Rendez-vous
Studio album by
Jean-Michel Jarre
Released5 April 1986[1]
Length35:03
LabelDisques Dreyfus
ProducerJean-Michel Jarre
Jean-Michel Jarre chronology
Zoolook
(1984) 		Rendez-vous
(1986) 		Revolutions
(1988)
Singles from Rendez-Vous
  1. "Fourth Rendez-Vous"
    Released: August 1986
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]

Rendez-vous (English: Appointment) is the eighth studio album by electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre released on Disques Dreyfus, licensed to Polydor, in 1986. The album art was created by long-time collaborator Michel Granger.[3]

Composition and recording

Rendez-Vous was created over a period of about two months. It features heavy use of the Elka Synthex, notably so on "Second Rendez-Vous", a track Jarre often performs using a laser harp.[4] As with Zoolook, it contains elements from the album Musique pour Supermarché, in this case it is in "Fifth Rendez-Vous".[4][5] Some of the other musical themes on Rendez-Vous were recycled from various singles Jarre wrote and produced for Gérard Lenorman in the 1970s.[6]

The last track on the album was originally scheduled to include a saxophone part recorded by astronaut Ron McNair on the Space Shuttle Challenger, which would have made it the first piece of music to be recorded in space.[7] However, on January 28, 1986, 73 seconds after lift-off, the shuttle disintegrated and the entire Challenger crew were killed. The track was later dedicated to McNair and the other six astronauts on board Challenger. The saxophone part is played by French jazz reedist Pierre Gossez. The album was recorded and mixed at Croissy studio.[8]

Release

Rendez-Vous was released in 1986,[8] the album reached no. 9 in the UK charts and no. 52 in the US. in that same year. It won the Instrumental album of the year category, at the Victoires de la Musique,[9] and was nominated for Grammy Award for Best New Age Album in 1987.[10] In April 5, 1986, Jarre performed the large-scale outdoor concert Rendez-vous Houston in Houston, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the founding of Texas and attracting 1.5 million people, marking its second entry into the Guinness World Records.[11][12][13][14]

Jean-Michel presented another performance on October 5, Rendez-Vous Lyon, marking Pope John Paul II's visit to Jarre's hometown, Lyon.[15] In 1998, British commercial broadcaster ITV used a remixed version of "Fourth Rendez-Vous" (called Rendez-Vous 98) for their television coverage of the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France. British group Apollo 440 were credited alongside Jarre for the remix.[16]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Premier Rendez-Vous" (First Rendez-Vous)2:54
2."Deuxième Rendez-Vous" (Second Rendez-Vous)10:55
3."Troisième Rendez-Vous" (Third Rendez-Vous)3:30
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Quatrième Rendez-Vous" (Fourth Rendez-Vous)3:57
2."Cinquième Rendez-Vous" (Fifth Rendez-Vous)7:41
3."Dernier Rendez-Vous (Ron's Piece)" (Last Rendez-Vous)6:04
Total length:35:01

Alternate track listing

Some editions of the album had the tracks Second and Fifth Rendez-Vous split up into separate parts, and slightly different timings for Fourth and Last Rendez-Vous (Ron's Piece).

No.TitleLength
1."First Rendez-Vous"2:54
2."Second Rendez-Vous (Part 1)"2:36
3."Second Rendez-Vous (Part 2)"3:17
4."Second Rendez-Vous (Part 3)"2:18
5."Second Rendez-Vous (Part 4)" (10:54, not specified on CD)2:43
6."Third Rendez-Vous"3:30
7."Fourth Rendez-Vous"4:03
8."Fifth Rendez-Vous (Part 1)"2:59
9."Fifth Rendez-Vous (Part 2)"1:13
10."Fifth Rendez-Vous (Part 3)" (7:57, not specified on CD)3:45
11."Last Rendez-Vous (Ron's Piece)"5:47
Total length:35:05

Personnel

The personnel listed in album liner notes:[8]

Charts

Chart (1986) Peak
position
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[17] 6
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[18] 20
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[19] 12
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[20] 8
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[21] 24
UK Albums (OCC)[22] 9
US Billboard 200[23] 52
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[24] 26

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Brazil — 90,000[25]
France (SNEP)[26] 2× Platinum 600,000*
United Kingdom (BPI)[27] Gold 100,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ "BPI".
  2. ^ Bush, John. Rendez-Vous at AllMusic. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  3. ^ "Jean-Michel Jarre #3". Michel Granger (in French). Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  4. ^ a b Remilleux 1988, p. 35
  5. ^ Duguay 2018, p. 72.
  6. ^ "The Journey to Equinoxe Infinity – Part 2: Losing Teeth and Digging in Trash Bins" - article in The Domino Elf by Hogne Bø Pettersen, 16 November 2018
  7. ^ "RENDEZ-VOUS". Connoly & Company LLC. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  8. ^ a b c Rendez-Vous (booklet). Disques Dreyfus/Polydor. 1986. P33P 20042.
  9. ^ Oxygène Live in Concert 2008, Hill Shorter Ltd (printer), 2008, pp. 10–11
  10. ^ "Grammy Award Nominees 1987 - Grammy Award Winners 1987". www.awardsandshows.com. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  11. ^ Glassman, James (2019). Houstorian Calendar, The: Today in Houston History. Arcadia Publishing. p. 53. ISBN 978-1-4671-3987-8. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
  12. ^ Portico & Matlock 2008, p. 86
  13. ^ Remilleux 1988, p. 93
  14. ^ Hughes & Reader 2003, p. 303
  15. ^ "Histoire de Lyon : quand Jean-Michel Jarre a donné un concert pour le pape à Fourvière". Vivre Lyon (in French). 7 January 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  16. ^ House, Future Publishing Limited Quay; Ambury, The; Engl, Bath BA1 1UA All rights reserved; number 2008885, Wales company registration (2018-06-14). "BBC vs ITV: The battle of the World Cup theme tunes". FourFourTwo. Retrieved 2019-07-02.((cite web)): CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ "Jean-Michel Jarre: Rendez Vous" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  18. ^ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  19. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Jean Michel Jarre – Rendez-Vous" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  20. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Jean Michel Jarre – Rendez-Vous". Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  21. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Jean Michel Jarre – Rendez-Vous". Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  22. ^ "Jean Michel Jarre | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  23. ^ "Jean-Michel Jarre Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  24. ^ "Charts.nz – Jean Michel Jarre – Rendez-Vous". Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  25. ^ Souza, Tarik de (6 January 1988). "Um bom ano para o disco". Jornal do Brasil. p. 36. Retrieved 18 March 2023 – via National Library of Brazil.
  26. ^ "French album certifications – J-Michel Jarre – Rendez-Vous" (in French). InfoDisc. Select J-MICHEL JARRE and click OK. 
  27. ^ "British album certifications – JMJ – Rendez Vous". British Phonographic Industry.

Sources

External links

Jean-Michel Jarre
Authority control databases
Categories