Synthesist Jean Michel Jarre has a new released coming at the end of May, Essentials and Rarities.

Essentials and Rarities is Jarre’s two-CD tribute to Francis Dreyfus, his producer for 25 years.

Essentials is a selection of tracks from Jarre’s Dreyfus period, covering the albums Oxygene, Equinoxe, Chants Magnétiques and others, digitally remastered by going back to the original analogue master tapes.

Rarities covers mainly material recorded prior to the emergence of Oxygene, some not commercially released, and none ever seen on CD before. At the time, Jarre was a student under Pierre Schaeffer, the creator of Musique Concrète. According to Jarre, ‘experimentation with sounds abounds on these recordings”, which have also been given the same remastering treatment.

Essentials and Rarities is scheduled for release My 30, 2011. 

Track Listing for Essentials & Rarities

CD1
1. Souvenir of China
2. Oxygene 2
3. Arpegiateur
4. Oxygene 4
5. Equinoxe 4
6. Calypso 2
7. Zoolook
8. Magnetic Fields 1
9. Magnetic Fields 2
10. Equinoxe 5
11. Industrial Revolution 2
12. Rendez Vous 4
13. Gloria, Lonely Boy
14. Oxygene 6
15. Space of Freedom “March 23”

CD2
1. Happiness is a Sad Song
2. Hypnose
3. Erosmachine
4. La Cage
5. Chanson des Granges Brûlées /Song of the burnt Barns
6. Windswept Canyon
7. The Abominable Snowman
8. Deserted Palace
9. Le Pays de Rose / Roseland
10. Rain Forest Rap Session
11. Black Bird
12. Music Box Concerto
13. Iraqi Hitch-Hiker
14. Les Granges Brûlées / Burnt Barns
15. La Cage Vitalic (remix)
16. Erosmachine Vitalic (remix)