Jean-Michel Jarre: Equinoxe Infinity

So no sooner does Jean-Michel Jarre release the massive retrospective set Planet Jarre - a four disc, 41 track collection - than he announces the release of a new album in just a matter of months.

November sees the releas of Equinoxe Infinity, marking the 40th anniversary of the 1978 release of his original Equinoxe album.

I've always liked Equinoxe, and while it perhaps doesn't get the same level of respect as Oxygene does, it really was the work that confirmed Oxygene was no one-off piece, and that as an artist he had more to offer.  

Given the scale of the impact of Oxygene, and the attention it received again with the later two volumes in the trilogy, it's perhaps understandable that Equinoxe has perhaps been slightly overlooked. Time to put that right.

Oxygene's themes were developed over subsequent decades in the two other volumes, and its legendary status secured.  But if you had to pick two Jarre albums that defined his aesthetic, it would probably be Oxygene and Equinoxe rather than any of the other volumes in the Oxygene trilogy.

The concept of Equinox, of anonymous and ambiguous observers watching over us is one that certainly rings true today. Technology might have advanced, but so do the questions that it provokes. Jarre, as always, ahead of his time.

The new collection features two different covers, one showing a future vision of man in harmony with nature, the other showing a potentially more destructive future.

Equinoxe Infinity is released on CD, vinyl and a deluxe box set on November 16.