Released November 1984 Length 37:58 Producer Jean Michel Jarre | Recorded 1982–1984 Label Disques Dreyfus | |
Genre Electronica
synthpop
world music
ambient | ||
Zoolook is the seventh studio album by French electronic musician and composer Jean Michel Jarre, released on the Disques Dreyfus label in 1984. It makes extensive use of digital recording techniques and sampling. Much of the music is built up from singing and speech in 25 different languages, along with synthesizers (such as the Fairlight CMI), as well as more traditional instruments.
Contents
Parts of the album, like the tracks "Blah Blah Café" and the second half of the track "Diva", were reworkings of material that had already appeared as sections of the album Music for Supermarkets, released the previous year. The track "Moon Machine" was recorded for inclusion on Zoolook but did not appear on the final release; it later appeared, first on a flexidisc included with Keyboard Magazine (March 1986 issue), the 12-inch single of the Special Remix of "Fourth Rendez-Vous" (1986), and the much later Images compilation album (1991).
The voices heard on this album were based on recordings of speech and singing in numerous languages: Aboriginal, Afghan, Arabic, Balinese, Buhndi, Chinese, Dutch (Ethnicolor II - 3:15), English, Eskimo, French, German, Hungarian, Indian, Japanese, Malagasy, Malayan, Pygmy, Polish, Quechua, Russian, Sioux, Spanish, Swedish, Tibetan and Turkish.
The album spawned two singles: the title track and "Zoolookologie". Both were released in remixed forms as both 7" and 12" singles, the latter format including extended remixes by François Kevorkian. A further extended remix version of "Zoolook", produced by Razormaid!, has also been released.
After the initial album release, subsequent ones for Polydor and Dreyfus in 1985 included these remixed 7" versions as the canonical album tracks (see track listings below). However, when Jarre's catalogue was remastered and re-released by Sony's Epic label in the mid-1990s, the original versions were once again reinstated. The track "Diva" is also slightly shorter on the second release.
Critical reception
At the time of its release NME said, "Strangely simplistic, this LP is like a union between Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) and Kraftwerk on speed". In a retrospective review, Allmusic described the album as "interesting throughout".
Second edition (1985)
The 1985 Polydor/Disques Dreyfus issues contain remixes of "Zoolook" (by René Ameline) and "Zoolookologie" (by François Kevorkian and Ron St. Germain), and reverse the positions of these two tracks in the running order. The original track listing was re-instated for the Epic/Disques Dreyfus 1997 remasters.