Oh yeah. There is no better way to start a list of my all-time favorite tracks than with a song from Oxygène: the album that inspired my early dive into electronic music and shaped my taste in music for years to come. Like many fans of Jarre, I was first introduced to his work by Oxygène, Pt. 4—that one instrumental track that sounds a bit like "Popcorn". It was at a time when my listening preferences were mostly video game music and the occasional pop. Don't get me wrong, video game music was (and still is) a diverse genre with some fascinating history, but it was just one area of music as a whole. So was pop, which back then focused on dance clichés and lyrics about drinking and partying. Under my nose, and my eager ears, a different world of sound was waiting to be discovered.
One fateful night, I would get a small glimpse of that world with Oxygène, my first contact with a genre I will call early electronica.
Though my first impression of the album is a story for another time. I'm here to talk about Pt. 2. I have listened to Pt. 2 probably hundreds of times across 10 years and counting. 500+ albums and many more songs by other artists later, it miraculously has not lost its magic. Where Pt. 1 is slower-paced and lingering, taking a proper moment to set the tone of the album, Part 2 uses momentum and pure sound to pull listeners into a living, breathing sound-scape.
Right away the movement opens with a fast sequence of notes, and a steady bass line, gradually coming into focus. This is when I become convinced that my hi-fi headphones are the best investment I've ever made. Synthesizer effects flow around, unbound by time and space. A chord, intricately layered in lush lush reverb, offers a core idea—a motif.
Animal-like tones echo, somewhere between whale calls and the blips of an old arcade machine. A gush of wind rises, calling forth a storm of Minipops percussion and a melody.
Or should I say, the melody. It is this energetic, classical-style burst of a melody that draws me in with every ascending and descending note, scratching every itch in my brain. Before the keys get frantic as to sound sloppy, they are tightened up into short chords with a sense of grandiosity. As they fade out, the chord returns again with its motif; a moment of breathing room before that busy melody is heard a second time. Still keeping with the atmosphere, Jarre plays a light synthesizer solo. If an ambient track could produce feelings of being transported to another time on Earth or even in the universe, this does that for me.
From the tempests of the Earth, a synthetic choir sings, courtesy of a Mellotron. And I'm pleased to find that their hymn has the same general harmony as those chords from the start, only with more finality. With that, the elements in Pt. 2 have come full-circle. The track is so flowing, so complete.
More than 40 years later, Part 2 continues to be a favorite among Jarre's fans and for the perfect reason. The sound design is sublime if I did not emphasize that already. Everything in the track washes in and out, ebbing through any speaker or sound system as if the instruments are made of air. With the way Jarre conducts his synths, that's not a farfetched notion either. It takes ambition, purpose and a certain meticulousness to make music, especially with a piece that contains this many sounds. I think the wonder is in the white noise and the simplicity of Pt. 2. Jarre knows when to introduce an idea and when to let it resolve. No one section here overstays its welcome, but rather plays to the mood and instruments of the track. It's a kind of consistency that cleanses my soul and makes me feel lighter each time I hear it.
At the same time, Pt. 2 has plenty of details and flavors tucked beneath its synthesizers, for those moments when I want to get lost in the sounds and really feel their warmth. To this day, I cannot listen to it without marveling at effectively profound it is. My close friends can attest my rambles.
It was this piece that inspired my imagination of other planets and alien-like beings, as well as my early artistic style as I was becoming more familiar with the concept of Flow. In more ways than one it is profound, and an eternal favorite of mine.