Play the whole album - Jean Michel Jarre - Equinoxe

If you have a Spotify or any other music streaming service that lets you listen to entire albums in one go, I've got some homework for you.

Ever heard of Jean-Michel Jarre? He's a composer and musician who takes the synthesizer to the highest of heights. If you're going to introduce someone to his music, I think it's a toss-up whether you pick 1976's Oxygene or 1978's Equinoxe. The thing about Oxygene is that the overall mood is more organic and lacks the intensity of the album I chose. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you - Equinoxe.

JMJ doesn't name his tracks on this album (nor Oxygene). Part 1 sounds like the perfect opener for a space exploration science fiction program, a-la Star Trek, with a layers of melodic synth building on top of each other, before winding down.

Part 2 is a solemn number that has an almost hymnal quality. But then that spaceyness comes back. Each track segues perfectly into the next.

Part 3 has a fairy tale vibe to it. The release of this album was followed by a Paris concert on the Place de la Concorde, on 14 July 1979. The concert attracted a million people, becoming JMJ's first entry in the Guinness Book of Records for the largest crowd for an outdoor concert.

Part 4 Jarre uses 16 different synthesizers and sequencers to paint these musical tapestries. Critics around when this album came out found the music to be a bit vapid. It certainly presented electronic music in a manner that was rarely heard before. This track does not segue into Part 5, as it was recorded in the time of vinyl albums which had two sides. This was the end of side one.

Part 5 Side two opens with what is likely my favourite JMJ track of all time. The sound of rain heralds a crack of thunder and the driving beat that you rarely hear on early JMJ works. The sounds are percussive and the bass lines are even more pronounced than usual. There's a hint of German melody that sounds like it could have been inspiration for OMD's early work. This album actually charted in Europe, doing very well in the Netherlands and the UK.

Part 6 The previous track blends into this one without missing a beat, this being effectively the coda for Part 5.

Part 7 Begins with some great twisty bass being the only thing holding it together. The longest track on the album, I do find that it drags on a bit.

Part 8 The album ends with what sounds like a French folksy number, which seems to be s signature move by JMJ on many of his albums. But it morphs into lazy rendition of the melody from track 5, which opens this album's side.

If you really want to experience what is possible using just synthesizers at the hands of a master, this is a great place to start.