Téo & Téa

I still consider myself a true fan of Jarre's, but I truly feel he has lost his way since Metamorphoses, and while this is a partial return to form, there is still a considerable distance to cover before Jarre wins my full respect in him as an artist.

I have to say that I find it incredible how many five star ratings there have been for this album - without wanting to sound harsh, that's just blinkered fan-boy optimism in my opinion. It's far too simplistic in its overall tone to be hailed as a work of genius, especially as it is rather lacking when it comes to the quality of compostition that I've come to expect of Jarre - this was my first real gripe with the album, and it still remains the case. He really could have done so much better - as it is the album feels like it was rushed, with very little care involved.

The same was true of 'Geometry Of Love' - a work of staggeringly cold banality. But at least 'Téo & Téa' has a spark of zest about it. But that alone does not a great album make - a truly great Jarre album has heart, and there is precious little of that in evidence here. Also, much of the instrumentation he has used sounds cheap and nasty, with out-of-place samples dotted about unnecessarily. Too many of the songs sound dreadfully sparse from a compositional point of view, something I am not particularly keen on. Minimalism is not what has been employed here, rather a lack of ideas or inspiration. At times the album is just plain ordinary, and calling it 'bland' would be doing it a kindness. But on occasions it does partly redeem itself - the title track and 'Vintage' for me are the two key standouts, and though fairly sparse in structure or depth, they do have a tremendous appeal. The title track alone is at least a return to Jarre's more energetic works of old, even if the melody is somewhat lacking. The same applies to 'Vintage', probably by far the best track on the album, and while it is yet another 'dance' influenced number, it posseses an aching beauty to its melodic core that I've not felt from Jarre's music since some of Metamorphoses' more haunting melodies. That said, this album is far from comparable to 'Meta' or indeed 'Zoolook' - now THERE was evidence of a true pioneering genius; 'Zoolook' is simply a standard of quality that this album couldn't even hope to attain.

Sounding oftentimes far too cheesy and out-dated, 'Téo & Téa' is probably the most difficult of Jarre's albums I've ever had to classify, insomuchas whether I like it, love it, hate it or merely tolerate it. But despite my initial misgivings regarding its cheap and tacky sheen, there has been something about the album that keeps me listening again and again at the moment.

'Like' almost seems a strong word to employ at present, but it has something I can't really put my finger on. 'Téo & Téa' isn't an awful album, it's merely an okay album, and I really do expect something more fulfilling from Jean-Michel Jarre next time. (...)

Those of you expecting an album like so-called "classic" Jarre should probably move along, because this most certainly is not it. It is more, however, like 2003's Geometry of Love or the more experimental Sessions 2000. Whether this is a good or bad thing is very much open to interpretation. I happen to (mostly) like it so far.

It certainly isn't an unalloyed triumph, but it's no disaster either. Musos will complain that his use of instrumentation is no longer as imaginative as it was; maybe this is true but perhaps Jarre's own needs have moved on, with contemporary kit giving him the palette he wants.

The major complaints I've seen about this album are that it is too derivative and too dancy. This is partly true, it does have a much more aggressively dancy, clubby feel than other work of his, not that it will make any difference in the UK, which now is not a major market for him any longer really (this album will struggle to do Top 20 business here).

Tracks like Teo & Tea itself and Chatterbox remind me a little of Zoolook-era tracks like Zoolookologie (one of my favourite JMJ pieces) and the 'Moon Machine' B-side. Melancholic Rodeo has vague tinges of things from as far back as Deserted Palace. Even as far back as Equinoxe, dance was firmly at the forefront of JMJ's thinking so this is not as much of a jump as some might think, it is just the environment has changed.

If someone else had released this, how would it have been received I wonder?

It's really sad to see an artist fall so spectacularly from grace: its almost inconceivable that a musician who created a beautiful, timeless, ground-breaking album such as Oxygene could go on to churn out something like this. You'd think an artist would mature and become more sophisticated through the years, and not regress to producing what clearly seems to be aimed at chavs "what like to get up on the dancefloor after 10 blue WKDs".

I know that's harsh, but the moment I heard lead single Teo & Tea I couldn't help but escape the feeling that he'd basically created little more than a ring-tone hit aimed at the Crazy Frog generation of music-buyers. It feels like a total betrayal of his fan-base. It's almost as though he's had a mid-life crisis and suddenly wants to "be cool with da kids" - which I guess would be OK in itself if the music was up to par...but this isn't.

There are some good ideas, but most of them are botched by the rather cheap, cheesy, nasty, unpolished production. There are admittedly some good tracks: Vintage is, as the title suggests, vintage Jarre and is an addictive and exuberant slice of dancefloor magic (possessing something that the titular first single sorely lacks: namely, a melody!). Partners in Crime is an enticing and groovy Bond-esque tune, while In the Mood for You is certainly passable if not a masterpiece. Touch to Remember would have been rather lovely if it weren't for the extremely grating computerised vocalisations, which spoil an otherwise good track. Unfortunately, that's about it: most the rest of the songs I'm forced to skip. Fresh News sounds like horribly irritating and obnxoious ringtone, The totally gratuitous sexual moans render Beautiful Agony utterly cringe-worthy (if Jarre wants an example of how to incorporate such elements in a subtle and effective manner he ought to check out Enigma's MCMXC AD album). Just about all the other tracks are, in my personal opinion, obnxious, cheap, tuneless and grating - and necessitate instant skippage. The album ends with a fairly good remix of Teo & Tea which I actually find a significant improvement on the original. But it's just not enough to save an EXTREMELY patchy album, with only a couple of really good tracks and FAR too many downright unlistenable ones.

I just relistened to Jarre's Metamorphosis album and can hardly believe the two are by the same artist. Metamorphosis is everything that T&T isn't: it's inventive, upbeat, sassy, sophisticated and fun. This is just an almighty mess and frankly a 14 year old playing around with a sample sequencer on a PC could probably create better music than some of the tracks on here. I'm willing to chalk this up as just a bad day (or however long it took to create) at the office for Jarre. I sincerely hope he returns to his roots and produces something worthy of his name and not cheap, horrible ringtone music like this. (I also hate having to write such a negative review, please don't flame me - this is just how I personally see it and I don't like feeling like this believe me!)