OXYGENE  -  Jean Michel Jarre

YEAR:  1976
LABEL:  Disques Dreyfud/Polydor
TRACK LISTING:  Oxygène (Part I),  Oxygène (Part II),  Oxygène (Part III),  Oxygène (Part IV),  Oxygène (Part V),  Oxygène (Part VI)
IMPRESSIONS:  I sought this album out after hearing snippets of "Oxygène (Part II)" in the film GALLIPOLI as well as the use of Jarre's EQUINOXE album in Carl Sagan's COSMOS series in 1980.  This was the height of electronic music which sounded bizarre or spacey in the late 70's - early 80's and I lapped it up with fiendish glee.  After having been raised on Mike Oldfield's first three albums, I was certainly predisposed to the likes of Kraftwerk, Isao Tomita or Jean Michel Jarre (and yes, even non-CHARIOTS OF FIRE Vangelis, if you please).   "Oxygène" is certainly one of those "headphones" albums as well as something equally suited for playing on the stereo in a darkened, candlelit room or driving through the night in your car.  Hearing "Oxygène" or its companion album "Equinoxe" always reminds me of a fun pasttime our family friend Ronnie taught me when I was a kid.  If you turn the TV to a non-used channel (this was the days before cable, folks) where there was nothing but "snow" and you turned the "brightness" all the way down to almost but not quite total blackness, the snow on the screen would appear as if you were flying through space and passing through millions of stars.  I'm here to tell you it worked and it was cool.  Much like the forward viewscreen as the starship Enterprise or the Millenium Falcon travelled through space.  Ah, for the analog seventies!
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  All of 'em.  The album plays as one continuous piece.
FACT SHEET:  OXYGENE is Jean Michel Jarre's third album.  Jarre recorded the album in his apartment kitchen using electronic instruments as well as analog synthesizers.  The cover painting is by Michel Granger; the album "Oxygène" was inspired by this painting when it was given to Jarre by his wife Charlotte Rampling.  "Oxygène (Part II)" was used in the soundtrack to the film GALLIPOLI.  The motif for "Oxygène (Part IV)" was based on Gershon Kingsley's hit single "Popcorn".

GHOSTLY SOUNDS - Peter Waldron and Gershon Kingsley

YEAR: 1975

LABEL: Peter Pan

TRACK LISTING: Ghostly Sounds, The Ghosts From Outer Space

IMPRESSIONS: Apparently this lil album is well-beloved and remembered by children of the 70s (PRESENT, sir!!!) not only for one of the greatest album covers in all creation but also for the splendidly evocative moogtastic synth work by Gershon Kingsley. Let us not forget the dulcet tones of Peter Waldron whose narration takes its time for full creepy effect; the sombre intonations are pure Halloween for me. Side one's intro section starting with wolf howls and ambient spookiness under Waldron's nearly whispered soliloquy "Night falls. . .the forest holds its breath..." is simply unequaled in any other "Halloween" record I've ever heard. It's one of the most appropriate tours of Halloween you're likely to find. Even side two's "GHOSTS FROM OUTER SPACE" may seem odd at first but Waldron's classic opening line will put all doubts to rest: "Once upon a star far far away past the moon and Mars and Jupiter . . . . there were ghosts." The much-missed blog "Scar Stuff" points out the marvelously experimental aspect of this album: "...the curious use of human voices for most sound effects (to simulate working, a guy actually says 'work') nicely expose the avant garde influences that were at play on a lot of children's records in the late 60s & early 70s". If ever an old kids Halloween record demanded release on cd, this is the one; not only can it be loved by kids but also fully appreciated by adults.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Ghostly Sounds, The Ghosts From Outer Space

FACT SHEET: GHOSTLY SOUNDS is an album of two album side-spanning stories for Halloween; it is not a sound effects record. The storytelling is by Peter Waldron and the music/moog effects are by Gershon Kingsley. Kingsley is famous for his hit single "Popcorn" as well as his musical collaborations with Jean-Jacques Perrey on such classic lounge/exotica albums as "THE IN SOUND FROM WAY OUT". The classic album cover artwork is by all-time champ children's record cover artist George Peed; among many other projects Peed did the character designs for the TV cartoon THE MIGHTY HERCULES.