Oxygène 3 is the nineteenth studio album by the French electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre. Announced via a post on Jarre's Instagram account, the album was released on 2 December 2016, on the 40th anniversary of the original Oxygène album.
In 1997, another sequel Oxygène 7-13 was released on the 20th anniversary to the 1976 album Oxygène. During the recording of his 2015 album Electronica 1: The Time Machine, Jarre composed a piece of music (later titled "Oxygene 19") that "made me think about what Oxygene could be if I was composing it today." In an interview with Billboard he stated: "What made the first Oxygene so different at the time, is probably the minimalist aspect, and the fact that there are almost no drums, and I wanted to keep this approach, creating the groove mainly with the sequences and the structure of the melodies only".
The 1976 album was made on an 8-track multitrack with very few instruments. "I tried to keep this minimalist approach for Oxygene 3," Jarre stated.[5] Jarre also stated that the album is separated into two distinct "light and dark" sides. "Oxygène (Part 20)" samples "Oxygène (Part VI)" from the original album within the sounds of wind and white noise that play at the beginning of the track.[7] The album was recorded in just six weeks and mixed by Jarre using the Ableton Live audio software.
Artwork
The album cover features a 3D model that recreates the original Michel Granger design used for the 1976 album. For the cover, Jarre asked Granger for permission to make a model based on his artwork, but from another angle. According to Jarre the artwork is "an ecological warning signal, dark and surreal, evoking both outer space and that of our vital living space." He also added that it had "become inseparable from the music."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxyg%C3%A8ne_3
During the recording of his Electronica albums, Jarre composed and recorded a piece that he said "made me think about what Oxygène could be if I was composing it today." With the 40th anniversary in mind, Jarre decided to record another chapter of Oxygène, with the original minimalist approach in mind, but using new technology to create it.
During the Electronica Tour, Jarre previewed the track Oxygène 17, which was released as a single on 4 November. For the artwork of the album, Jarre returned again to longtime collaborator and artist of the original Oxygène album cover Michel Granger to create a 3D model of his original painting that served as the cover for Oxygène.
Oxygène 3 was released as a standalone album on CD, digital download and LP, as well as in the Oxygène Trilogy package. The Oxygène Trilogy was released on CD in digipak format, and in the Ultimate edition, which contains the CDs of the albums, as well as transparent vinyl and an exclusive coffee table book. The book contains pictures and a brief description of the various recording equipment (studio tape recorders, master SSD and tapes, DAW software etc.) and musical instruments (organs, synthesizers, drum machines, VST plugins etc.) used to record the three albums in the Oxygène series.
- "Oxygène Part 14" 5:28
- "Oxygène Part 15" 6:40
- "Oxygène Part 16" 6:50
- "Oxygène Part 17" 4:20
- "Oxygène Part 18" 2:48
- "Oxygène Part 19" 5:45
- "Oxygène Part 20" 7:58
Album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts6vS98ijSM