Kraftwerk are known as one of the earliest electronic futuristic groups, who became internationally-known through the release of Autobahn in 1974. And while they're great, I became very interested to learn another pioneer in electronic music, Jean Michel Jarre, recently celebrated the 30th anniversary this year of his debut album, Oxygene.While Kraftwerk's music was innovative, it was also based on pure repetition. Jarre took that a step further, featuring more melodies, textures, sounds and set a new standard for electronic music. In fact, Oxygene was first album electronic album to be accepted by the general public in a commercially-accessible way.
In 2007, Jarre dusted off the original vintage synths that he used to make Oxygene, and re-recorded the album on the 30th anniversary of its original release. While it might seem a strange idea at first, the benefit to re-recording with today's technology allows him to mix the album in 5.1 surround, which couldn't be done before due to the limited recording systems back in 1976 (amazingly recorded on a simple 8-track analog machine).
Taking the anniversary one step further, the newly-recorded CD version comes with a bonus DVD of Jarre and 3 other musicians re-creating the entire Oxygene album live in the studio, surrounded by towering vintage synths - all without the use of midi or timecodes. There's also a deluxe version with a 3-D version of the live concert available.
Fans of Oxygene will definitely want to pick this up for new 5.1 remix (but the regular mix still sounds awesome on headphones) if you're already a fan of Jarre, or just love seeing vintage synths. To get a taste of it, here's a sample from the DVD:
