Jean-Michel Jarre – Rendez-Vous (1986/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/48 kHz | Time – 35:09 minutes | 431 MB | Genre: Electronic
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: Qobuz | Front Cover | © Sony Music
Rendez-vous is the eighth studio album by electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre released on Disques Dreyfus, licensed to Polydor, in April 1986. It sold some three million copies worldwide and remains Jarre’s longest-running chart album in both the U.S. and UK, with a 20-week run in the U.S. and an impressive 38 week run in the UK. The album art of the album was created by long-time collaborator Michel Granger.
The last track on the album was originally scheduled to include a saxophone part recorded by astronaut Ron McNair on the Space Shuttle Challenger, making it the first piece of music to be recorded in space, but on 28 January 1986, 73 seconds after lift-off, the shuttle disintegrated and the entire Challenger crew were killed. The track was dedicated to McNair and the other astronauts on board Challenger. On the album the saxophone part is played by saxophonist Pierre Gossez.
Just after his live performance in Houston to celebrate NASA’s anniversary, Jean-Michel Jarre released Rendez-Vous, an appropriately cosmic-sounding album of glittering synth pop. It consists of the same music heard at the Houston concert and shows Jarre moving closer to conventional rock territory, though still with his distinct blueprint. The final track, “Last Rendez-Vous: Ron’s Piece,” was composed by Jarre for astronaut Ron McNair and was intended to be the first musical piece played and recorded in space. McNair’s historic duty was cut short, however, by the Challenger shuttle disaster of January 1986. -AllMusic Review by John Bush
Tracklist:
1 Rendez-Vouz 1 2:54
2 Rendez-Vouz 2 11:00
3 Rendez-Vouz 3 3:31
4 Rendez-Vouz 4 4:02
5 Rendez-Vouz 5 7:47
6 Last Rendez-Vouz 6:04
Personnel:
Jean-Michel Jarre – Seiko DS-250, Elka Synthex, Moog synthesizer, Roland JX 8P, Fairlight CMI, E-mu Emulator II, Eminent 310U, EMS Synthi AKS, Laser Harp, RMI, Oberheim OB-X, Yamaha DX100, Matrisequencer, Roland TR-808, Linn 9000, Prophet, Casio CZ 5000, ARP 2600
Michel Geiss – ARP 2600, Eminent, Matrisequencer, Roland TR-808
Dominique Perrier – Memorymoog
Joe Hammer – E-mu Drumulator, percussions
David Jarre – Baby Korg personal keyboard on “Fifth Rendez-Vous (Part II)”
Pierre Gossez – saxophone on “Last Rendez-Vous (Ron’s Piece)”
The choir of Radio France, directed by Sylvain Durand – vocals on “Second Rendez-Vous”
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