First time I heard this was in a darkened theatre in Coleraine where we were setting up the dramatic lighting for a play. The sheer scale of the music blew me away. It was so uncool to like Jarre at that time but I thought that here was electronic music with real dynamics and emotion. The mixture of live performance, evocative sound effects of his trip to China and some beautiful specially written feflective pieces looking back on the experience makes for a very satisfying, unified album.Either you like electronic music or you don't; but this is pretty good for its genre. Jarre was pushng boundaries then, and the subsequent album Zoolook was his most adventurous and creative. I gather it was unpopular with his fans and so he withdrew to make more Oxygenes and Equinoxes.
I finally got to China by train a couple of years after hearing this and it was the soundtrack to my own journey. Perfect!
The China Concerts are a real pleasure to listen to if you like Jean Michel Jarre. The CD contains a lot of excerpts from his early works and also a new composition along with the Peking Orchestra: Fishing Junks at Sunset. This latter composition is different and a joy to listen to.
It's worth getting the remastered version by Scott Hull - a really excellent remaster which is done with a genuine care.