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Téo and Téa

Jean Michel Jarre - Téo and Téa Audio CD

A fair review of the Jean Michel Jarre "Téo and Téa" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Jean Michel Jarre reviews here, or go back to the Jean Michel Jarre tabs.

Band: Jean Michel Jarre
Title: Téo and Téa
Rating:

Release Date: 2007-04-02
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Fresh News 2: T�o & T�a 3: Beautiful Agony 4: Touch to Remember 5: OK, Do It Fast 6: Partners in Crime, Pt. 1 7: Partners in Crime, Pt. 2 8: Chatterbox 9: In the Mood for You 10: Gossip 11: Vintage 12: Melancholic Rodeo 13: T�o & T�a 4:00 A.M. 14: T�o & T�a [High DeFinition][Multimedia Track] 15: T�o & T�a [Multimedia Track]

A real mixture - sublime and bland in equal measures
As someone who enjoyed both that album and "Sessions 2000" before it, I was interested to see what new directions Jarre would take with this one. "Téo & Téa" is Jean Michel Jarre's first album of entirely new material since "Geometry of Love" (2003). In truth it is difficult to pin down any particular style or theme running through the album: tracks range from dance to trip-hop, ambient to simply undefinable.

The album opens very strongly with the upbeat "Fresh News" followed by the excellent title track. This latter (as well as its longer mix, the bonus track "Téo & Téa 4:00 A. M. ") is easily the highlight of the album, combining the quirkiness and strong melodies we have come to love from Jarre with a catchy dancefloor beat. Much further down the tracklist, "Vintage" will straightaway remind long-time Jarre fans of Chronologie 2 & 4. Similarly, the minimalist bassline on "Beautiful Agony" is heavily reminiscent of Equinoxe 6, and its sensual vocals (provided by Jarre's wife) will certainly catch your attention - although they become more wearing after the first listening.

While there are these flashes of brilliance, however, there are also a number of tracks which are either unoriginal or unimaginative, or both. Some, though not bad in themselves, come across as highly derivative: the overuse of synth strings and clap-track in "Touch to Remember" would not sound out of place as a backing for almost any hip-hop song in the charts; the ambient "In the Mood for You" sounds like any other chill-out track. Some tracks appear to be merely filler: the uninventive two-minute "Gossip" springs to mind; "Partners in Crime, Pt. 2" sounds merely like a prototype version of Pt. 1.

Opinion has been extremely polarised on this album - as it always is on any new offering by Jarre. One of the problems is clearly that while there are a number of good tracks (and one or two great ones) there are also a number of very bland or uninspiring ones (though actually few completely awful ones). To my mind it is no surprise that the most minimalist tracks are among the most forgettable, and that the more interesting ones are those with the greatest range, depth and colour in their soundscape. Such depth, after all, is what Jarre has always excelled at.

All in all, "Téo & Téa" is a real mixture and very difficult to classify. On the whole, however, I would say that it is at least a respectable album, and if it is not Jarre's best work, neither is it his worst. As a final word of warning for those considering buying the CD+DVD version, the DVD contains no special features or visual effects to complement the audio, and so unless you particularly want the 5. 1 surround experience, there is a lot to be said for buying the CD-only version instead and saving your money.

Unusual Cool
His latest release I must admit took me a while to understand. Jean-Michel Jarre has created an impressive electronic body of work that the world (except the US) know and appreciate, over 30 years now. At first it came across like a big step backward in his usual artistic excellence, so I let go the critic inside me and just enjoyed the album as his "light, fun" stuff. . . " then it dawned on me - wait a minute! What's really up with the cheesy sounds on a some of the tracks? Why's he doing some outright silly stuff, something a progressive artist as he never would dream of doing, and he's doing it right here. . . and that's just it, I think he purposely wanted diehard fans and casual listeners to go "what the heck! why??" Genius. He's made an album that's enjoyable to listen to, make us wonder how could an artist of his caliber do something so radically different and arguably below his usual standards, and leave you just wondering why why why? Genius.
5 stars because he did something no fan expected from him, Metamorphoses falls into almost the same category as this by the way, and it's fun to listen to really.

Same S*H*I*T With A Great Presentation
Beautiful, with stickers and hologram. JEAN MICHEL JARRE's "Teo & Tea", or may I say Roland MC 808 presets collection, Chinnesse edition. But, anyway, the same musical s*h*i*t.

You must buy "Teo & Tea" because is really usefull as "posavasos" (as good as "OLDFIELD's "Light & Shade" or OBK's "Feeling"). But if you get this Chinnesse edition you can put it on your mesita de noche and have a good dream.

Specially decicated to FJARRE dot COM Forum. Is nice, you laugh.

This album ROCKS!
Sure it's not his usual electronic style of Oxygene or Equinoxe; that's because he's exploring new territory. Pure and Simple. He can only reinvent those so many times without getting bored. On this one, he's just having fun. It's along the lines of Oxygene 7-13 - another dance techno album, with a little Chronologies-stule thrown in. Grab a cup of coffee, plug your iPod into the car stereo, and FFLLLLLYYY down the highway!!!!!!!!! This one's got adrenalin written all over it. He could have done without his wife's orgasms on Beautiful Agony, however. It's a great song, but she's just doesn't fit on it with her groaning. BTW, he's just turned 60 this year, not 70 as some have suggested. This one IS different, but so has every album been post-Revolutions (which was a great album - seen the Concert in Gdansk video?). It's different, but still has the Jarre signature all over it. Chapeau Monsieur Jarre! Now get back to concert work JM. We need a kewl new awesome spectacular mega light & sound show :) .

I will tell you what this means...

The synth was not as successful as its rivals, I won't give their name here tough. Ok, a couple of years ago a synthesizer company named Roland has released a new synthesizer named Fantom X6.

It was a bit like a toy with its color graphichal display and unfriendly knobs etc.

Becuase it did not do well, ( I also owned one ), I think the company tried to advertise it, trying to give it a 'serious' image.

And yes this album is the product of this advert. As you will recognize on the cover art everybody plays Fantom X series.

I can not tell anything about the concept of this album, about the artistic aspects of the album; becuase it has NONE.

Nobody, I've seen nobody work on an art-product with a nonsense idea like two fictional cartoon characters doing something nasty.

So why do I give 4 stars ? Becuase:

The album is technically very good. Jarre uses the toy synth workstation at its limits and it is a very interesting experience, a minimalist experience. You may say that the sounds are cheesy, but that's the point, he uses these sounds to build real complex euro-textures. I felt the same technical degree that O once felt with "Magnetic Fields".

But man, where is the artistic ideas ? What happened to concepts ?

This "technically good" album has NO meaning; you don't believe me ? Then just listen what Jarre says in the title track.

( This comes from an SD Memory slot ain't it ?)

And yes once again the "revolutions posing" Jarre proved that he has no ideology at all. (what was that Polish concert ?)

He did and can only pretend to have one.

You can see a complete list of all Jean Michel Jarre discography, or go back to the Jean Michel Jarre tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.