Blah Blah Cafe, the Jean-Michel Jarre forum
The time machine in which venerable Frenchman Jean-Michel Jarre travels goes both ways. The man who, even more than Kraftwerk, popularised electronic music in the 1970s with his albums Oxygene​ and Equinoxe​, hooks up with those he influenced, like Air, Vince Clarke, F..k Buttons and Armin Van Buuren​. Then he adds some contemporaries such as Tangerine Dream, Laurie Anderson and Pete Townshend. The result is an album that shows Jarre's headlong dive into current trends comes with a strong note of history. Close Your Eyes, with Air, is dreamily atmospheric, while Immortals, accompanied by F..k Buttons, escalates its urgency. The title track has Boys Noize​ and Jarre trying to out-Orbital Orbital. Elsewhere, Watching You has Massive Attack on board for a wet urban night feel and Vince Clarke's two-part Automatic extends Jarre's dancefloor appeal. Part one prepares you for Travelator (part two), when the unlikely disco don Pete Townshend – sounding at times like Divine, I kid you not – drags you up for Euro swirls, hard floor shoes and satin pantsuits.
