic music and an album that would reflect the link between his musical history to other artists, who were either deeply involved or closely (or somewhat) related in the making of electronic music.
My first impression was luke-warm but I have come to see greatness in this project, and knowing a few of the details about this album makes it much more interesting, but it also wins over time.
[ Renowned for Sound 4,5 / 5, The Guardian, Gaffa.dk 4 / 5 stars ]

*Some mention it as his 17th, 18th or 19th album requiring his 2001 album Interior Music (exclusively released for Bang & Olufsen in 1000 copies), his 2004 remix album Aero, and / or Oxygène: New Master Recording from 2007 being regarded as studio releases.

Jean-Michel Jarre "Oxygene 7-13" (1997)

Oxygene 7-13
release date: May 20, 1997
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Jean-Michel Jarre
label: Disques Dreyfus - nationality: France

Tracklist: 1. "Oxygène 7 (Part 1, 2, 3)" - 2. "Oxygène 8" - 3. "Oxygène 9 (Part 1, 2, 3)" - 4. "Oxygène 10" - 5. "Oxygène 11" - 6. "Oxygène 12" - 7. "Oxygène 13"

12th studio album release by 'Jean Michel' Jarre is a return to his masterpiece from 1976, Oxygène, and an album that continues where the '76 album ended - a premise you should think could only fail.
In my mind, this is nontheless a rather underrated album of the 1990s. Jarre has always belonged to the 1970s in one sense or the other - it was with his Oxygène and Equinoxe became internationally renowned, and everything that followed somehow pointed back to his starting point. And then all the following musical styles with synthpop and electronic had his name and legacy of the 70s written all over. I have, however, only paid him little interest since his albums of the 70s. Occasionally, I heard some of his music, and I saw his extravagant live performances on tv, but I always turned his new-found music down - that is, his music of the 80s and onwards; 'cause this new chapter is actually more than just fine. It's not only because it sounds much alike his original and highly praised first chapter but because it's an updated musical journey that makes use of the former as foundation and then explores musical landscapes on new terms of shape, sound, and style. This is not pop loops and form but experimental progressive electronic. I cannot help but think, this is the sequel he could and should have made instead of making commercial pop albums in the 1980s and I'm glad that I found this 'cause it's a very recommendable album.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

Jean Michel Jarre "Chronology" (1993)

Chronology
release date: May 1993
format: cd (2015 remaster)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,96]
producer: Jean Michel Jarre
label: Sony Music - nationality: France

Track highlights: 1. "Chronology, Part 1" - 6. "Chronology, Part 6"

11th studio album by 'Jean Michel' Jarre originally released as Chronologie by Disques Dreyfus.
On this Jarre blends his own original style of progressive electronic of the 70s with something that sounds like disco rave or electronic dance, which may display a nicely produced sound - at least on the remaster, but the compositions doesn't work all too well, I think. There's a bit too much re-takes on his repertoire, which makes it sound more like a remix album - updated bits and pieces from other familiar compositions.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

Jean Michel Jarre "Waiting for Cousteau" (1990)

Waiting for Cousteau
release date: Jun. 11, 1990
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,22]
producer: Jean Michel Jarre
label: Polydor / Disques Dreyfus - nationality: France

Track highlights: 4. "Waiting for Cousteau"

10th studio album by 'Jean Michel' Jarre released after his most recent album Revolutions (1988) is a somewhat unusual album from Jarre. It's not just music of his ordinary progressive, synthpop with complex compositions but for the most part builds on simple instrumental harmonies and chorus-lines - at least when it comes to 3/4 of the album's tracks.
Frankly, I find the first three tracks more than just boring with the first "Calypso" as a near disastrously naive and tedious composition, but the fourth and final (title) track, with its playing time at almost 47 mins [!], is the album's true gem. It's a slow progressive ambient and new age composition, where Jarre dwells at small changes of sound. I often come to think of Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" upon listening to this track as it opens a simplistic tone and through various loops extends itself like an organic wall or pond of simple yet rather complex music, but again: a rather unconventional composition for Jarre. However, this final track saves the whole album.
[ allmusic.com hands it 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Jean-Michel Jarre "Rendez-vous" (1986)

Rendez-vous
release date: Apr. 1986
format: cd (2015 remaster)
[album rate: 2 / 5] [2,18]
producer: Jean Michel Jarre
label: Sony Music - nationality: France

Tracklist: 1. "First rendez-vous" - 2. "Second rendez-vous" - 3. "Third rendez-vous" - 4. "Fourth rendez-vous" - 5. "Fifth rendez-vous" - 6. "Last rendez-vous (Ron's Piece)"

8th studio album release by 'Jean Michel' Jarre originally released on Disques Dreyfus. Before this, he released the album Music for Supermarkets in 1983, Zoolook in '84, as well as a live album from a concert in China. Of course I heard and listened to those albums but I never really liked his new more popular style initiated with Magnetic Fields from 1981. With this he continues his progressive synthpop by exploring more popular musical territory, he had touched on his '81 and '84 albums. He has moved away from an entirely experimental and more minimalist form, removed guitars and vocals and instead added more synths to his soundscape.
Especially the track "Fourth Rendez-vous" was a popular single from this album.
Instead of pursuing an artistic approach, it seems he fell for the popularity (and money?) that his new age pop songs attracted. In the early 1980s TV channels enthusiastically stumbled over each other to record and transmit his gigantic live concerts and performances soothed in laser light shows with millions of spectators. I simply disliked his progressive electropop and synthesizer pop ballads, and this album isn't any better. He dwells on musical themes and loops he created in the 1970s by adding electronic drums, and keyboard bass-lines to make it more funky or disco-like. This is muzak when it's mostly just annoyingly neutral.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

Jean Michel Jarre "The Essential (1976-1986)" (1985)

The Essential (1976-1986) (compilation)

release date: 1985

format: vinyl (1986 reissue)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5]

producer: Jean-Michel Jarre

label: Disques Dreyfus - nationality: France

Compilation album by 'Jean Michel' Jarre, which shares almost same tracklist as The Essential Jean Michel Jarre from 1983 with the exception of two compositions. Both albums contain 14 tracks and only two compositions have been exchanged on the '85 album: Track #8 "Souvenir de Chine" from the live album Les Concerts en Chine (May 1982) and track #13 "Zoolookologie" from Zoolook (Nov. 1984) are new additions and they replace "The Overture" and "Equinoxe 1" on the '83 album.

I don't think a compilation album by Jarre works all too well, except if you mostly enjoy his more popular compositions but then this album doesn't only focus on that. I think, one of the key points to this, is that Jarre works on so many arenas - he makes progressive and ambient (introspetive) pieces of music, and then he also experiments with popular melody-founded pieces, which I don't necessarily combine that well. Anyway, I have always felt that his music is mostly album-oriented, so by picking out pieces from this and that and then putting them next to one another doesn't present his music that well.

Jean-Michel Jarre "Zoolook" (1984)

Zoolook
release date: Nov. 1984
format: cd (2015 remaster - 30th Anniversary Edition)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,98]
producer: Jean Michel Jarre
label: Sony Music - nationality: France

Track highlights: 1. "Ethnicolor I" - 2. "Diva" - 5. "Zoolookologie"

7th studio album by Jean-Michel Jarre released a year after his official studio release Musique pour Supermarché, which was a bit of a publicity stunt as only one copy of the album was pressed after which the master tapes were destroyed in order to make the copy unique and to fund charity purpose.
Zoolook continue Jarre's exploration of his progressive electronic into synthpop and with sound collages.
I recall rejecting the album as superficial and tedious synthesizer pop, but I have to admit that it has its interesting moments in exploring a sort of link between instrumental electronic and more popular music tradition guest appearances featuring jazz and funk bassist Marcus Miller, art rock fusion rock experimental guitarist Adrian Below and electronic minimalist Laurie Anderson.
The album has a more experimental touch than his previous more pop-founded album Les Chants Magnétiques from 1981, although, the track "Zoolookologie" fits more with his newly-discovered pop period.
I think, it's an interesting development of style but I also find that it a mixed bag pointing in too many directions.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 ]

Lilly Wood & The Prick "Prayer in C (Robin Schulz Remix)" (2014) (single)

Prayer in C (Robin Schulz Remix), single
release date: Jun. 6, 2014
format: digital
[single rate: 4 / 5] [3,75]

Tracklist: 1. "Prayer in C (Robin Schulz Radio Edit)" (4 / 5) - 2. "Prayer in C (Robin Schulz Remix) (Instrumental)"

Single release by Lilly Wood & The Prick and German electronic artist Robin Schultz. The single has become one of 2014s biggest radio hits, which is fairly understandable. The song is addictive and quite unique, although, the original version is rather good it was totally unnoticed in 2010.

Lilly Wood & The Prick "The Fight" (2012)

The Fight
release date: Nov. 5, 2012
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5]

Track highlights: 1. "Where I Want to Be (California)" (3,5 / 5) - 2. "Let's Not Pretend" (3,5 / 5) - 4. "Le Mas" (3 / 5) - 5. "Guys in Band" (3,5 / 5) - 8. "Joni Mitchell" (3 / 5)

2nd studio album by Lilly Wood & The Prick released on Wagram Music / Cinq 7. Without being great, this is a better effort than the debut album from 2010.

Lilly Wood & The Prick "Invincible Friends" (2010)

Invincible Friends [debut]
release date: May 31, 2010
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5]

Track highlights: 3. "Down the Drain" (3 / 5) - 5. "Prayer in C" - 7. "Water Ran" (3 / 5) - 8. "Little Johnny" (2,5 / 5) - 10. "A Time Is Near" (3 / 5)

Studio debut album by Lilly Wood & The Prick released on Wagram Music / Cinq 7. The band is a duo consisting of French-Israeli vocalist Nili Hadida (born in Tel Aviv), and French guitarist Benjamin Cotto. The album is soft indie pop, and a bit on the dull side without really great compositions, aside from "Prayer in C" which is a fine synthpop song made tremendously popular in 2014 in a newer and more uptempo club and dance-pop oriented version.

Serge Gainsbourg "Histoire de Melody Nelson" (1971)

Histoire de Melody Nelson
release date:  Mar. 24, 1971
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5]
producer: Jean-Claude Desmarty
label: Philips Records - nationality: France

Concept album by Serge Gainsbourg. The album is by many regarded his best album and one of the very best ever of French pop /rock. It's enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die", and many contemporary artists including Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy), Jarvis Cocker (Pulp), Barry Adamson (Magazine), Tricky, Portishead, Michael Stipe (R.E.M.), Beck, and Stereolab are heavily influenced by Gainsbourg's narrating compositions. I find it interesting but am not a fan.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Zaz "Recto verso" (2013)

Recto verso
release date: May 10, 2013
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,14]

Track highlights: 1. "On ira" (3,5 / 5) - 2. "Comme ci, comme ça" - 3. "Gamine" - 8. "Toujours" - 11. "Oublie Loulou" (3,5 / 5) - 13. "Nous debout" (4 / 5)

I think this is an improvement from her debut. In 2011 she released the live album Live Tour: Sans tsu tsou, and without hearing it, I think, her music is well-suited for live performances. It sort of goes hand in hand with the jazz ingredient, which is ever-present in her music. I think, this her second studio album is better because it generally contains stronger and more original tracks. Some tracks are more pop-styled, like the fine closing track "Nous debout", with a chorus-based up-tempo song, and other fine tracks are much more traditional chanson and vocal jazz tracks with less orchestration. I think this is a pretty nice release.

Zaz "Zaz" (2010)

Zaz
release date: May 10, 2010
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5]

Highlight: 11. "Eblouie par la nuit"

Studio debut album by Zaz, this interesting new French gypsy jazz and chanson singer / songwriter. The music is light and refreshing but I miss interesting tracks from Zaz.

Zaz

~ ~ ~

Zaz: born (May 1, 1980) in Tours, France; aka: Isabelle Geffro [birth name], is a French singer who mixes vocal jazz and chanson and French pop. Before initiating her solo career, she sang in a blues band, Fifty Fingers, and in Izar-Adatz, a band playing French variety music, and in a jazz quintet, which explains some of her mixed musical background.

~ ~ ~

Jean-Michel Jarre "Magnetic Fields" (1981)

Magnetic Fields
release date: May 22, 1981
format: cd (2014 remaster)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,96]
producer: Jean Michel Jarre
label: Sony Music - nationality: France

Track highlights: 2. "Magnetic Fields, Part 2" - 4. "Magnetic Fields, Part 4" - 5. "Magnetic Fields, Part 5"

5th studio album by Jean-Michel Jarre originally released on Disques Dreyfus is the first in a long series of more pop-shaped albums. The compositions are still all instrumental but now focusing on more simple structures, which broadened the way for much bigger commercial success. I remember well how friends at school enjoyed this and his following albums, whereas I never really got it. I rejected this before hearing it to the end. It's soaked in pop matter and jingle-like tunes. I still find it close to mediocre compared to his two previous grand albums. The only positive sides to it, is a rather fine production sound, and that it still contains progressive electronic, and not only his later popularised and synthesized version of electropop, and although, I find tracks #2, #4 and #5 the best from the album they do contain elements that he would later draw from to compose his most popular tracks. The album was his third album to top the albums chart list in France.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]