Métamorphoses
| Métamorphoses | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Jean Michel Jarre | ||||
| Released |
 January 24, 2000 May 25, 2004 | |||
| Recorded | 1999 | |||
| Genre | Electronica, dance, breakbeat, downtempo, electro, ambient, world music | |||
| Length | 60:09 | |||
| Label |
Sony Music Disques Dreyfus | |||
| Producer |
Jean Michel Jarre Joachim Garraud | |||
| Jean Michel Jarre chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
Métamorphoses is an album by Jean Michel Jarre, released on Sony Music in 2000. It was released in the U.S. on Disques Dreyfus in 2004. It is his tenth overall studio album.
This album was, to fans, a surprising break from his previous works, as it makes extensive use of vocal elements, as well as house, techno, trance, dance-pop, breakbeat, and downtempo sounds. The vocal elements are not short, sampled pieces as highlighted in his album Zoolook, but longer, more integral parts of the work, and thus quite surprising for an artist known for his instrumental works. Métamorphoses is also Jarre's first album to contain actual songs with lyrics. Jarre's own voice is heard through a vocoder in many of the songs, but the album contains several other singers as well, mostly female singers. "Rendez-vous à Paris" features Sharon Corr on violin. "Rendez-vous à Paris" and "Bells" are the only largely instrumental tracks on the album; in the former only the track title is repeated in rhythm, the latter does not have intelligible lyrics. Although the album was generally not badly received by critics, and despite the collaborations and a number of single releases ("C'est la vie" and "Tout est bleu"), Jarre did not achieve great mainstream success with this album.
Track listing
- "Je me souviens" – 4:25
- "C'est la Vie" – 7:11
- "Rendez-vous à Paris" – 4:19
- "Hey Gagarin" – 6:20
- "Millions of Stars" – 5:41
- "Tout est bleu" – 6:01
- "Love Love Love" – 4:26
- "Bells" – 3:49
- "Miss Moon" – 6:08
- "Give Me a Sign" – 3:49
- "Gloria, Lonely Boy" – 5:31
- "Silhouette" – 2:29
Personnel
- Jean Michel Jarre – vocals, processed vocals, keyboards, synthesizers
- Joachim Garraud – drum programming, sound design, additional keyboards
- Laurie Anderson – vocals on "Je me souviens"
- Natacha Atlas – vocals on "C'est la vie"
- Sharon Corr – violin on "Rendez-vous à Paris"
- Veronique Bossa – vocals on "Give Me a Sign" and "Millions of Stars"
- Dierdre Dubois – vocals on "Miss Moon"
- Lisa Jacobs – vocals on "Millions of Stars"
- Ozlem Cetin – vocals on "Silhouette"
- Raphael Garraud – additional keyboards
- Christopher Papendieck – additional bass keyboards
- Francis Rimbert – additional keyboards
Additional information
- Themes "Bells", "Je me souviens", "Miss Moon", "Millions of Stars", "Hey Gagarin", "Gloria, Lonely Boy", "C'est la vie", "Tout est bleu" and "Give Me A Sign" were performed live at The Twelve Dreams of the Sun concert, in December 31, 1999, along with classical hits by Jarre.
- It was originally planned that Kraftwerk would collaborate on the album, but this did not happen due to artistic disagreements.
- A 6-track promo version of Métamorphoses exists with an extended version of "Hey Gagarin" (length 8:33).
- A song initially planned for the album named "Crazy Saturday" was omitted from the album. It resurfaced a few months later and was renamed "Metamorphoses" and used in the "Global Tekno" art exhibition, part of the Festival d'Avignon. In 2006 the track finally got released on iTunes as part of Live Printemps de Bourges 2002. Again the track was renamed, this time to "Body Language".
- The lead melody of the song "Je me souviens" re-appears in the title track of Jarre's AERO album, although it is altered slightly.
References
External links
- Metamorphoses at Discogs
- Metamorphoses at JarreUK