No one could ever mistake 67-year-old Jean-Michel Jarre for the hardest working man in pop, but his first album of new material since 2007’s disastrous Teo & Tea is an overdue reminder of what made him great in the first place.
Loosely conceived as a cross-generational celebration of electronic music, every track here is a collaboration, with guests ranging from old timers Pete Townshend and Tangerine Dream to the newer Gesaffelstein, via Air, Moby, Massive Attack and concert pianist Lang Lang.
For all the diversity of the contributors – Townshend sounds startlingly dynamic on Travelator (Part 2); F*** Buttons twinkle merrily on Immortals – Jarre’s grandstanding keyboard swirl gives the whole project genuine cohesion.
Electronica 1: The Time Machine is his most intriguing and most vibrant album in decades.
(Columbia/Sony)
