Jean-Michel Jarre ‎– Electronica 2 - The Heart of Noise

Electronica 2 is the second edition of a project featuring the collaboration of 30 artists. Precisely what I feared, there isn't too much to expect from the second installment. There is less and less Jarre on this edition. Album starts solid, up to the point where Hans Zimmer ends - from that part on, it's practically unrecognizable even as a Jarre project. Sincerely, Peaches was the ridiculous pick for this one. I mean, ridiculous. I expected collaborations like Kraftwerk or Ralf Hütter and much more established synth acts. Although I admire the unmistakable voice from Neil Tennant, the Pet Shop Boys track would have been fit better on a proper Pet Shop Boys album. De/Vision and Kraftwerk/Hütter or say, Karl Bartos could be huge collaborations that maybe were not thought enough for this project. We get rap style music on a Jarre album. End of days!

So the conclusion is, each fan can assemble its own "Electronica 3", putting the right pieces together, according to their own taste. That's the only sense I see in producing 34 tracks in which almost half of it serves no use to me. In my case, I will stay with the greater portion of the first installment, Electronica 1.

If I were to meet Jarre and have a coffee with him, I would really, really try to convince him in doing a proper album again. The last masterpiece written, to me, is Oxygene 8. Not the entire album: it had more than enough of space filler tracks. Again, Oxygene 8 (the song) was the last well penned, brilliant and stunning Jarre track, just like old times. Please Jarre, give us more of that. Thank you.