History Music / Equinoxe

* RepurposedPopSong: Just like pieces of ''Music/{{Oxygene}}'' were used for ''Film/{{Gallipoli}}'', pieces of ''Equinoxe'' make up the soundtrack of ''Film/DieHamburgerKrankheit''.

''Équinoxe'', released in 1978, is the fourth studio album by French electronica musician Music/JeanMichelJarre. The follow-up to the highly successful ''Music/{{Oxygene}}'', this album both continues and refines the spacey, ambient sound of its predecessor. Emphasis on dynamics and rhythms is considerably increased compared to ''Oxygène'', basslines take up a much greater presence than before, and the airy soundscapes are traded out with more watery textures.

* SongStyleShift: Part 8 opens with an OrganGrinder tune punctuated by the occasional synth hit, only to fade out halfway through and fade back in as an ambient piece more in-line with side A.

With Jarre's commercial potential having already been established by the success of ''Oxygène'', ''Équinoxe'' marked Jarre's shift from the small-time label Disques Motors to the newly-established and larger-scale Disques Dreyfus, onto whom he would remain signed all the way into 2002. Combined with his newfound clout as a successful artist, the move to a bigger label gave Jarre the opportunity to make use of a much wider array of synthesizers and sequencers, including custom-built equipment developed by collaborator Michael Geiss. With this, the scale of Jarre's work would take a major leap upwards from ''Oxygène'' and would only continue to grow with each successive album.

''Équinoxe'', released in 1978, is the fourth studio album by French electronica musician Music/JeanMichelJarre. The follow-up to the highly successful ''Music/{{Oxygene}}'', this album both continues and refines the spacey, ambient sound of its predecessor. Emphasis on dynamics and rhythms is considerably increased compared to ''Oxygène'', basslines take up a much greater presence than before, and the airy soundscapes are traded out with more watery textures. Like its predecessor, ''Équinoxe'' is considered highly influential in the development of ElectronicMusic, and its more rhythmic approach in hindsight acts as a noticeable prelude to the mainstream emergence of SynthPop the following year. This is perhaps no small coincidence, as the album released just seven months after Music/{{Kraftwerk}} opened the doors to the genre's potential with ''Music/TheManMachine''.

Compared to its predecessor, ''Équinoxe'' performed much lower from a commercial standpoint, peaking at No. 11 on the UK Albums chart and at No. 126 on the Billboard 200, missing the French Albums chart entirely. That said, it wasn't a total flop; it was later certified gold in the UK, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands, and became the 55th best-selling album of 1978 in Britain. Like ''Oxygène'' before it, ''Équinoxe'' was also critically maligned in the Anglosphere, again due to it standing too far off from the PunkRock and PostPunk scenes of the era. Nevertheless, it has since been thoroughly VindicatedByHistory, and ranks alongside ''Oxygène'' as one of Jarre's best works, so much so that for its [[MilestoneCelebration fortieth anniversary]] in 2018, the album received a sequel in the form of ''Équinoxe Infinity''.

** Ever since the release of ''Electronica Part 1'', Jarre has mashed up Part 4 with "Glory", his collab with Music/M83, at concerts, and Part 7 crosses over into the Gesaffelstein collab "Conquistador".

* UnpluggedVersion: Live performances of the "Band in the Rain" portion of Part 5 are typically played on an actual barrel organ rather than a synthesizer imitating one.

* SynthPop: Parts 5 through 7 are early precursors to the genre, being groovy, danceable synth pieces tucked within an otherwise ambient-oriented album. The synth-pop scene had already been developing for some time before ''Équinoxe'' released, but compared to the likes of the statuesque Music/{{Kraftwerk}} and the mock-Oriental Music/YellowMagicOrchestra, it more vividly showcased the more freeform and fast-paced elements of the genre that would come to greater prominence in the 1980's.

* OminousMusicBoxTune: Part 5 was given one as a new intro for its inclusion on ''Aero''.

* TheNotRemix: Part 5 was given this treatment just in time for its CD release, with some parts of the track re-recorded and the rest simply remixed, to a degree where it doesn't sound dramatically different from the original, but still nonetheless has some noticeable deviations (most noticeably featuring a more prominent percussion track, a thinner synth part on the melody, and a greater use of ambient effects). This version has become better-known than the 1978 mix with the passage of time, to the point where many folks who snag an original LP copy are left puzzled by how different Part 5 sounds there.

* EpicRocking: Part 7 clocks in at, somewhat appropriately, 7 and a half minutes.

* TheNotRemix: Part 5 was given this treatment just in time for its CD release, with some parts of the track re-recorded and the rest simply remixed, to a degree where it doesn't sound dramatically different from the original, but still nonetheless has some noticeable deviations. This version has become better-known than the 1978 mix with the passage of time, to the point where many folks who snag an original LP copy are left puzzled by how different Part 5 sounds there.

''Équinoxe'', released in 1978, is the fourth studio album by French electronica musician Music/JeanMichelJarre. The follow-up to the highly successful ''Music/{{Oxygene}}'', this album both continues and refines the spacey, ambient sound of its predecessor. Emphasis on dynamics and rhythms is considerably increased compared to ''Oxygène'', basslines take up a much greater presence than before, and the airy soundscapes are traded out with more watery textures. Like its predecessor, ''Équinoxe'' is considered highly influential in the development of ElectronicMusic, and its more rhythmic approach in hindsight acts as a noticeable prelude to the mainstream emergence of SynthPop in the waning years of the 1970's. This is perhaps no small coincidence, as the album released just seven months after Music/{{Kraftwerk}} opened the doors to the genre's potential with ''Music/TheManMachine''.

''Équinoxe'', released in 1978 is the fourth studio album by French electronica musician Music/JeanMichelJarre. The follow-up to the highly successful ''Music/{{Oxygene}}'', this album both continues and refines the spacey, ambient sound of its predecessor. Emphasis on dynamics and rhythms is considerably increased compared to ''Oxygène'', basslines take up a much greater presence than before, and the airy soundscapes are traded out with more watery textures. Like its predecessor, ''Équinoxe'' is considered highly influential in the development of ElectronicMusic, and its more rhythmic approach in hindsight acts as a noticeable prelude to the mainstream emergence of SynthPop in the waning years of the 1970's. This is perhaps no small coincidence, as the album released just seven months after Music/{{Kraftwerk}} opened the doors to the genre's potential with ''Music/TheManMachine''.

* EpicRocking: Part 7 clocks in at 7 and a half minutes.

* NewSoundAlbum: Rhythm and dynamics become more prominent and the music is given a more "watery" feel to it; Parts 5 and 6 particularly stand out for being flat-out ''danceable''.

* TheNotRemix: Part 5 was given this treatment just in time for its CD release, with some parts of the track re-recorded and the rest simply remixed, to a degree where it doesn't sound dramatically different from the original, but still nonetheless has some noticeable deviations. This version has become better-known than the 1978 mix with the passage of time, to the point where many folks who snag an original LP copy are left puzzled by how different Part 5 sounds there.

* SignatureStyle: Along with ''Oxygène'', ''Équinoxe''

* {{Ambient}}: Side one and the latter half of Part 8 both delve just as much into this genre as ''Oxygène'' previously did.
* ConceptAlbum: Coming after an album about air and the environment, this record focuses primarily on the water and seasons. Water-themed sounds prominently feature throughout the record, from the wave-like warbles throughout side one to the thunderclaps that open Part 5 to the rainfall that opens Part 8, with this first section of the final track being appropriately titled "Band in the Rain" in concert, and the structure of the album mimics the passage of spring, summer, fall, and winter with its marked differences in both tempo and tone from track to track.
* DistinctDoubleAlbum: A single-disc variant: side one is a more atmospheric, ambient-oriented suite in line with ''Oxygène'', while side two's suite consists mostly of proto-SynthPop.

* SongStyleShift: Part 8 opens with an OrganGrinder tune punctuated by the occasional synth hit, only to fade out halfway through and fade back in as an ambient piece more in-line with side one.

[[AC:Side One]]

[[AC:Side Two]]

[[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]

!! ''Équinoxe'' includes the following tropes: