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.
| En attendant Cousteau | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| 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 |   [1] |
Originally, Jarre intended to call it 'Cousteau sur la plage (Cousteau on the beach)', but it was changed on the last moment. A promotional tape contained this title.[2]
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.[1] The album reached Number 14 in the UK charts.[3]
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.[4]
The title track was also played at Jarre's exposition Concert d'images in Paris, 1989. According to a Jarre fan-magazine,[5] it was created via an app on an Atari Mega-ST,[6] 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.[7]
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 edit
CD edition edit
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 edit
| 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 edit
Personnel listed in album liner notes:[8]
- Jean-Michel Jarre – keyboards
- The Amoco Renegades – steel drums
- Guy Delacroix – bass
- Christophe Deschamps – drums
- Michel Geiss – keyboards
- Dominique Perrier – keyboards
Charts edit
| Chart (1990) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[9] | 19 |
| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[10] | 11 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[11] | 27 |
| Spanish Albums (AFYVE)[12] | 37 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[13] | 22 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[14] | 21 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[15] | 27 |
| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[16] | 11 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[17] | 14 |
Certifications and sales edit
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| France (SNEP)[19] | 2× Gold | 550,000[18] |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE)[20] | Gold | 50,000^ |
| Summaries | ||
| Worldwide | 1,550,000[18] | |
|
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
References edit
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Jean Michel Jarre | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
- ^ a b 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.