Popcorn - Popcorn Orchestra

This cheap looking sleeve hides the fact that the Popcorn Orchestra is actually French synth god Jean Michel Jarre. At least, that is what more knowledgeable people have told me. No wonder, then, that this single fetches some stunning prices online, especially when it is in pristine condition.

My copy is reasonably good, but the seller already warned that the B-side sounded a bit off. That was no problem: it was, after all, the A-side that I was after. You can tell from this blog that I am a bit of a Popcorn collector, and so the version by Jarre was one I just had to have.

My collection: 7" single no. 6462
Found: Discogs.com, received 5 October 2021
Cost: €2
Tracks: 'Popcorn' / 'Blackbird'

Oxygene 2 - Jean Michel Jarre

It's time for a much needed break from the Eurovision repertoire on this blog, and it comes in the shape of French synthesizer god Jean Michel Jarre. His single 'Oxygene IV' is probably his best known track. I was quite surprised to find out there was also a single of 'Oxygene 2', another track from his album 'Oxygene'. The tune is very different, but just as arresting. 

The record-buying public seemed less interested at the time: whereas 'Oxygene IV' was a major hit worldwide, this second single only managed to reach number 61 in Australia (and didn't even chart in his native France!). His career was far from over: Jarre continues to release music to this day.

My collection: 7" single no. 6456
Found: Discogs.com, received 29 September 2021
Cost: €3
Tracks: 'Oxygene 2' / 'Oxygene 6'

Revolutions - Jean Michel Jarre

'Revolutions' was the ninth studio album by French synth wizard and composer Jean-Michel Jarre, first released in August 1988. The album spans several genres, including symphonic industrial, Arabian inspired, light guitar pop and ethnic electro jazz. The album reached number number 2 in the UK charts, Jarre's best chart position since 'Oxygène'. The majority of the album was played with a Roland D-50 synthesizer, with the majority of sound programming gathered from custom sound banks, compiled into a single bank and later released for French Keyboards magazine

This single presents an edited version of the album's title track, backed with the entire 'part 2' of 'Industrial revolution' as it appears on the album. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6047
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 13, 2019
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Revolutions' / 'Industrial revolution: part 2'

Oxygene IV - Jean Michel Jarre

'When 'Oxygene IV' was first released in 1977, it was an instant chart success around the world. Such much, created entirely on synthesizers, had never been heard before and Jean-Michel Jarre acquired a reputation as being a master of technology.' The press info sheet included with this single stretches historical facts a bit: long before 'Oxygene' was released, the German masters of technology Kraftwerk were already at it. But we go on...

'Time has passed and, as the 1990's approach, Jarre shares the same concerns of us all for our environment and the ways in which it is being endangered by the very technology we created.' How interesting... The truth, of course, is that there was some money to be earned by re-releasing this classic. On environment-damaging vinyl, no less.

My collection: 7" single no. 4960
Found: Record Exchange, London, October 31, 2010
Cost: 50p
Tracks: 'Oxygene IV (remix)' / 'Industrial revolution (overture)'

Rendez-vous - Jean Michel Jarre

Jarre recorded the album 'Rendez-vous' after being inspired by the sounds of the Elka synthesizer, which he used a lot on the record. It also features his first heavy use of the Moog synthesizer on a studio album. This single featured part 4 of the album.

In 1986 NASA and the city of Houston asked Jarre to stage a concert to celebrate NASA's 25th and the city of Houston's 150th anniversaries. During that concert, astronaut Ronald McNair was to have played the saxophone part of Jarre's piece "Rendez-vous VI" while in orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. It was to have been the first piece of music recorded in space, for the album. After the Challenger disaster of January 28 1986 which killed McNair, the piece was recorded with a different saxophonist, retitled 'Ron's piece' and the album dedicated to the seven dead Challenger astronauts.

My collection: 7" single no. 3736

Found: Record fair, Den Haag, May 23, 2009

Cost: 0,5 euro

Tracks: 'Fourth Rendez-vous' / 'First Rendez-vous'

Equinoxe - Jean Michel Jarre

'Equinoxe' was the second album released by Jean Michel Jarre, released in 1978. The album reflects a day in the life of a human being, from morning to night. The release of the album was followed by a concert on the Place de la Concorde, Paris on July 14, 1979. The concert attracted one million people, becoming Jarre's first entry in the Guinness Book of Records for the largest crowd for an outdoor concert.

The single 'Equinoxe (part 5)' peaked at number 45 in the UK singles chart, and reached number 13 in the Dutch Top 40. The B-side of this single features an autograph of Jean Michel Jarre in the runout groove, as made by him on the master plate.

My collection: 7" single no. 2917

Found: London, November 1, 1997

Cost: 1 pound

Tracks: 'Equinoxe (part 5)' / 'Equinoxe (part 1)'

Download: here

Magnetic Fields part 2 - Jean Michel Jarre

I think everyone who grew up in or around the Seventies remembers their first cassettes. I got a tape recorder in 1980 and spent hours on end filling tapes with the music I heard on the radio. So in 1981 I recorded an instrumental track from a Belgian radio station, without actually hearing a title or artist. Instrumental tracks can be very hard to identify. And so it took me years to find out that this particular track was Jean Michel Jarre's 'Magnetic Fields part 2'. It was a minor hit in the Netherlands for Jarre, reaching number 34 in the Dutch Top 40.

'Magnetic fields' was Jarre's first album recorded with digital synthesizers, having used analogue ones on his previous work.

My collection: 7" single no. 2455

Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, September 2, 1995

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'Magnetic Fields part 2' / 'Magnetic Fields part 1'

Download: here

Oxygene - Jean Michel Jarre

French composer Jean Michel Jarre composed, produced and performed 'Oxygene' in 1976 after he got inspired by a painting given to him by his future wife Charlotte Rampling. The painting was made by Michel Granger and showed the earth peeling to reveal a skull (This image also appears on the cover of the album).

'Oxygene' consists of six tracks, simply numbered I to VI. Part IV was released in edited form as a single. As is evident from the sleeve of the (French) single which I bought, the music was also used as a theme song for broadcasts of basketball games on the French channel Europe 1.


My collection: 7" single no. 1893
Found: May 2, 1993
Cost: 2 guilders
Tracks: 'Oxygene IV' / 'Oxygene VI'
Download: here