En attendant Cousteau
En attendant Cousteau (English title: Waiting for Cousteau) is the tenth studio album by French electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre, released on Disques Dreyfus, licensed to Polydor, on 11 June 1990. The album was dedicated to Jacques-Yves Cousteau and was released on his 80th birthday 11 June 1990. Allmusic described the album as "groundbreaking stuff", due to its extreme stylistic differences from his other albums.[1] The album reached Number 14 in the UK charts.[2]
| En attendant Cousteau | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 11 June 1990 | |||
| Studio | Coral Sound Studio, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago and Croissy Studio, Paris | |||
| Genre | New-age, ambient, minimal, electronica | |||
| Length | 68:57 | |||
| Label | Disques Dreyfus | |||
| Producer | Jean-Michel Jarre | |||
| Jean-Michel Jarre chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
Songs
The title track is a composition in the ambient style and an edited version of the music he produced for Concert d'Images (English: Concert of Images), an exhibition which contained photographs and selected objects from Jarre's concerts. The original plan was to release the album edit of the track as a promo CD single, but those plans were abandoned. On vinyl and cassette tape the title track was edited to only 22 minutes due to the lack of space on the formats.
Jarre utilised the unedited version as an ambient audience "warm-up" in the hours prior to the Paris la Defense concert in 1990 (and also in many concerts after this "first"), played on the specially installed public address sound system scattered throughout Paris for this event.
Early promos for the album had the title track named "Cousteau on the Beach", but was renamed later, because Jacques-Yves Cousteau thought beaches are an environmental disaster.
Calypso Part 1 contains samples previously heard in the tracks Zoolookologie and Moon Machine, the former appearing on his 1984 album Zoolook, and the latter as the B-side to the single Fourth Rendez-Vous and later appearing on the compilation album Images.
The last track, En Attendant Cousteau, was also used in the soundtrack to a 1991 documentary entitled "Palawan : Le dernier refuge" by oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau.
Track listing
All tracks composed by Jean-Michel Jarre.
CD Edition
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Calypso Part 1" | 8:24 |
| 2. | "Calypso Part 2" | 7:10 |
| 3. | "Calypso Part 3 (Fin de Siècle)" (End of the Century) | 6:28 |
| 4. | "En attendant Cousteau" (Waiting for Cousteau) | 46:55 |
| Total length: | 1:08:57 | |
Vinyl and Cassette Edition
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Calypso Part 1" | 8:24 |
| 2. | "Calypso Part 2" | 7:10 |
| 3. | "Calypso Part 3 (Fin de Siècle)" | 6:28 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "En attendant Cousteau" | 22:00 |
| Total length: | 44:02 | |
Personnel
- Jean-Michel Jarre – keyboards
- The Amoco Renegades – steel drums
- Guy Delacroix – bass
- Christophe Deschamps – drums
- Michel Geiss – keyboards
- Dominique Perrier – keyboards
Equipment
- Roland D-50
- Korg DSM-1
- Eminent 310U[3]
- ARP 2600
- EMS Synthi AKS
- EMS VCS3
- Farfisa Professional Organ
- Mellotron
- RMI Harmonic Synthesizer
- EKO Computerthythm
Certifications and sales
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| France | — | 550,000[4] |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE)[5] | Gold | 50,000^ |
| Summaries | ||
| Worldwide | 1,550,000[4] | |
|
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
References
- Brenholts, Jim. "Allmusic review". Allmusic. All Media Guide. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
- "UK Music charts". EveryHit.com. Retrieved 2008-02-14.
- "En Attendant Cousteau". equinoxejmjarre.free.fr. Retrieved 2018-06-05.
- Fitzmaurice, Larry (22 May 1993). "Around The French Companies". Billboard. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
- Sólo Éxitos 1959–2002 Año A Año: Certificados 1979–1990 (in Spanish). Iberautor Promociones Culturales. 2005. ISBN 8480486392.
