This one's a bit of a cheat, because I didn't buy it. it came free with a Sunday newspaper that I wouldn't buy, even if there was a toilet roll shortage, and was donated to the charity shop. We normally just chuck these freebies, but for a few coppers in the box, I thought I'd give it a listen.
I've generally thought of Jarre as producing electronic music for people who don't like electronic music, and I was prepared to hate this. I remember the single from the time, and in 1977 I wasn't taking too much notice of a disco sounding sub-Tangerine Dream tune, so it didn't really register, but seemed to be popular with people significantly older than me. I understand from further research that much of his work after this album is "less critically acclaimed" (euphemism alert!), but let's not worry about that.
Oxygène has some nice moments, even if the overall effect isn't overwhelming.
Part I is a moody, ambient opening with some theremin-like noises, then Part II introduces the first proper theme with a hook that the listener can remember. Part III doesn't really go anywhere, and then Part IV, the familiar hit single, pleasant enough, if a little rambling. Part V attempts to evoke a pastoral feel in the first half, but it doesn't get interesting until the Moroder style beat in the second half of the piece while the finale, Part VI is an uninspired outro.
There's more to ambient music than producing something that's easy to ignore, it also has to be interesting when you do listen, and I find more than half of this doesn't tick that box. Perhaps it is electronic music for people who don't like electronic music.
2* - a few nice moments, but much that's uninteresting.
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