Well, I've had the new album for just over a week now, which has been enough time to give it a fair few plays. And I'm very sad to say I'm finding it frustrating. Anyway, here's my review...
Téo & Téa could be described as mood music – within minutes of putting it on for the first time, I was in a bad mood. I had been looking forward to a new album from Jean Michel Jarre for some time – I don't know what my expectations were exactly, but it certainly wasn't this. The first track, "Fresh News" became painfully irritating very quickly, but fortunately it was over just as I was about to head for the skip button. Skipping the first track on a new album? Surely not a good sign.
The overall style of Téo & Téa could easily be compared to Zoolook or Metamorphoses, with a heavy use of samples, cut up sounds, drum loops and vocal treatments. Unfortunately it is not as successful or as enjoyable as on the aforementioned albums, and although Téo & Téa is energetic and dynamic, the passion is sadly lacking.
I had heard the title track prior to the album's release and although it didn't particularly appeal to me with its heavy dance influence, it does stand up as one of the album's strongest tracks and certainly most danceable. However the style of "Téo & Téa" doesn't represent the style of the album, and anybody hoping for an album of dancefloor fillers, will be disappointed.
Having previously exploited his ex partner Isabelle Adjani's girly bits on the cover of 2003's Geometry of Love, this album sees Jean Michel's new wife Anne Parillaud guesting on faked orgasm duties during "Beautiful Agony". Although musically it makes for one of the album's better tracks, one does question if the series of intimate moans is absolutely necessary.
There are a few moments of brilliance throughout the album, but these are just parts of songs rather than full pieces. For me the best tracks are "Téo & Téa 4:00am", "Beautiful Agony", "OK, Do It Fast", "patners In Crime 2", "Melacholic Rodeo" and the album's best song and main saving grace, "Vintage" – perhaps the only track truly comparable to classic Jarre.
Although original studio albums have been few and far between over the last 17 years, albums such as Chronologie, Oxygene 7-13, Metamorphoses and Geometry of Love rank among his greatest works, and are all albums with which I fell instantly in love. With this in mind, Téo & Téa's inaccessibility comes as something of a surprise, with only a few tracks coming anywhere close to the classic sound and style one would normally associate with Jean Michel Jarre. In all fairness, the rest of the tracks could have been produced by anybody.
Don't bother with the bonus DVD either, unless you have a surround sound system to play it on. There's also the 3-minute CGI heavy promo video for the title track, which is nice but somewhat short lived. It is a shame that the long form video hasn't been exploited more on DVD issues such as this, given the ease of production by today's technology. Instead all you get to accompany the 5.1 mix is a slightly animated version of the album sleeve (the neon signage flickers).
Not that I was ever expecting another Oxygene but Téo & Téa lacks the flowing atmosphere and creativity found on most of Jarre's albums. And while it's good to diversity, it doesn't feel like I have been taken anywhere new with this album. Labelled as his first 'proper' studio album since 2000's Metamorphoses, one can't help but question if the creative spark has gone out during the time elapsed.
Overall, Téo & Téa proved to be quite disappointing, which after such a long wait, is particularly frustrating. Although something keeps drawing me back to it, so maybe time will have to tell with this one...
