Blah Blah Cafe, the Jean-Michel Jarre forum

[AERO62]

OK, so I was thinking the other day, It's no secret that for the last couple of years, JMJ has been playing these new re-mixed, re-recorded, "upgraded" versions of the tracks at his concerts.
I first noticed the change watching the forbidden city concert , the sound was new and I quite liked it. Then he did the same in Gdansk, It was still great. "Water for life" performance was alright as well. But now during his in-doors tour, I just can't get over this yet again, re-worked sound. Granted I've never been to his concert, I'm sure live It's still awesome. But I can hear the change from a recording pretty clear. His new synthesizers are not even that good. Some tunes now sound like It's played on some sort of a toy . I understand It's "in-door" so there will be sacrifices, but at the same time, remember the Oxygene Tour 97? Those live performances were slightly different than before, but much better than now. It's like the older Jarre gets, the farther he deviates from the original sound.

Anyhow, today I watched the Monaco concert and It was amazing, but again, he played the "in-doors" versions. More to that, there was no orchestra, no choir, no guitar player, no drummer. Except for the main parts, It's all just a playback now. Ok, I understand It was an unusual project, but so were all his previous shows. And back then, In the 80s and 90s he somehow did it on full scale. I've got this bootleg of the Moscow concert that I watch every once in a while. It's incomparable. It gives me chills. It's so LIVE. But his latest shows have no effect on me at all...

I still hope he will someday do a REAL concert, like before, with the band, and play proper versions, not these mixes that remind me of a computer-generated emulation of the original. But if he keeps playing that, then I'm really sad

Alright, I didn't mean to be harsh, that is just my opinion. What are your thoughts on this?

[shadow]

Have you got any idea how many layers of music some tracks of Jarre have..? Playing that live with just four people is impossible, no matter how you look at it. But I agree the older concerts where he went all out with: A drummer, Choir, Guitar (Bas) and so one were great, but to mee don't feel personal unlike the smaller In-doors concerts. Also these giant concerts were also not fully played live, really believe that old Lasterharp in the 80's and early 90's was really fuctional..? I don't really believe so after seeing him miss a couple of notes on some of the VHS tapes...
I don't know why, but I like these smaller concerts really alot. Although I'd die if he he would stop, go into the recording studio and make a new album, and then give another mega concert. I would totally love that, but this way is also nice (aslong as the new album will be released before end 2012)...

Also I really love the new compostions of the old tracks, they feel allot more improvised (and some clearly are like the new layer in Fourth Rendez-Vous), but still they have the same feeling unlike the Aero versions he played to death... I really dig those (as you say) "toy" instruments, it's once again add a more personal feeling to the experience for me...

But anyone his own thought right

[AERO62]

Have you got any idea how many layers of music some tracks of Jarre have..? Playing that live with just four people is impossible, no matter how you look at it.

I understand there are only 4 of them now. I was saying that when it comes to an out-door show like the one in Monaco, there should be a real band, not 3 guys that just stand there most of the time...Also, for instance, back in 97 when he played in-doors, even the parts that were playbacks, to me sound better than what is played at concerts these days. And with the Monaco gig, I thought he would actually use different leading melodies or background tunes to make it more suitable for an outdoor performance. He didn't unfortunately...

I think his best live versions were in the 90s, beginning with the PLD and ending with the oxygene tour in 97. I guess we will never hear those anymore.. If only I could go back in time..

[Velodynamic]

If only I could go back in time..

Well isn't that exactly what we all are trying to make JMJ and the people around him to do?
Just remember that F.Dreyfus also will be back ruling over the JMJ music.
With todays standards unfortunately there are no time machines for public use out yet.

[shadow]

I also would like a Time Machine... I'd Travel back and forth between the concerts and enjoy it from every angle

[AERO62]

I also would like a Time Machine... I'd Travel back and forth between the concerts and enjoy it from every angle

That would be fantastic.. But as scientists say, it's impossible to travel back, while it could be possible to go into the future. I remember this episde of Futurama, where they accidentally went into the far future and couldn't go back. So they were travelling farther and farther, eventually they stopped at an age, where the time machine that can go back, had been created.. So It makes sense, if the macine to go forward is possible, then one could go into the very distant future, where the new time machine to travel backwards will have been created.

Ok enough offtopic, I guess the closest to going back we can get is by watching the concert tapes... I still can't collect all the bootlegs that exist though.

[chronos]

i'm agreeing with you bud, some of the stuff he is playing "live" these days sound like there being played by wannbe jarre tribute band.

Oxygene 4, Oxy2, oxy12, equinoxe 4 ( missing parts of the melody) as is Chronolgie 4, list goes on and on.

Is Jarre's synths on stage ALL analogue?? Could this explain it? His he just trying to get a similar sound out of them.

[Robi]

Tribute band....getting better

[vermillion]

My own perspective on the differing sound is purely about the synths being used.

Many of those beautiful old analogue synths are a nightmare to use in a live environment. With oscillators very sensitive to temperature change, humidity and other external factors. It can often be very difficult to reproduce a sound you created from one day to the next. But funnily enough many fans of all the great synths of yesteryear are very forgiving of the temperamental mechanics because of how amazing they can sound. I guessed it was pretty toasty in Monaco on friday night when I heard various bouts of detuning. I bet anyone watching who works with a ARP or a Moog Modular live would have felt so sympathetic.

I suppose one of the luxuries of seeing JMJ pre 2007, was that regardless of what was "playback" or not, so many of those great early sounds had been replicated digitally, enabling them to be just exactly the same each time a key is pressed.

JMJ's never going to please everyone, especially the vocally negative. But I'm quite fond of the evolution of Jean Michel's sound in the live environment, especially in recent years. I also think we should applaud his bravery in allowing the possibility of failure and mistake in a major event that was broadcast globally. I'm sure it could have been terribly tempting to have all the music be pre recorded.

For a good example, if ever you get that chance to see Redshift live. They are great, very professional, but I don't think I have ever seen them where there weren't any technical mishaps. They certainly don't get derided for it, if anything it gives their stuff a sort of... 'alive' feel.

Vermillion

[GlennFolkvord]

OK, so I was thinking the other day, It's no secret that for the last couple of years, JMJ has been playing these new re-mixed, re-recorded, "upgraded" versions of the tracks at his concerts.

He always remixed his tracks for his concerts, each and every time. They are remixed to allow adaption to the concert's theme, the visuals, instruments on stage, musicians on stage, concert format, and a general interest in keeping tracks fresh and "new". In the 00s, some concerts sounded more or less the same, like Beijing and Gdansk, but these "smaller" concerts had lower budgets than in the 80s and 90s and I imagine they needed to recycle more, and have a smaller band.

But now during his in-doors tour, I just can't get over this yet again, re-worked sound. Granted I've never been to his concert, I'm sure live It's still awesome. But I can hear the change from a recording pretty clear. His new synthesizers are not even that good. Some tunes now sound like It's played on some sort of a toy .

The synths are as good as the ones he used on his albums. They are the same! But the live aspect since 2008 is very different from the performances before. The more live they play, the more errors and less polished sound it will be. Tracks have been remixed to fit the musicians and the instruments, and repeated plays, rather than one unique gig where the team could be assembled for the one event itself.

Besides, never judge from recordings, not even official videos and CDs. The sound mix in the actual concert arena is very different from what you hear through cheap microphones, or edited in the studio. In fact, mixing sound for an arena or outdoors is completely different from mixing for recordings/CDs. No recording can ever truly replace the live experience.

[daz]

Most of the NEW LIVE tracks sound great in the arena, however i think if most fans are honest some sound bloody awful.

[Analog-Umph]

That would be fantastic.. But as scientists say, it's impossible to travel back

Time travel in all directions is very much possible. Mainstream science knows jack shit about anything. But that'll change eventually.

Time travel experiments have been going on for years.
It's in the very nature of reality that time, like space, has 3 dimensions. Only on this level of reality we can only access the now, or the present.

Changing things in the past is not possible either. The future is ruled by multiple timelines.
The most dominant one, ie the one that the most amount of people focus on becomes the one that eventually becomes reality. Which explains why a lot of prophecies and predictions don't come true. As there are infinite number of possible variations. And predictions always focus on merely one among an infinite number.

[Finaero]

One of the main reasons why I got interested in Jarre's music in the first place was that the concerts had different renditions of the tracks rather than just playing the album versions. Even the addition of different sounding instruments or, plain and simply, live drums made me interested to hear more and more of his concerts.

[Analog-Umph]

One of the main reasons why I got interested in Jarre's music in the first place was that the concerts had different renditions of the tracks rather than just playing the album versions. Even the addition of different sounding instruments or, plain and simply, live drums made me interested to hear more and more of his concerts.

That's what made CiC my fave outing of his.

Even though it in reality, it sucked live.

[GlennFolkvord]

Even though it in reality, it sucked live.

Even though you never heard the actual performance, you make this statement

I know, there are recordings. But they are poor and from radio and recorded by who knows with nobody knows what kind of equipment and reproduced on the net from who knows how many generations of cassette tape. Nobody here is in the position to say what they actually sounded like. I bet 1981 China radio wasnt exactly top of the line. I also bet that, knowing JMJ's standards, the concerts didnt sound as awful as the radio transmission. JMJ re-recording the titles doesnt mean the stadium mix and sound sounded exactly like the radio transmission.

Never judge anything from recordings.