| En attendant Cousteau | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Jean-Michel Jarre | ||||
| Released | 11 June 1990 | |||
| Studio | Coral Sound studio, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago Croissy studio, Paris | |||
| Length | 1:08:57 | |||
| Label | Disques Dreyfus | |||
| Producer | Jean-Michel Jarre | |||
| Jean-Michel Jarre chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
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. The title is a reference to the play Waiting for Godot.
Originally, Jarre intended to call it 'Cousteau sur la plage (Cousteau on the beach)', but it was changed at the last moment. A promotional tape contained this title.
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 stylistic differences from his other albums. The album reached Number 14 in the UK charts.
En attendant Cousteau is divided into two distinct stylistic halves: the first three pieces titled "Calypso" and the title track, an ambient piece which was used in the soundtrack of a 1991 documentary entitled "Palawan: Le dernier refuge" by Cousteau and Jarre. However two tracks from that documentary did not appear on the final album.
The title track was also played at Jarre's exposition Concert d'images in Paris, 1989. According to a Jarre fan-magazine, it was created via an app on an Atari Mega-ST, on which Jarre programmed 16 starting notes. He apparently got the idea from the book Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams. He denied it in a later interview, claiming all notes are actually played by hand, noting however that the track includes some time-stretched samples mixed into the background.
Jarre performed the album for about 2.5 million people at the Paris La Défense concert on 14 july 1990, featuring The Amoco Renegades, a steel-drum band from Trinidad and Tobago.
Track listing
CD edition
All music is composed by Jean-Michel Jarre
| 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
Personnel listed in album liner notes:
- Jean-Michel Jarre – keyboards
- The Amoco Renegades – steel drums
- Guy Delacroix – bass
- Christophe Deschamps – drums
- Michel Geiss – keyboards
- Dominique Perrier – keyboards
Charts
| Chart (1990) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) | 19 |
| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) | 11 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) | 27 |
| Spanish Albums (AFYVE) | 37 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) | 22 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) | 21 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) | 27 |
| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) | 11 |
| UK Albums (OCC) | 14 |
Certifications and sales
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| France (SNEP) | 2× Gold | 550,000 |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE) | Gold | 50,000 |
| Summaries | ||
| Worldwide | 1,550,000 | |
|
Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
References
- ^ En attendant Cousteau at AllMusic
- "aerozonejmj". aerozonejmj.fr. 2014-03-27. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- "UK Music charts". EveryHit.com. Retrieved 2008-02-14.
- "Aerozonejmj". aerozonejmj.fr. 2019-03-03. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
- Conductor Of The Masses - Issue 5. UK: Conceptual Publishing. July 1991. p. 30.
- AMI (Algorithmic Musical Instrument) By Cadenza Software. However, likely the name should be ACT (Algorithmic Compositional Tool), which "generates random musical output, based on user-defined notes, which can be controlled in real time using a GEM interface or a MIDI source", as listed on https://www.ataritoday.com/extra/.
- "Aerozonejmj". aeorozonejmj.fr. 2019-01-19. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
- Pettersen, Hogne Bø (18 November 2018). "The Journey to Equinoxe Infinity – Part 3: Paying the Piano Player to Stop Playing". The Domino Elf. Archived from the original on 14 July 2024. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
- Waiting For Cousteau (booklet). Disques Dreyfus/Polyodr. 1990. 843 614-2.
- "Austriancharts.at – Jean Michel Jarre – En attendant Cousteau" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
- Finnish charts:
- Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 168. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
- "Offiziellecharts.de – Jean Michel Jarre – Waiting For Cousteau" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
- Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
- "Swedishcharts.com – Jean Michel Jarre – En attendant Cousteau". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
- "Swisscharts.com – Jean Michel Jarre – En attendant Cousteau". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
- "Dutchcharts.nl – Jean Michel Jarre – En attendant Cousteau" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
- "Norwegiancharts.com – Jean Michel Jarre – En attendant Cousteau". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
- "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
- ^ Fitzmaurice, Larry (22 May 1993). "Around The French Companies". Billboard. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
- "French album certifications – J-Michel JARRE – En attendant Cousteau" (in French). InfoDisc. Select J-MICHEL JARRE and click OK.
- Sólo Éxitos 1959–2002 Año A Año: Certificados 1979–1990 (in Spanish). Iberautor Promociones Culturales. 2005. ISBN 8480486392.
External links
| Jacques Cousteau | |
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