Photos: Jean-Michel Jarre to Release 50th Anniversary OXYGENE Edition

Jean-Michel Jarre has announced a special 50th anniversary edition of his landmark album OXYGENE, to be released on November 20, 2026 via BMG.

Originally released in France in 1976 before its international release in 1977, OXYGENE helped bring electronic music to a global audience and established Jarre as one of the defining figures of the genre. Recorded in the former kitchen of his Paris apartment using an eight-track tape machine, a homemade mixing desk and a small collection of synthesisers and electronic instruments, the album went on to sell more than 18 million copies worldwide.

At the heart of the anniversary edition is a new 2026 remaster of the original stereo mix, created from the original tapes to restore the full dynamics and character of the recording. The Dolby Atmos version was mixed by David Kosten, Steven Wilson and Jarre for Distant Swimmer, the new immersive-audio partnership between Kosten and Wilson, with OXYGENE its first project. Bringing together Kosten's extensive work in Atmos and as a multi-award winning producer and mixer, and Wilson's experience as a six-time Grammy nominee, Porcupine Tree founder and spatial-audio pioneer, the team preserved the balance and distinctive tape-echo character of the original stereo mix while allowing the album to breathe in three-dimensional space.

The release includes a 180g black-vinyl edition, half-speed mastered and cut by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios; CD; limited-edition coloured eco-vinyl; digital editions; and a deluxe Blu-ray mediabook featuring OXYGENE in Dolby Atmos for the first time, alongside a new 5.1 mix, the 2026 stereo remaster and selected archival material.

'When I created OXYGENE, I was working directly with analogue instruments and tape, and the sound had a particular depth, movement and life of its own. For this anniversary edition, we returned to the original tapes with the aim of preserving that character rather than changing it'. - Jean-Michel Jarre

Five decades after its release, OXYGENE continues to resonate across generations of artists and listeners. The anniversary edition features new liner notes from Alexis Petridis (The Guardian) who recalls OXYGENE sounding like 'a curious transmission from the future' when it entered the British singles chart in 1977.

'OXYGENE wasn't just an exceptionally good album,' he writes. 'It was an album that felt like a strange kind of culmination, on which Jean-Michel Jarre managed to capture and tie together every extant aspect of electronica into 40 minutes of music.'

Alma Rota (Rolling Stone France) writes: 'The record becomes image, concert, architecture, landscape. It ceases to be merely a recorded object and becomes a universe that every era reinvents. Formats change. Technologies evolve. The landscape remains.'

And German writer Torsten Groß, writes: 'The foundation for this unique career was laid in that kitchen — with a broken Mellotron and ideas for eternity.'

Electronic artists Kelly Lee Owens and Solomun have also contributed separate reflections on the album and its continuing influence.

The anniversary edition also marks an extended partnership between Jean-Michel Jarre and BMG, encompassing his recorded catalogue and future works. Jarre is currently in the studio working on new music, with further details to be announced.

Alistair Norbury, Senior Creative Advisor at BMG, says: 'Jean-Michel Jarre has influenced generations of electronic artists and continues to shape the culture today. Electronic music has deep European roots and continues to evolve globally. This partnership reflects our shared long-term commitment to that legacy and a creative vision for what comes next.'

The release arrives in a major year that will also see Jarre appear on October 21 as Guest of Honour at Amsterdam Dance Event, where he will present the sold-out immersive concert OXYGENE & BEYOND: A SONIC JOURNEY CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF ADE at AFAS Live. His wider ADE program will also include three exclusive panel discussions at ADE Pro, bringing together the history of electronic music with the ideas, emerging technologies - including AI - and artists shaping its future.

It also follows the publication of MACHINES: A HISTORY OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC (November 24, Thames & Hudson). Drawing on Jarre's exceptional collection of electronic and electro-acoustic instruments, the book presents 130 machines, specially photographed, that trace more than a century of electronic music, from the first electrified machines of the early 20th century to artificial intelligence algorithms. Contributors include Armin van Buuren, Vince Clarke, Gillian Gilbert, Nicolas Godin, Richie Hawtin, Johnny Marr, Gary Numan, Benjamin John Power, Nick Rhodes, & Hans Zimmer.

OXYGENE the 50th anniversary edition is released November 20 via BMG. Pre-order: https://JeanMichelJarre.lnk.to/oxygene50PR

'MACHINES: A History of Electronic Music' is published by Thames & Hudson on November 24 (U.S.). Information: https://www.thamesandhudsonusa.com/books/machines-a-history-of-electronic-music-by-jean-michel-jarre-hardcover

About Jean-Michel Jarre

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. He is quoted as claiming that 'today is the most exciting time to create, to make music, and to share across so many mediums.'

Jarre is UNESCO ambassador for education, science and culture, an unconditional defender of the planet and the environment and Laureate of the Stephen Hawking Medal for scientific communication. Jarre's current catalog, which now includes 22 studio albums, has generated sales of more than 85 million worldwide to date, and earned him countless awards and nominations.

Throughout his career, Jarre has taken as canvas, some of the most iconic landmarks and UNESCO World Heritage sites around the globe for his creative, cultural, and environmental message. He has also set new Guinness World Records for live audience attendance at concerts in several emblematic locations. He was the first western musician to be invited to perform in China and has also created and performed concert-events at the Great Pyramids in Egypt, the Sahara Desert, the Forbidden City & Tiananmen Square, the Eiffel Tower, the Dead Sea, Al Ula and more. He has consistently sold-out arena and stadium tours across the continents, as well as performing at major festivals including Coachella.

In 2021, he rang in the new year with Welcome To The Other Side, a groundbreaking livestream broadcast worldwide from a virtual Notre Dame in Paris. Entertainment trade publication US Pollstar states that the livestream attracted record breaking audiences of over 75 million viewers worldwide across various platforms, television channels and VR.

On December 25, 2023, Jarre performed Versailles 400: a unique hybrid artistic creation conceived specifically to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Château de Versailles and performed in real life live from the Hall of Mirrors and in virtual reality.

Photo Credit: François Rousseau

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