Jean-Michel Jarre – The Concerts in China VG/VG+

Les Concerts en Chine (pronounced [le kɔ̃sɛʁ ɑ̃ ʃin], English title: The Concerts in China) is a live album by Jean-Michel Jarre, recorded in 1981 and released in 1982 on Disques Dreyfus. It was recorded during Jarre’s Concerts in China tour of Autumn 1981, which consisted of five Beijing and Shanghai concerts in China; this was the first time a Western pop artist performed in China after the Cultural Revolution.

The album is a balance of previously released tracks by Jarre, new compositions inspired by Chinese culture, and one rearranged traditional Chinese track “Fishing Junks at Sunset” (“Jonques de pêcheurs au crépuscule”). The album consists mainly of live material, plus ambient sound recordings and one new studio track “Souvenir of China”. Other new compositions recorded live include “Nuit à Shanghai”, “Harpe Laser”, “Arpégiateur” and “Orient Express”. “Jonques de pêcheurs au crépuscule” (“Fishing Junks at Sunset”) is a new arrangement of a very old traditional Chinese song known as the “Fisherman’s Chant at Dusk”, which was performed and recorded with The Peking Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra and is often wrongly attributed as being composed by Jean-Michel Jarre, misled by the album inlay.

The album reached #6 in the UK charts #1 in Portugal and #76 in Australia.