''Revolutions'' is the ninth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

musician and composer

Jean-Michel Jarre Jean-Michel André Jarre (; born 24 August 1948) is a French composer, performer and record producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and new-age genres, and is known for organising outdoor spectacles featuring his music, accompanie ...

, first released in August 1988. The album reached number 2 in the UK charts, Jarre's best chart position since ''

Oxygène ''Oxygène'' (, en, Oxygen) is the third studio album by French electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre. It was first released in France in December 1976 by Disques Motors, and distributed internationally in 1977 by Polydor Records. J ...

''. The

Destination Docklands Destination Docklands was an event consisting of two concerts by musician Jean-Michel Jarre on the Royal Victoria Docks, Docklands, London on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9 October 1988, to coincide with the release of Jarre's new album ''Revolution ...

concert in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

coincided with the release of the album.

Composition and recording

The album was recorded and mixed at Croissy studio. The song "London Kid" was a collaboration with

Shadows A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, o ...

guitarist

Hank Marvin Hank Brian Marvin (born Brian Robson Rankin, 28 October 1941) is an English multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter. He is widely known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows, a group which primarily performed instrumentals and was the ba ...

. The title track contains reworked samples of an unpublished composition by Turk

Kudsi Erguner Kudsi Ergüner (born 4 February 1952 in Diyarbakır, Turkey) is a Turkish musician. He is considered a master of traditional Mevlevi Sufi music and is one of the best-known players of the Turkish ney flute. Biography As a boy, Erguner s ...

, which Jarre had acquired from

ethnologist Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology) ...

Xavier Bellenger Xavier or Xabier may refer to: Place * Xavier, Spain People * Xavier (surname) * Xavier (given name) * Francis Xavier (1506–1552), Catholic saint ** St. Francis Xavier (disambiguation) * St. Xavier (disambiguation) * Xavier (footballer, born ...

. Erguner took his case to court and won a modest indemnity. Jarre removed the flute part—the

Ney The ''ney'' ( fa, Ney/نی, ar, Al-Nāy/الناي), is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Persian music and Arabic music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. The ney has been played continually ...

—from new releases of the record and from live performances, the track was later retitled as "Revolution, Revolutions". The title track also featured vocoder by Jarre and

Michel Geiss Michel Geiss is a French sound engineer, instrument designer and musician who was a long-time collaborator of Jean Michel Jarre. He has also collaborated with other famous French artists such as Marc Lavoine, Patrick Bruel or Laurent Voulzy L ...

. The track "September" is dedicated to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

ANC The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election installe ...

activist

Dulcie September Dulcie Evonne September (20 August 1935 – 29 March 1988) was a South African anti-apartheid political activist. Born in Athlone, Western Cape, South Africa, she was assassinated in Paris, France. Early life The second eldest daughter of Jak ...

, who was assassinated in Paris on 29 March 1988.

Track listing

1988 vinyl edition

1988 CD edition

1991 remaster

Personnel

Personnel listed in album liner notes: *

–

Roland D-50 The Roland D-50 is a synthesizer produced by Roland and released in April 1987. Its features include subtractive synthesis, on-board effects, a joystick for data manipulation, and an analogue synthesis-styled layout design. The external Roland PG ...

Korg DSS-1 The Korg DSS-1 is a 12-bit polyphonic sampling synthesizer released in September 1986. It came out at a time when many of the popular synthesizer companies were beginning to get into sampling, an area of sound design that had previously been left ...

, Korg DSM-1,

Fairlight CMI The Fairlight CMI (short for Computer Musical Instrument) is a digital synthesizer, sampler, and digital audio workstation introduced in 1979 by Fairlight. — with links to some Fairlight history and photos It was based on a commercial lic ...

, Synthex,

EMS Synthi AKS The EMS Synthi A and the EMS Synthi AKS, is a portable modular analog synthesiser made by EMS of England. The Synthi A model debuted in May 1971, and then Sythni AKS model appeared in March 1972 a with a built-in keyboard and sequencer. The EMS ...

OSC OSCar The OSCar was a synthesizer manufactured by the Oxford Synthesiser Company from 1983 to 1985. It was ahead of its time in several ways and its later versions were among the few mono-synths of its time to have MIDI. Around 2000 were made. Histo ...

, EMS

Vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder was ...

, Dynacord Add-one, Cristal Baschet,

Akai MPC60 The Akai MPC (originally MIDI Production Center, now Music Production Center) is a series of music workstations produced by Akai from 1988 onwards. MPCs combine sampling and sequencing functions, allowing users to record portions of sound, modif ...

, drum programming,

percussions A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Excl ...

Dominique Perrier Space Art is a French electronic music duo consisting of Dominique Perrier on keyboards and late French drummer Roger "Bunny" Rizzitelli. The band had its main commercial success between 1977 and 1981. History Formation In 1974, Dominique Perrie ...

–

E-mu Emulator The Emulator is a series of digital sampling synthesizers using floppy disk storage, manufactured by E-mu Systems from 1981 until 2002. Though not the first commercial sampler, the Emulator was among the first to find wide use among ordinary m ...

Ensoniq ESQ-1 Ensoniq ESQ-1 is a 61-key, velocity sensitive, eight-note polyphony (instrument), polyphonic and multitimbral synthesizer released by Ensoniq in 1985. It was marketed as a "digital wave synthesizer" but was an early Music Workstation. Although it ...

Elka Synthex The Elka Synthex is a polyphonic analog synthesizer produced by Italian music instrument manufacturer Elka from 1981 to 1985. Overview The Synthex was conceived and developed by independent Italian designer Mario Maggi, who then gained the financ ...

OSC Oscar The OSCar was a synthesizer manufactured by the Oxford Synthesiser Company from 1983 to 1985. It was ahead of its time in several ways and its later versions were among the few mono-synths of its time to have MIDI. Around 2000 were made. Histo ...

Akai MPC The Akai MPC (originally MIDI Production Center, now Music Production Center) is a series of music workstations produced by Akai from 1988 onwards. MPCs combine sampling and sequencing functions, allowing users to record portions of sound, modif ...

60 programming *

–

ARP 2600 The ARP 2600 is a semi-modular analog subtractive audio synthesizer produced by ARP Instruments, Inc. History Developed by a design team headed by ARP namesake Allen R. Pearlman and engineer Dennis Colin, the ARP 2600 was introduced in 1971 a ...

Kawai is a musical instrument manufacturing company headquartered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan. It is best known for its grand pianos, upright pianos, digital pianos, electronic keyboards and electronic synthesizers. The company was founded in Augus ...

K5, Matrisequencer, Cavagnolo MIDY 20, Elka AMK 800. *Henri Loustau – sound engineer *Philippe Cusset – assistant * Joe Hammer –

Drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, Simmons, SDX, Dynacord Add-one * Guy Delacroix –

Bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

* Sylvain Durand –

on "London Kid" *

–

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

on "London Kid" *

Jun Miyake Jun Miyake (Japanese: 三宅純 Hepburn: ''Miyake Jun'', January 7, 1958 in Kyoto) is a Japanese composer. His music (e.g., the songs "Lilies in the Valley" and "The Here and After") was used in the film Pina, nominated for the Academy Awards f ...

–

Trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

and

Megaphone A megaphone, speaking-trumpet, bullhorn, blowhorn, or loudhailer is usually a portable or hand-held, cone-shaped acoustic horn used to amplify a person's voice or other sounds and direct it in a given direction. The sound is introduced into ...

on "Tokyo Kid" *

– Turkish flute *

Patrice Tison Patrice is a given name meaning ''wiktionary:noble, noble'' or ''Patrician (ancient Rome), patrician'', related to the names Patrick (given name), Patrick and Patricia (disambiguation), Patricia. In English language, English, Patrice is often a fem ...

–

* Mireille Pombo – Vocal chorus on "September" * Francis Rimbert – Additional synthesizer programming * The Bruno Rossignol Choir, directed by

Bruno Rossignol Bruno Rossignol (born 1958 in Nanterre) is a French composer, choral conductor and conductor, pianist and music educator. Biography He studied music at the École normale de musique de Paris and the Sorbonne. He then directed choirs: first ...

– choir on "Industrial Revolution", "London Kid" and "The Emigrant" * Female choir from

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

, directed by Sori Bamba – choir on "September"

Charts

Certifications

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *

External links

''Revolutions''
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

{{Authority control 1988 albums Jean-Michel Jarre albums