This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Georesident(talk | contribs) at 11:02, 19 October 2023(Updated release date to 5 May 1982). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 11:02, 19 October 2023 by Georesident(talk | contribs)(Updated release date to 5 May 1982)
The album is a balance of previously released tracks by Jarre, new compositions inspired by Chinese culture, and one rearranged traditional Chinese track,[3] "Fishing Junks at Sunset" ("Jonques de pêcheurs au crépuscule").
The album consists mainly of live material, plus ambient sound recordings and one new studio track "Souvenir of China". Other new compositions recorded live include "Nuit à Shanghai", "Harpe Laser", "Arpégiateur" and "Orient Express". "Jonques de pêcheurs au crépuscule" ("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, misled by the album inlay.
Several of the tracks are misleadingly titled. The track labelled as "Magnetic Fields Part 1" is merely 30 seconds of table tennis sound effects and has no similarity with the studio track of the same name. "Band in the Rain" is actually part 8 of Équinoxe, and "The Last Rhumba" is part 5 of Magnetic Fields. Opening track "The Overture" is part 1 of Magnetic Fields slowed down.
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 reducing the total running time to 78:17 by reducing the gaps and audience noise between tracks. The remastering was done by Scott Hull at Masterdisk to the 96 kHz, 24 bit standard.[4]
One of the album's original tracks – "Arpégiateur" – was used in the soundtrack of the film 9½ Weeks as well as in several mid-1980s episodes of the American soap opera Santa Barbara.
The album reached #6 in the UK charts[5] #1 in Portugal and #76 in Australia.[6]
Track listing
First edition (1982)
Side one
No.
Title
Length
1.
"L'Ouverture" (The Overture)
4:47
2.
"Arpégiateur" (Arpegiator)
6:54
3.
"Equinoxe 4"
7:49
Side two
No.
Title
Length
1.
"Jonques de pêcheurs au crépuscule" (Fishing Junks at Sunset)
^The Fishing Boat Sings Evening (渔舟唱晚) is a famous Guzheng solo piece, whose title is taken from the famous poem "Preface to Tengyu Pavilion" by Wang Bo (poet). There are different opinions on the origin of the music: it is supposedly an adaption from the folk traditional songs “Return", “Shuangban” and "Double Clappers". According to a paper by Jiang Bohai and Jiang Shu of Zhejiang Normal University, these were first combined by Jin Zhunan in 1912 under the title Evening Songs From A Fishing Boat. In turn this version was adapted by Wei Ziyou in 1925. Then in the 1930s, it was adapted yet again by Lou Shuhua and Jin Zhuonan and renamed to its current title. In any case, almost every Chinese is familiar with the melody of this song, because it is the background music of the weather forecast at China Central Television.
[2]