''Rendez-vous'' (English: Appointment) is the eighth studio album by

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, accompani ...

released on Disques Dreyfus, licensed to

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States ...

, in 1986. The album art was created by long-time collaborator Michel Granger.

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 A laser harp is an electronic musical user interface and laser lighting display. It projects several laser beams played by the musician by blocking them to produce sounds, visually reminiscent of a harp. It was popularised by Jean-Michel Jarre, ...

. As with '' Zoolook'', it contains elements from the album ''

Musique pour Supermarché ''Musique pour Supermarché'' (English title: ''Music for Supermarkets'') is the sixth studio album by electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre. Only a single vinyl copy was ever pressed and distributed, and its master plates were delib ...

'', in this case it is in "Fifth Rendez-Vous". 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. 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.

Release

''Rendez-Vous'' was released in 1986, 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 Victoires de la Musique (; en, Victories of Music) is an annual French award ceremony where the Victoire accolade is delivered by the French Ministry of Culture to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The classical and jazz ...

, and was nominated for

Grammy Award for Best New Age Album The Grammy Award for Best New Age Album is presented to recording artists for quality albums in the new-age music genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several ca ...

in 1987. In April 5, 1986, Jarre performed the large-scale outdoor concert '' Rendez-vous Houston'' in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the founding of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

and attracting 1.5 million people, marking its second entry into the Guinness World Records. Jean-Michel presented another performance on October 5, '' Rendez-Vous Lyon'', marking

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

's visit to Jarre's hometown,

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

. 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 Apollo 440 (also known as Apollo Four Forty or @440) are a British electronic music group formed in Liverpool in 1990. The group has written, recorded, and produced five studio albums, collaborated with and produced other artists, remixed as ...

were credited alongside Jarre for the remix.

Track listing

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).

Personnel

The personnel listed in album liner notes: *

– Seiko DS-250, Elka Synthex, Moog synthesizer, Roland JX 8P,

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 ...

, E-mu Emulator II, Eminent 310U,

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 ...

Laser Harp A laser harp is an electronic musical user interface and laser lighting display. It projects several laser beams played by the musician by blocking them to produce sounds, visually reminiscent of a harp. It was popularised by Jean-Michel Jarre, ...

RMI Harmonic Synthesizer RMI may refer to: Science and technology * Radio-magnetic indicator, an instrument used in aircraft navigation * Repetitive motion injury, an injury to the musculoskeletal and nervous systems * Richtmyer–Meshkov instability, an instability occur ...

Oberheim OB-X The Oberheim OB-X was the first of Oberheim's OB-series polyphonic analog subtractive synthesizers. First commercially available in June 1979, the OB-X was introduced to compete with the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, which had been success ...

, Yamaha DX100, Roland TR-808,

Linn 9000 The Linn 9000 is an electronic musical instrument manufactured by Linn Electronics as the successor to the LinnDrum. It was introduced in 1984 at a list price of $5,000, ($7,000 fully expanded) and about 1100 units were produced. It combined MID ...

, Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, Casio CZ 5000,

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 ...

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 ...

–

Eminent BV Eminent digital organs is a brand of electronic organ for use in churches, halls and homes. The company is headquartered in Lelystad (Flevoland), The Netherlands. The principal sound generation technique used by Eminent is Additive synthesis. Mod ...

, Roland TR-808, Matrisequencer * Joe Hammer – E-mu Drumulator, percussions on "Second Rendez-Vous" *

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 ...

–

Memorymoog The Memorymoog is a polyphonic electronic music synthesizer manufactured by Moog Music from 1982 to 1985, the last polyphonic synthesizer to be released by Moog Music before the company declared bankruptcy in 1987. While comparable to other polyph ...

on "Second Rendez-Vous" * The Choir of

Radio France Radio France is the French national public radio broadcaster. Stations Radio France offers seven national networks: * France Inter — Radio France's " generalist" station, featuring entertaining and informative talk mixed with a wide variety o ...

, directed by Sylvain Durand – vocals on "Second Rendez-Vous" * David Jarre – Baby Korg keyboard on "Fifth Rendez-Vous" * Pierre Gossez – saxophone on "Last Rendez-Vous (Ron's Piece)"

Charts

Certifications

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

''Rendez-vous''
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 ...

{{Authority control 1986 albums Jean-Michel Jarre albums Space Shuttle Challenger disaster