JEAN MICHEL JARRE – RENDEZVOUS LP – Nr MINT A2/B1 UK  ELECTRONICA PROG

Jean Michel Jarre – Rendezvous
(Polydor/Disques Dreyfus Records   1986    POLH27)
Matrix No’s: A2/B1 – UK Pressing

Sleeve in Nr MINT- condition
– some light foxing spots on the back cover near the top

Vinyl in Nr MINT condition

Jean-Michel André Jarre (born 24 August 1948) is a French composer, performer, and record producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient, and new-age genres, and known as an organiser of outdoor spectacles of his music featuring lights, laser displays, and fireworks.

Jarre was raised in Lyon by his mother and grandparents, and trained on the piano. From an early age, he was introduced to a variety of art forms, including those of street performers, jazz musicians, and the artist Pierre Soulages. He played guitar in a band, but his musical style was perhaps most heavily influenced by Pierre Schaeffer, a pioneer of musique concrète at the Groupe de Recherches Musicales.

His first mainstream success was the 1976 album Oxygène. Recorded in a makeshift studio at his home, the album sold an estimated 12 million copies. Oxygène was followed in 1978 by Équinoxe, and in 1979, Jarre performed to a record-breaking audience of more than a million people at the Place de la Concorde, a record he has since broken three times. More albums were to follow, but his 1979 concert served as a blueprint for his future performances around the world. Several of his albums have been released to coincide with large-scale outdoor events, and he is now perhaps as well known as a performer as he is as a musician.

As of 2004, Jarre had sold an estimated 80 million albums. He was the first Western musician officially invited to perform in the People’s Republic of China, and holds the world record for the largest-ever audience at an outdoor event.

Rendez-Vous is an album of instrumental electronic music composed and produced by Jean Michel Jarre, and released on Disques Dreyfus, licensed to Polydor, in 1986. It is his fifth overall studio album. 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 last track on the album was supposed to have the saxophone part played in outer space by astronaut Ron McNair, but on January 28, 1986 he and the entire Space Shuttle Challenger crew were killed. 73 seconds after lift-off the shuttle disintegrated. In memory, this piece was dedicated to him. On the album the saxophone part is played by saxophonist Pierre Gossez.

The album reached #9 in the UK charts and #52 in the U.S. charts.

In April 1986, Jarre performed the large-scale outdoor concert Rendez-vous Houston in Houston, Texas, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the founding of Texas, and the 25th anniversary of NASA. The show attracted a then-world record live audience of 1.3 million people. Originally, the track Last Rendez Vous was due to be played by saxophonist astronaut Ron McNair via a live link with the Challenger space shuttle. However, after the Challenger disaster, the concert became a part-tribute to the lost astronauts.

Jean Michel returned to the stage in October for another concert, the Rendez-Vous Lyon, marking the Pope John Paul II visit to Jarre’s hometown.

Track listing

1. “First Rendez-Vous” – 2:54
2. “Second Rendez-Vous” – 10:55
3. “Third Rendez-Vous” – 3:30
4. “Fourth Rendez-Vous” – 3:57
5. “Fifth Rendez-Vous” – 7:41
6. “Last Rendez-Vous (Ron’s Piece)” – 6:04

Personnel

• Jean Michel Jarre – Synclavier, Seiko DS-250, Elka Synthex, Moog synthesizer, Roland JX 8P, Fairlight CMI, E-mu Emulator II, Eminent 310U, EMS Synthi AKS, Laser Harp, RMI, OBX, DX 100, Matrisequencer, Roland TR-808, Linn 9000, Prophet, Casio CZ 5000, ARP 2600
• Michel Geiss – ARP 2600, Eminent, Matrisequencer, Roland TR-808
• Dominique Perrier – Memory Moog
• Joe Hammer – Drumulator, percussions
• David Jarre – Baby Korg personal keyboard
• Pierre Gossez – Saxophone on “Last Rendez-Vous (Ron’s Piece)”