Jean-Michel Jarre "Rendez-vous"

Rendez-vous is the eighth studio album by electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre released on Disques Dreyfus, licensed to Polydor, in April 1986. It sold some three million copies worldwide and remains Jarre's longest-running chart album in both the U.S. and UK, with a 20-week run in the U.S. and an impressive 38-week run in the UK. The album art of the album was created by long-time collaborator Michel Granger.

The last track on the album was originally scheduled to include a saxophone part recorded by astronaut Ron McNair on the Space Shuttle Challenger, making it the first piece of music to be recorded in space, but on 28 January 1986, 73 seconds after lift-off, the shuttle disintegrated and the entire Challenger crew were killed. The track was dedicated to McNair and the other astronauts on board Challenger. On the album the saxophone part is played by saxophonist Pierre Gossez.

The album reached #9 in the UK charts and #52 in the U.S. charts.

The album was nominated for Grammy Award for Best New Age Album in 1987, although it didn't win the award.

In April 1986, Jarre performed the large-scale outdoor concert Rendez-vous Houston in Houston, Texas, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the founding of Texas. The show attracted a then-world-record live audience of 1.3 million people. The concert was originally to have included a video projection of Ron McNair's performance, recorded in space.

Jean-Michel returned to the stage in October for another concert, the Rendez-Vous Lyon, marking the Pope John Paul II visit to Jarre's hometown (Lyon).

In 1986, the Greek VHS company "Athens Video Corporation" used the track "First Rendez-Vous" for their VHS logo.

In 1998, British commercial broadcaster ITV used a remixed version of "Fourth Rendez-Vous" (called Rendez-Vous 98) for their television coverage of the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France. British group Apollo 440 were credited alongside Jarre for the remix.

Track listing

Side one

1. "Premier Rendez-vous" (First Rendez-vous) 2:54
2. "Deuxième Rendez-vous" (Second Rendez-vous) 10:55
3. "Troisième Rendez-vous" (Third Rendez-vous) 3:30

Side two

1. "Quatrième Rendez-vous" (Fourth Rendez-vous) 3:57
2. "Cinquième Rendez-vous" (Fifth Rendez-vous) 7:41
3. "Dernier Rendez-vous (Ron's Piece)" (Last Rendez-vous) 6:04

Alternate track listing

Early editions of the album from 1986 had the tracks for Second and Fifth Rendez-Vous split up into separate parts, and slightly different timings for Fourth and Last Rendez-Vous (Ron's Piece).

1. "First Rendez-Vous" 2:54
2. "Second Rendez-Vous (Part 1)" 2:36
3. "Second Rendez-Vous (Part 2)" 3:17
4. "Second Rendez-Vous (Part 3)" 2:18
5. "Second Rendez-Vous (Part 4)" 2:43
6. "Third Rendez-Vous" 3:30
7. "Fourth Rendez-Vous" 4:03
8. "Fifth Rendez-Vous (Part 1)" 2:59
9. "Fifth Rendez-Vous (Part 2)" 1:13
10. "Fifth Rendez-Vous (Part 3)" 3:45
11. "Last Rendez-Vous (Ron's Piece)" 5:47

"Second Rendez-Vous", total time: 10:54 (not specified on CD)

"Fifth Rendez-Vous", total time: 7:57 (not specified on CD)