Happy 18th anniversary to Jean-Michel Jarre's Teo & Tea!
Teo & Tea will always be one of the controversial JMJ albums. Fans had a very negative reaction to it 2007, but I honestly think they overreacted and the image of the album is just very inaccurate in the JMJ fanbase. Before I respond to this, I would like to state: I think this album is clearly among the weaker Jarre albums. I do listen to it sometimes, but not very often. Of course, compared to other artists and similar albums, I still consider it more of a mediocre-okay album than a bad one, especially compared to most of the commercial electronic music these days, well, it's a masterpiece compared many popular albums today... And there are a few songs on it that I really like. What I don't like is that Teo & Tea usually gets undeserved critism instead of people criticing it for the things it should be critised for.
Let's make it clear: Teo & Tea is NOT an EDM album, not a dance music album.
This is what people who only remember the title track - which is an actual dance/commerical French house style music - usually say. But the rest of the album is not some dancey commercial EDM, this style influenced some tracks, yes, but most tracks are not dance tracks. Teo & Tea is quite diverse in terms of styles, again Jarre tries new things and I also don't agree with what people say "it doesn't sound like JMJ music at all". Some tracks, some melodies are very much classic JMJ sounding.
My problem with this album is something else: its empty, unfinished, unlayered sound design. Unfortunately, this is a real shortcoming and it hurts because Jarre is known for exactly that, the complex sound designs he can build. In the middle section of the album, there is a part that almost sounds like a half-finished section, interesting ideas in demo form, undeveloped tracks. If we compare it to the brilliantly layered masterpiece sound design of Metamorphoses, which was made almost 10 years earlier, well, it doesn't sound great.
The album starts with Fresh News, not exactly the most interesting opening track, although it is intended to be a kind of intro, then comes the title track. I actually don't think it's bad within its genre, but I understand if someone finds it a strange start. Then comes Beautiful Agony.... yes, that "adult themed" song... Which I think is quite creative, I personally do like it, but of course I understand if someone is laughing at the idea.
But Touch to Remember is a very strong track, then comes OK, Do It Fast, which was clearly influenced by the drum & bass style. It is very well done, maybe my favorite track on the album, it's incredible that Jarre can use almost any style and make his own version of it. Partners In Crime 1-2 are also very well done, actually this section is the peak of the album for me.
Unfortunately, after that comes that certain section I mentioned, Chatterbox wants to be such a noisy, cheerful track, but in 2 minutes you can't do much with the good ideas it has. The ambient of In The Mood For You would be better, but it only starts to become atmospheric by the very end, and then it suddenly ends, although I like that phone ringing sound in it. Gossip is simply a completely forgettable, demo-like track of 2 minutes again. It might have been better to combine these 3 tracks into one longer and more detailed track.
Then comes Vintage, it's a very catchy, lovable, melodic track, it's my other big favorite, it's a track you can easily like. But then comes Melancholic Rodeo.... Well, if there's one Jarre track I like the least, at least from the studio albums, it's this one. It's simply unpleasant, repetitive in a bad way. The album then ends with another mix of the title track, which I think is maybe better than the original, it's my favourite version of Teo & Tea.
Overall, I can't say this album is a favorite, but I can't hate it either, it's simply not bad enough for that. A much more sensable reaction from fans would have been "okay, interesting experimentation, this and that could be better, let's see what happens next" instead of the hysteria. I think T&T has its place within Jarre's discography, and it's definitely worth listening to from time to time as a fan.
