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I used to listen non-stop to this album in college, late 80s. Listening to it after all these years, it is still exciting but I don't think JMJ is going to age

I used to listen non-stop to this album in college, late 80s. Listening to it after all these years, it is still exciting but I don't think JMJ is going to age well. This album with its Chinese street sounds and all the mythology around the trip was heady and amplified the psychological impact. But it also sounds a bit plastic, too much mascara, if you will. I couldn't loop listen this again. Once in a while, sure. In contrast, I think Kraftwerk is timeless. Imagine this with the same staging as the China concert: https://youtu.be/NL3NqfFTec8?t=25m5s https://youtu.be/NL3NqfFTec8?t=25m5s

vidarh 10y ago
I feel the opposite. Some of Jarre's individual tracks will certainly feel dated - e.g. Computer Weekend for example, and frankly a lot of the Images album. Interestingly it's largely the most playful ones, that toy with sounds that now sound overused and "too obvious", and because many of them come off of as childish. While I love Kraftwerk, a lot of Kraftwerk's sound fall in the "Images" category for me - they are as iconic as Jarre for those who listen to electronic music, but many of the tracks are also much simpler, and fit a pop-music model much closer, to the extent that it's easier to hear their direct influence on a lot of synth-pop for example. As a result, on one hand they sound more familiar, but much of their music has also often been placed in an era by people influenced by it in a way Jarre's music hasn't. Some of Jarre's newer music, ironically - to me at least -, seems more likely to be affected by the same effect. E.g. Metamorphoses, Geometry of Love and Teo and Tea all have tracks that on hand more timely for when they were released, and at the same time that to me already date them more. Jarre was classically educated, and in a way I think you could say that his more classically inspired compositions date better than his more pop/dance inspired pieces, because the former follow a structure that - while the instruments were new and different - is a structure we recognise from music that is quite timeless. Sure, they don't sound like they're meant to be played in a club tonight, but I think kids who haven't heard them before would have far more problems placing them in the right decade than with Kraftwerk.
mturmon 10y ago
I had the chance to see Kraftwerk live in LA a couple of years ago, and it was just amazing. One of the best live shows I've ever seen. Thematically, they were trying to address the conflicts and tension between us and the technology we create. I had forgotten about these themes from their "Radioactivity" album (from 1975), but they brought it up to date by dropping "Fukushima" into the lyrics as sung that night. It ended up sounding profoundly prescient, like so much of their other work. I don't think JMJ has anything like the depth that Kraftwerk has. Like you, I've been listening to both since the mid 80s - I had Magnetic Fields on vinyl, but Zoolook on CD. Jarre is mostly simple entertainment for me now, but Kraftwerk makes me think.
- jacquesm 10y ago
  Jean-Michel Jarre was besides a half decent composer excellent at marketing and a good showman. By comparison Kraftwerk was the more interesting, further ahead of the curve and more geeky. Usually the people that liked the one also like the other to a greater or lesser degree with Vangelis somewhere in the middle and Tangerine Dream somewhere to the far side of JMJ. What is amazing to me is that when I listen to that music today it does not feel nearly as dated as other music from that era.
pmoriarty 10y ago
I despise Kraftwerk and love Jarre. It's all just a matter of taste.

vidarh 10y ago

I feel the opposite. Some of Jarre's individual tracks will certainly feel dated - e.g. Computer Weekend for example, and frankly a lot of the Images album. Interestingly it's largely the most playful ones, that toy with sounds that now sound overused and "too obvious", and because many of them come off of as childish. While I love Kraftwerk, a lot of Kraftwerk's sound fall in the "Images" category for me - they are as iconic as Jarre for those who listen to electronic music, but many of the tracks are also much simpler, and fit a pop-music model much closer, to the extent that it's easier to hear their direct influence on a lot of synth-pop for example. As a result, on one hand they sound more familiar, but much of their music has also often been placed in an era by people influenced by it in a way Jarre's music hasn't. Some of Jarre's newer music, ironically - to me at least -, seems more likely to be affected by the same effect. E.g. Metamorphoses, Geometry of Love and Teo and Tea all have tracks that on hand more timely for when they were released, and at the same time that to me already date them more. Jarre was classically educated, and in a way I think you could say that his more classically inspired compositions date better than his more pop/dance inspired pieces, because the former follow a structure that - while the instruments were new and different - is a structure we recognise from music that is quite timeless. Sure, they don't sound like they're meant to be played in a club tonight, but I think kids who haven't heard them before would have far more problems placing them in the right decade than with Kraftwerk.

mturmon 10y ago

I had the chance to see Kraftwerk live in LA a couple of years ago, and it was just amazing. One of the best live shows I've ever seen. Thematically, they were trying to address the conflicts and tension between us and the technology we create. I had forgotten about these themes from their "Radioactivity" album (from 1975), but they brought it up to date by dropping "Fukushima" into the lyrics as sung that night. It ended up sounding profoundly prescient, like so much of their other work. I don't think JMJ has anything like the depth that Kraftwerk has. Like you, I've been listening to both since the mid 80s - I had Magnetic Fields on vinyl, but Zoolook on CD. Jarre is mostly simple entertainment for me now, but Kraftwerk makes me think.

jacquesm 10y ago
Jean-Michel Jarre was besides a half decent composer excellent at marketing and a good showman. By comparison Kraftwerk was the more interesting, further ahead of the curve and more geeky. Usually the people that liked the one also like the other to a greater or lesser degree with Vangelis somewhere in the middle and Tangerine Dream somewhere to the far side of JMJ. What is amazing to me is that when I listen to that music today it does not feel nearly as dated as other music from that era.

pmoriarty 10y ago

I despise Kraftwerk and love Jarre. It's all just a matter of taste.