| Téo & Téa | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Jean Michel Jarre | ||||
| Released | March 26, 2007 April 16, 2007 |
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| Recorded | 2006 | |||
| Genre | Electronica, dance, electro, breakbeat, rave, chill-out, downtempo, ambient | |||
| Label | Warner Music | |||
| Producer | Jean Michel Jarre | |||
| Jean Michel Jarre chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [1] |
| The Guardian | [2] |
| IM | [3] |
| Indie London | [4] |
| The Times | [5] |
| Uncut | |
Téo & Téa is a conceptual album by French composer and artist Jean Michel Jarre, published by Warner Music in late March 2007. The album was released in the U.S. three weeks later, on 16 April 2007. It is Jarre's thirteenth studio album.
The album tells, in musical form, a metaphorical love story of fictional cartoon characters Téo and Téa, two lookalike creatures (one male, one female) who meet, fall in love and spend one day together.[6] They are seen in the computer-animated video clip accompanying the title track.
The album was launched, in physical form, as an edition containing just the CD and also as a "De Luxe Edition" containing the CD bundled with a DVD. The DVD features the same tracks mixed for 5.1 sound, as well as the video clip for the title track in high-definition, viewable on personal computers.
Téo & Téa is of a more simplistic and playful nature than Jarre's previous albums and, like 2000's Métamorphoses, is dance-oriented.
Contents |
| Chart (2007) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| French Albums Chart | 8 |
| Swiss Album Chart | 45 |
| UK Album Chart | 103 |
The launch marketing campaign of Téo & Téa started in January 2007, two months prior to the album's launch, with video teasers on YouTube, a CD single for clubs and radio stations, pages on Myspace, T-shirts featuring three different motifs on Spreadshirt, and a DVD single released to clubs and TV stations. In all these cases the name of Jean Michel Jarre was not mentioned or associated with the music. A promotional audio CD of the album was released to the press in February 2007, this time mentioning Jarre's name. On 20 March 2007, an official companion website was launched.
A promotional CD single, including the track "Téo & Téa", and a promotional DVD single including the video clip for the same track, were released to clubs and radio stations in February 2007, without reference to composer or artist. A promotional audio CD of the album was released to the press in February 2007.
The iTunes release of the album includes some exclusive bonuses: the videos "Making of (English)" – 8:35 and "Making of (French)" – 11:30; pre-orders also included the tracks "Téo & Téa — 6:00 AM Special" and "Jean Michel Jarre's Track-by-Track Commentary" (English and French versions).
French hypermarket chain Carrefour included an exclusive 32-page booklet with the album.
Two singles have been released, the first, "Téo & Téa", as a promotional for clubs and radio stations in February 2007 and then in a general release. The second, "Vintage", was released in digital download format only, in July 2007, including two remixes by ATB.
Téo & Téa features patches of drum patterns found on the Roland MC-808,[8] a Groovebox of which the album makes quite heavy use. Starting from 19 June 2007, there was a debate amongst fans at several internet forums regarding Jarre's participation in creating them, or that he might have copied them in the album with too much ease.[9][10] Usage of these patterns is not illegal, as expressed in the user manual on page 13.
Jarre's management Aero Productions responded on the matter on 28 June 2007 with a statement to the administrator of the then Jarre's "official" web forum, who posted the following message on:[11]
"Jean Michel Jarre explained that he entered into a partnership with Roland Japan last year, to collaborate with and contribute to demos, patterns and presets for their future products. Jean Michel Jarre explained that the Roland MC808 was one of these products, therefore it is not surprising that certain elements of his new TÉO & TÉA album appear on the Roland MC-808, or any other recent Roland product for that matter."
However, the original statement from Jarre and Aero Productions has not been made public, nor has it been explicitly stated that Jarre is the sole creator of the patterns.
Jarre was credited with a patch on another model of Roland that was released in the same year, the Roland SH-201,[12] but Jarre's name does not appear on Roland's list of patch creators for the MC-808,[13] Tim Hüfken (credited as "artistic collaborator" in the booklet of Téo & Téa) appears instead. On the other hand, Jarre himself is credited in the booklet of Téo & Téa for "drums programming" on the Roland MC-808.
In an interview by French Trax magazine in 2010, Jean Michel Jarre said Téo & Téa had been a mistake in his career:
C'etait une erreur cet album, une connerie. Sur un plan personnel, j'avais plein de galères et je me suis amusé à jouer avec des samples, comme une récréation. Et on l'a sorti comme album. Mais quand je le réécoute aujourd'hui... Je l'assume, hein, il faut bien assumer ce qu'on fait, mais je ne le referais pas. (This album was a mistake, a dumb thing to do. I had a lot of personal problems at the time, and I kept myself entertained playing with these samples. And then they were released as an album. But when I listen to the album today... well, one has to stand behind one's own work, I guess, but I really wouldn't do it again.)—Jean-Michel Jarre, [14]
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