The Concerts in China

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The Concerts in China
The Concerts in China cover
Live album by Jean Michel Jarre
Released 1982
Recorded October 1981
Genre Electronic
Length 79:03
Label Disques Dreyfus
Producer Jean Michel Jarre
Professional reviews
Jean Michel Jarre chronology
Magnetic Fields
(1981)		 The Concerts in China
(1982)		 Music for Supermarkets
(1983)

The Concerts in China (French title: Les Concerts en Chine) is a live album by Jean Michel Jarre, recorded in 1981 and released in 1982 on Disques Dreyfus. It was recorded during Jarre's Concerts in China tour of Autumn 1981, which consisted of five Peking and Shanghai concerts in China; this was the first time a Western pop artist performed in China after the Cultural Revolution.

The album is a balance of previously released tracks by Jarre, new compositions inspired by Chinese culture, and one rearranged traditional Chinese track ("Fishing Junks at Sunset"). The music is combined live and studio work, plus ambient sound recordings. The most live tracks are the Equinoxe and Magnetic Fields sets. New compositions include "Night in Shanghai", "Laser Harp", "Arpegiator", "Orient Express" and "Souvenir of China". "Fishing Junks at Sunset" is a new arrangement of a very old traditional Chinese song known as the "Fisherman's Chant at Dusk" which was performed and recorded with The Peking Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra, and is often wrongly attributed as being composed by Jean Michel Jarre.

The album was originally released as a double-disc LP, then as a double-disc CD. There was also a CD release in two separate volumes, with the cover color changed to blue (Vol. 1) and yellow (Vol. 2). In 1997, a one-disc remastered CD was released, made possible by an extended running time of 80 minutes and by the combination into one track of the double-track "Fishing Junks at Sunset", parts of which were cut to reduce the new track's running time.

The album reached #6 in the UK charts[1] and #1 in Portugal.

Contents

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Disc one

  1. "The Overture" – 4:47
  2. "Arpegiator" – 6:54
  3. "Equinoxe IV" – 7:49
  4. "Fishing Junks at Sunset" – 9:38
  5. "Band in the Rain" – 1:29
  6. "Equinoxe VII" – 9:55

[edit] Disc two

  1. "Orient Express" – 4:22
  2. "Magnetic Fields I" – 0:21
  3. "Magnetic Fields III" – 3:49
  4. "Magnetic Fields IV" – 6:49
  5. "Laser Harp" – 3:37
  6. "Night in Shanghai" – 7:02
  7. "The Last Rumba" – 2:11
  8. "Magnetic Fields II" – 6:26
  9. "Souvenir of China" – 3:54

Jean Michel Jarre – Arpegiator

An excerpt from Arpegiator, highlighting the use of the Fairlight CMI
Problems listening to the file? See media help.

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Miscellanea

One of the album's original tracks – "Arpegiator" – was used in the soundtrack of cult film 9 1/2 Weeks.

The Concerts in China's opening track "The Overture" is in fact the first movement of "Magnetic Fields Part 1" slowed down. If you play The Concerts in China LP at the speed of a single (45 rpm) and compare to "Magnetic Fields Part 1" at normal speed, you will notice that they are identical.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Connolly Company

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Jean-Michel Jarre
Albums
Deserted Palace (1972) · Les Granges Brûlées (1973) · Oxygène (1976 in France, 1977 worldwide) · Equinoxe (1978) · Magnetic Fields (Les Chants Magnétiques) (1981) · Music for Supermarkets (Musique pour Supermarchés) (1983) · Zoolook (1984) · Rendez-Vous (1986) · Revolutions (1988) · Waiting for Cousteau (En attendant Cousteau) (1990) · Chronologie (1993) · Oxygene 7–13 (1997) · Metamorphoses (2000) · Interior Music (2001) · Sessions 2000 (2002) · Geometry of Love (2003) · Téo & Téa (2007) · Oxygene: New Master Recording (2007)
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