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Mr Jarre keeps busy the last couple of years and even set himself a deadline to compose a third chapter of “Oxygene” for its 40th anniversary. Well, the nearly 40-minute album –still without any drums- turns out a minimalist work with lots of sound experimentation on analogue and digital beasts. Jarre doesn’t mimic the original (although brief echoes pass by occasionally) sticking to a similar formulae of a darker and a brighter side. The mellow and lush-sequenced “Part 14” makes a pleasant entrance while things fall a bit flat on the demo-esque “Part 15”. The next part is an up-beat effort to get this going again but is only successful partially while ending insecure how to continue. Catchy melodic, rhythmic-spiced Jarre returns the strongest on “Part 17”, a 4-minute song already previewed during his “Electronica”-tour that could do as a single, with the brief next part acting as a chill-outro. “Part 19” picks up the sequencer-driven, slightly groovy and rather swinging trail but succeeds only half, dissolving in dramatic-abstract experiment on the first minutes of the final part before shifting into freeform harmonic pads with atmospherics making up the remainder. In the end I can’t say “Oxygene 3” makes an attractive, accessible and satisfactory recording. Not only do miss too much cohesion despite the continuous character of the recording, I’m also puzzled by various abstract, unfinished and searching moves showing up during the recording. |
| Website: jeanmicheljarre.com
You can see what reviews I have done of this artist on the Jean Michel Jarre artist page
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