This is the album of a master in electronic music.
The tracks are very different, so this album is a collection of collaborations. Jarre explains he wished to blend the DNA of different musicians sharing a passion for electronic music. Every track is a marvel, but you have to pay attention to them separately. Vince Clarke's Automatic 1 & 2 have the typical Jarre's melody, exciting and dynamic. Those pieces are very complex in the arrangements and is a pleasure to follow all the details. Close Your Eyes, with Air, is a sophisticated game, using many different instruments. It sounds like Air, it sounds like Jarre, and it is a demonstration of creativity, inspiration and craft. Laurie Anderson's Rely on Me is intelligent, elegant and imaginative, maybe the best collaboration between Jarre and Anderson to date. Gesaffelstein's Conquistador and Massive Attack's Watching You are dark tracks, and a perfect blend of Jarre's pioneering music (Jarre did tracks like these decades ago) and the vanguard electronic music of our days. The best track is Zero Gravity, with Tangerine Dream. It reminds me Jarre's Arpegiator, but incorporating a touching melody. Carpenter's A Question of Blood is an excellent example of how Jarre modifies the trajectory of the invited musicians. Compare this track with those of Carpenter's Lost Themes album. And I stop here. I have commented only half of this album. You should look at it not like a conceptual unified album, but like a coffer full of refulgent different jewels.
