This is the strangest Jarre's album since his 1976 debut. It has a central association, obviously, the underwater world as it was filmed by Jarre's famous compatriot Cousteau. Many noises and background sample sounds relate to this topic. However, musicwise, this is a very inconsistent album.

It starts off with a faster track, that has a tropical dance feeling to it. This particular track has been selected numerous times as a source for all kind of radio and TV jingles. The other two "Calypso" tracks are typical Jean-Michel Jarre, with medium to slow tempo, multilayered synths, sampled voices, and a melody that can be stuck in your head for some time. It all sounds somewhat similar to the first track off his 1984 "Zoolook" or the better parts of 1986s "Rendez Vous".

But the central piece of this album, the 46 minutes long, ambient title track, is what ruins this album for me. I know, it's revolutionary for Jarre, as this is something that he never tried to accomplish before. But it doesn't give it any more value in my book. I admit, I'm not a fan of ambient, and that might be the source of a problem. But really, how can you appreciate a track, when you clearly understand, that, be it 20 minutes shorter, or 20 minutes longer, you won't feel any difference at all? I cannot grasp neither its structure, nor its melody, nor its message. Maybe that's what ambient was made to be, I don't know. But I have to literally glue myself to the chair to sit this track through. And that doesn't even guarantee me from falling to sleep.

Musical experimentation is usually okay with me. But when the track that I continuously fail to understand occupies three fourths of a CD, that's a problem. Considering that you can get 2 of the other 3 tracks on a very good compilation "Images", that's a far bigger problem. I only advise this to people who get into ambient, as others will be reaching for the Stop button of their players by the end of track 3.

This song ( I say song because I'm reviewing En Attendant Cousteau only ). Now I know 47 minutes seems a bit much for some songs to go on for but it really is nice . Sit back , relax , put your feet up and unwind to this . Think of yourself as an adventurer sailing the seas in a cold , damp night where there is only you to navigate where the ship is going . It's terrific

As for the other three songs .... they're OK but they're not particularly memorable . They might be better suited to a live video ( which they were )

While 'Waiting for Cousteau' is certainly not 'Equinoxe', it's still one of his best albums and I recommend it (but get Equinoxe and Oxygene before, in that order)

Let me decribe the tracks, then get an idea of the album:

Calypso Part 1: A steel drum piece that will make your day happy.
Calypso Part 2: My favorite of the album, it brings the image to your mind of a submarine submerging into the waters. It somewhat reminds me of the music on Donkey Kong Country 2, although it doesn't sound like it at all.
Calypso Part 3: A slow, melancolic piece, the guitar part is cool too.
Waiting for Cousteau: Man, this is bad music. I use it when I can't sleep (seriously). It has, however, two nice things: on the middle of the track, a voice yells 'COUSTEAU!', also, you get a nice tune when you play it fast forward.

Absolutely no comparison to Eno. The 45 minute ambient piece is simply boring.

I should state right off that I don't particularly care for "world music". I'm not talking about world influences or sampling (ala Paul Haslinger) but straight up playing "world" music, which is what "Calypso Part 1" does. I would rather listen to music that let's me imagine whatever comes to mind. The opening track is a full blown Carribean excursion, electronically done. Not a bad song mind you, but I'm not often in a Carribean frame of mind. Part 2 is much better, as Jarre goes back to "electronic" music, with only dashes of Calypso. Part 3 is a straight electronic piece, reminiscent of pieces Jarre has used to close his albums before, although there is still 1 more track to go. Ah yes. the last track. The title track. A 46 minute ambient piece, the first "ambient" I had ever heard, I didn't know what to make of it. Nothing really happens, just some shimmering, and random single piano notes. It sounds like Jarre set some parameters on computer, turned the synths on, and went to lunch. Not bad for background music, but not terribly interesting either. I still pull this CD out for the occassional listen (thus 3 stars) but not very often. Of course, if you LIKE what I've described, this may be just for you.