Les Chants Magnétiques

Les Chants Magnétiques (English title: Magnetic Fields) is the fifth studio album by French electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre, released on Disques Dreyfus on 20 May 1981.[3] The album reached number six in the United Kingdom, number 98 in the United States and number 76 in Australia.

Les Chants Magnétiques
Studio album by
Jean-Michel Jarre
Released20 May 1981 (1981-05-20)
StudioCroissy Studio, France
Genre
Length35:53
LabelDisques Dreyfus
ProducerJean-Michel Jarre
Jean-Michel Jarre chronology
Équinoxe
(1978)		 Les Chants Magnétiques
(1981)		 Les Concerts en Chine
(1982)
Singles from Les Chants Magnétiques
  1. "Les Chants Magnétiques Part 2"
    Released: June 1981[2]
  2. "Les Chants Magnétiques Part 4 (Remix)"
    Released: November 1981
  3. "The Last Rumba"
    Released: 1981

Title

The title of the album is a play on words in the French language. The literal English translation of the French title, "Les Chants Magnétiques", is "Magnetic Songs". However, the French word for 'fields' (champs) is a homophone of the French word for 'songs' (chants), so in French, if the title is spoken out loud, it can be interpreted as either magnetic fields or as magnetic songs. (Les Champs magnétiques was a surrealist book published in 1920.)

The English title, "Magnetic Fields", is a literal translation of "les champs magnétiques" rather than "les chants magnétiques", and the pun in the original French title is lost in translation.

Composition and recording

The album is one of the first to use sounds from the Fairlight CMI.[4] Its digital technology allowed Jarre to continue his earlier sonic experimentation in new ways.[5] He also used instruments from the EMS company, among them the Synthi AKS, the VCS 3 and the Vocoder 1000.[6]

"Les Chants Magnétiques (Part 1)" is divided into three different movements, "kicking off with an exhibitionist, cocksure first movement that seems to keep reaching to the sky for yet more key changes, followed by the swishy human samples and surreality of the second, and the mechanical chuntering and sonic lack of constraint of the third".[4]

In minimalist piece "Les Chants Magnétiques (Part 3)" employs sounds from a toy box,[1][7] and Jarre's collaborator Michel Geiss recorded the sounds produced by trains that would be used in the album.[8] Les Chants Magnétiques was recorded and mixed by Jean-Pierre Janiaud assisted by Patrick Foulon at Croissy studio, the cover was designed by Remy Magron.[9]

Release

Les Chants Magnétiques was released on 20 May 1981 in Europe and on 15 June 1981 in the USA. It sold a reported 200,000 units in France alone by the beginning of July.[3] In that same year, the British Embassy gave Radio Beijing copies of his albums, which became the first pieces of foreign music to be played on Chinese national radio in decades.[10] China invited Jarre to become the first western musician to play there since the death of Mao Zedong.[11]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[12]
Record Mirror[13]
Smash Hits7/10[14]

Contemporary reception of the album was generally positive. Cashbox wrote that Magnetic Fields "is Jarre's most subtle work yet, being a bit busier than Oxygene and more textural than Equinoxe".[15] In Smash Hits, Johnny Black stated that the album "proves more energetic than either of its two mega-selling predecessors. It is, arguably, wallpaper music, but his creative use of Latin and African rhythms ... moves it all up a notch."[14]

Simon Tebbutt of Record Mirror described the album as "nullifying, stultifying and ultimately BORING".[13] In an AllMusic retrospective review, writer John Bush commented that: "It's often just as melodic and inventive as Oxygene, though not as consistently creative."[12]

Track listing
Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Les Chants Magnétiques Part 1"17:50
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Les Chants Magnétiques Part 2"3:59
2."Les Chants Magnétiques Part 3"4:15
3."Les Chants Magnétiques Part 4"6:18
4."Les Chants Magnétiques Part 5 – La Dernière Rumba" (The Last Rumba)3:30
Total length:35:52

Charts

Certifications and sales
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
France — 200,000[3]
Japan — 20,000[28]
Netherlands (NVPI)[29] Gold 50,000^
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[30] Gold 50,000^
Sweden — 10,000[28]
United Kingdom (BPI)[31] Gold 100,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. Michel-Jarre, Jean (18 June 2015). "The essential Jean-Michel Jarre in 10 tracks". The Vinyl Factory. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
  2. Strong, Martin Charles (1995). The Great Rock Discography. p. 428. ISBN 9780862415419.
  3. Way, Michael (11 July 1981). "Jarre off to China to Map Autumn Tour". Billboard. pp. 4 & 59. Retrieved 23 June 2009.
  4. "Jean-Michel Jarre – 10 of the best". The Guardian. 5 October 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  5. Remilleux 1988, p. 35
  6. Holmes, Thom (9 March 2020). Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music, and Culture. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-75843-0. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  7. "LES CHANTS MAGNETIQUES (MAGNETIC FIELDS)". www.connollyco.com. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  8. Black, Johnny (15 April 2020). "Vinyl Icons: Jean-Michel Jarre Equinoxe". Hi-Fi News & Record Review. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
  9. Les Chants Magnétiques (booket). Disques Dreyfus. 1987. 824 748-2/DCO 2001.
  10. "A Guide to Jean-Michel Jarre's Biggest Live Performances". Red Bull Music Academy Daily. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  11. "Biography". Jean-Michel Jarre. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  12. Bush, John. Les Chants Magnétiques at AllMusic
  13. Tebbutt, Simon (13 June 1981). "Jean-Michel Jarre: Magnetic Fields" (PDF). Record Mirror. p. 17. Retrieved 25 August 2022 – via World Radio History.
  14. Black, Johnny (11–24 June 1981). "Jean-Michel Jarre: Magnetic Fields" (PDF). Smash Hits. p. 29. Retrieved 25 August 2022 – via World Radio History.
  15. "Album Reviews" (PDF). Cashbox. 4 July 1981. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  16. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 153. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  17. "Austriancharts.at – Jean Michel Jarre – Les chants magnétiques" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  18. "Dutchcharts.nl – Jean Michel Jarre – Les chants magnétiques" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  19. Inc, Nielsen Business Media (4 July 1981). "Hits Of The World". Billboard. p. 75. Retrieved 24 September 2022. {{cite magazine}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  20. Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 168. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  21. "Offiziellecharts.de – Jean Michel Jarre – Les chants magnétiques" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  22. "Charts.nz – Jean Michel Jarre – Les chants magnétiques". Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  23. "Norwegiancharts.com – Jean Michel Jarre – Les chants magnétiques". Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  24. "Swedishcharts.com – Jean Michel Jarre – Les chants magnétiques". Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  25. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  26. "Jean Michel Jarre Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  27. "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. 1981. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  28. "Jarre Around the World". Billboard. 13 March 1982. p. 32. Retrieved 23 September 2022 – via Google Books.
  29. "Dutch album certifications – Jean-Michel Jarre – Magnetic Fields" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved 20 September 2019. Enter Magnetic Fields in the "Artiest of titel" box. Select 1982 in the drop-down menu saying "Alle jaargangen".
  30. Sólo Éxitos 1959–2002 Año A Año: Certificados 1979–1990 (in Spanish). Iberautor Promociones Culturales. 2005. ISBN 8480486392.
  31. "British album certifications – Jean-Michel Jarre – Magnetic Fields". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 20 September 2019.

Bibliography
  • Remilleux, Jean-Louis (1988), Jean-Michel Jarre (English ed.), Futura Publications Ltd., ISBN 0-7088-4263-1
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