En attendant Cousteau

1990 studio album by Jean-Michel Jarre

En attendant Cousteau

Studio album by

Jean-Michel Jarre

Released| 11 June 1990
Studio| Coral Sound studio, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
Croissy studio, Paris
Length| 1:08:57
Label| Disques Dreyfus
Producer| Jean-Michel Jarre
Jean-Michel Jarre chronology
| Revolutions
(1988)  | En attendant Cousteau
(1990)  | Images - The Best of Jean-Michel Jarre
(1991)

|
|

Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
AllMusic| [1]

En attendant Cousteau (English title: Waiting for Cousteau) is the tenth studio album by French electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre, released on Disques Dreyfus, licensed to Polydor. The title is a reference to the play Waiting for Godot.

Originally, Jarre intended to call it 'Cousteau sur la plage (Cousteau on the beach)', but it was changed at the last moment. A promotional tape contained this title.[2]

The album was dedicated to Jacques-Yves Cousteau and was released on his 80th birthday 11 June 1990. AllMusic described the album as "groundbreaking stuff", due to its stylistic differences from his other albums.[1] The album reached Number 14 in the UK charts.[3]

En attendant Cousteau is divided into two distinct stylistic halves: the first three pieces titled "Calypso" and the title track, an ambient piece which was used in the soundtrack of a 1991 documentary entitled "Palawan: Le dernier refuge" by Cousteau and Jarre. However two tracks from that documentary did not appear on the final album.[4]

The title track was also played at Jarre's exposition Concert d'images in Paris, 1989. According to a Jarre fan-magazine,[5] it was created via an app on an Atari Mega-ST,[6] on which Jarre programmed 16 starting notes. He apparently got the idea from the book Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams. He denied it in a later interview, claiming all notes are actually played by hand, noting however that the track includes some time-stretched samples mixed into the background.[7][8]

Jarre performed the album for about 2.5 million people at the Paris La Défense concert on 14 july 1990, featuring The Amoco Renegades, a steel-drum band from Trinidad and Tobago.

## Track listing

[edit]

### CD edition

[edit]

All music is composed by Jean-Michel Jarre

No.| Title| Length

|
|

1.| "Calypso Part 1"| 8:24
2.| "Calypso Part 2"| 7:10
3.| "Calypso Part 3 (Fin de Siècle)" (End of the Century)| 6:28
4.| "En attendant Cousteau" (Waiting for Cousteau)| 46:55
Total length:| 1:08:57

### Vinyl and cassette edition

[edit]

Side oneNo.| Title| Length

|
|

1.| "Calypso Part 1"| 8:24
2.| "Calypso Part 2"| 7:10
3.| "Calypso Part 3 (Fin de Siècle)"| 6:28

Side twoNo.| Title| Length

|
|

1.| "En attendant Cousteau"| 22:00
Total length:| 44:02

## Personnel

[edit]

Personnel listed in album liner notes:[9]

* Jean-Michel Jarre – keyboards
* The Amoco Renegades – steel drums
* Guy Delacroix – bass
* Christophe Deschamps – drums
* Michel Geiss – keyboards
* Dominique Perrier – keyboards

## Charts

[edit]

Chart (1990)  | Peak
position

|

Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[10] | 19
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[11] | 11
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[12] | 27
Spanish Albums (AFYVE)[13] | 37
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[14] | 22
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[15] | 21
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[16] | 27
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[17] | 11
UK Albums (OCC)[18] | 14

## Certifications and sales

[edit]

Region  | Certification | Certified units/sales

|
|

France (SNEP)[20] | 2× Gold  | 550,000[19]
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[21] | Gold  | 50,000^
Summaries
Worldwide  |  | 1,550,000[19]

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b En attendant Cousteau at AllMusic
2. ^ "aerozonejmj". aerozonejmj.fr. 2014-03-27. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
3. ^ "UK Music charts". EveryHit.com. Retrieved 2008-02-14.
4. ^ "Aerozonejmj". aerozonejmj.fr. 2019-03-03. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
5. ^ Conductor Of The Masses - Issue 5. UK: Conceptual Publishing. July 1991. p. 30.
6. ^ AMI (Algorithmic Musical Instrument) By Cadenza Software. However, likely the name should be ACT (Algorithmic Compositional Tool), which "generates random musical output, based on user-defined notes, which can be controlled in real time using a GEM interface or a MIDI source", as listed on https://www.ataritoday.com/extra/.
7. ^ "Aerozonejmj". aeorozonejmj.fr. 2019-01-19. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
8. ^ Pettersen, Hogne Bø (18 November 2018). "The Journey to Equinoxe Infinity – Part 3: Paying the Piano Player to Stop Playing". The Domino Elf. Archived from the original on 14 July 2024. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
9. ^ Waiting For Cousteau (booklet). Disques Dreyfus/Polyodr. 1990. 843 614-2.
10. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Jean Michel Jarre – En attendant Cousteau" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
11. ^ Finnish charts:
* Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 168\. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
|- "Discography Jean-Michel Jarre". finnishcharts.com. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
12. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Jean Michel Jarre – Waiting For Cousteau" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
13. ^ Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
14. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Jean Michel Jarre – En attendant Cousteau". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
15. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Jean Michel Jarre – En attendant Cousteau". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
16. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Jean Michel Jarre – En attendant Cousteau" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
17. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Jean Michel Jarre – En attendant Cousteau". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
18. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
19. ^ a b Fitzmaurice, Larry (22 May 1993). "Around The French Companies". Billboard. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
20. ^ "French album certifications – J-Michel JARRE – En attendant Cousteau" (in French). InfoDisc. Select J-MICHEL JARRE and click OK.
21. ^ Sólo Éxitos 1959–2002 Año A Año: Certificados 1979–1990 (in Spanish). Iberautor Promociones Culturales. 2005. ISBN 8480486392.

## External links

[edit]

* Waiting for Cousteau at Discogs

* v
* t
* e

Jean-Michel Jarre

Studio albums|

* Oxygène (1976)
* Équinoxe (1978)
* Les Chants Magnétiques (1981)
* Musique pour Supermarché (1983)
* Zoolook (1984)
* Rendez-Vous (1986)
* Revolutions (1988)
* En attendant Cousteau (1990)
* Chronologie (1993)
* Oxygène 7–13 (1997)
* Métamorphoses (2000)
* Sessions 2000 (2002)
* Geometry of Love (2003)
* Téo & Téa (2007)
* Oxygène: New Master Recording (2007)
* Electronica 1: The Time Machine (2015)
* Electronica 2: The Heart of Noise (2016)
* Oxygène 3 (2016)
* Radiophonie Vol. 9 (2017)
* Equinoxe Infinity (2018)
* Snapshots from EōN (2019)
* Amazônia (2021)
* Radiophonie Vol. 12 (2022)
* Oxymore (2022)

Live albums|

* Les Concerts en Chine (1982)
* Jarre Live / Destination Docklands: The London Concert (1989)
* Hong Kong (1994)
* Live from Gdańsk (Koncert w Stoczni) (2005)

Compilation albums|

* Images – The Best of Jean-Michel Jarre (1991)
* AERO (2004)
* Essentials & Rarities (2011)
* Planet Jarre (2018)

Remix albums|

* Jarremix (1995)
* Odyssey Through O2 (1998)

Live performances|

* The Concerts in China (China, 1981)
* Rendez-vous Houston (USA, 1986)
* Destination Docklands (UK, 1988)
* Paris La Défense – Une Ville en Concert (France, 1990)
* Space of Freedom (Poland, 2005)

Related|

* Discography
* Compositions with multiple titles
* Maurice Jarre
* Kevin Jarre
* "Oxygène (Part IV)"
* "Toxygene"
* "Stardust"

* v
* t
* e

Jacques Cousteau

Films directed|

* The Silent World (1956)
* World Without Sun (1964)
* Voyage to the Edge of the World (1976)

Other works|

* The Silent World (1953 book)
* The Golden Fish (1959 film produced)
* The Ocean World of Jacques Cousteau (1973–1978 encyclopedia)
* The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau (1976 television series)

Expedition ships|

* RV Calypso
* Alcyone

Concepts and designs|

* Aqua-Lung
* Calypso camera
* Continental Shelf Station Two
* Deep Star 4000
* SP-350 Denise
* Turbosail

Works about|

* "Calypso" (1975 song)
* Cries from the Deep (1982 documentary)
* The Odyssey (2016 biopic)
* Becoming Cousteau (2021 documentary)

Tributes|

* En attendant Cousteau (1990 album)
* The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004 film)
* Mission 31 (2014 expedition)

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

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