About

Jean-Michel Jarre’s first proper album release, the music itself was intended to provide vignettes for areas such as TV and media productions, presenting a host of different genres ranging from baroque to electro-funk, all performed on very few electronic instruments.  

Jean-Michel Jarre has always been a futurist in his field. Throughout his illustrious career, the composer, performer, producer, and cultural ambassador has continued to break new ground with his music and his mastery of creative innovation. From his early pioneering role in electronic music, his use of multi-channel audio technology and production, to his recent explorations into the realms of VR performance and the metaverse, technology is at the forefront of everything he does. — (via Label)

Transversales Disques proudly presents the first official LP reissue of Deserted Palace, a studio album written and performed by Jean-Michel Jarre in 1972 during his time at G.R.M. (Groupe de Recherches Musicales).

In 1971, producer Francis Dreyfus was commissioned to create soundscapes for public spaces such as airports and libraries. He entrusted the project to Jean-Michel, who had recently signed with his record company. These fifteen tracks were crafted using just two synthesizers—the EMS VCS3 and the Farfisa organ—in an experimental and minimalistic style.

"It was a crazy album, totally homemade, with rhythms I created in my student room using minimal equipment. At the same time, I incorporated electronic sounds taken from the GRM when I would sneak into the studios at night, having stolen the keys. It’s a pirate record in every sense of the word, foreshadowing what I would go on to create later." - Jean-Michel Jarre. — (via Label)

An early collection of incidental electronic music for film and television suitable for science fiction or classy horror. Kronomyth 1.0: Soundtracks and sand castles.

Conceived as a series of short musical pieces to be used in film and television, composer Jean-Michel Jarre’s first full-length album represents an early attempt to create expressive music with (mostly) synthesizers. Deserted Palace received a very limited release, making it a difficult and costly record to obtain these days. For your trouble, you’ll get a selection of music that feels like a lost soundtrack to an early 70s science-fiction or horror film, but nothing that would overshadow (or even really point to) the avowed masterworks of Oxygene and onward.

Quite a few of the pieces show a classical influence (Jarre was classically trained), and I wonder if he didn’t have the work of Wendy Carlos in mind when writing some of these songs such as Deserted Palace, Music Box Concerto, Bridge of Promises and A Love Theme for Gargoyles. Alongside these more “serious” bits are novelties that explore a particular mood or sound (Exasperated Frog, The Abominable Snowman). If an idea doesn’t capture your imagination, at least you don’t have to wait long for the next one to arrive.

The album does contain one extended track, Wind Swept Canyon, which is probably the closest parallel to the space music of later albums. Synthesizers were still a novelty as an instrument in 1972 (when this was recorded), and Jarre joins his fellow electronic pioneers in anticipating the future with some of this. Rain Forest Rap Session, for example, sounds uncannily like the Atari video games of the late 70s. As a portfolio sampler for future film work, Deserted Palace is pretty impressive but, given Jarre’s shift in direction, its value today is mostly historical. — (via Progrography)

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Label: Transversales Disques
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, Remastered
Reissued: 2025 / Original: 1972
Genre: Electronic, Soundtrack
Style: Ambient, Experimental

File under: Electronic
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