On January 16, 1998, the legendary debut album of the French group Air was published. It led the then rampant downtempo/space-and-lounge-pop wave to a new climax.
Recommendations of the editorial team
1. High in the course
On the website “Acclaimed Music”, the critics: Interior ratings worldwide evaluates and summarizes, Moon Safari stands in 130 of the 3,000 best albums ever. No French band is placed higher.
2. Everything live
A large part of the French audience assumed that Air is a DJ/producer act from French House, Big Beat, etc., as Jean-Benoît Dunckel 2015 told “stereogum.com”-so all these retro sounds had to be samples from the 1960s and 70s. But what was that – Air played everything live: live!
3. Why Moon Safari?
There are some theories about the origin of the album title (especially since the title of the silent film classic “Le Voyage Dans la Lune”, to which they delivered a soundtrack in 2012, freely means the same). Dunckel later told the “Guardian”: “I studied astrophysics and dealt with stars, planets and Einstein’s theory of relativity.” I also read Ray Bradbury’s ‘the Mars chronicles’, in which the figures go to a safari in the past to see dinosaurs. I liked the word: ‘Safari’. “
4. Just like Stevie Wonder
Air bought their equipment, including some of the synthesizer classics, especially after the production credits of Stevie Wonder’s 70s records: As he wanted at the time, they sounded.
5. French production
Although Air wanted to differentiate themselves from the local pop history, Moon Safari was a very French production-recorded in the “Gang” studio in Paris, among others, in which Jean-Michel Jarre, France Gall and Iggy Pop had already worked; With Stéphane Briat (aka Alf) on the mixer, who has been looking after the country’s big ones since the early 1990s: Cassius, Phoenix, Sébastien Tellier etc.
6. David Whitaker is also there
The strings, teamed up in the Abbey Road Studios, come from David Whitaker, who remained a case for credits nerds as a composer, conductor and arranger of many plates and some soundtracks. His big pop moment: the arrangement of the orchestra remake of the Stones song “The Last Time”, from which The Verve later put together her “Bitter Sweet Symphony”.
7. The women’s focus
Women play central roles on Moon Safari. “La femme d’Argent” is supposed to be a tribute to Lady Diana, who had crashed shortly before. “Kelly Watch the Stars” refers to the “most beautiful woman in the world”, according to Nicolas Godin: Jaryn Smith, the Kelly from “Charlie’s Angels”. And without the voice of Beth Hirsch, who happened to live in the neighborhood at the time, (on “All I Need” and “You Make It Easy”). She would also have liked it for her solo career (three albums up to 2007).
8. Mike Mills delivered
Filmmaker Mike Mills created the artwork for album and singles, shooting all music videos and a tours. The thank you from Air: The play “Mike Mills” on Talkie Walkie (2004).
9. Creative live implementation
Since Air was not available to Moon Safari for her tour for her tour, they covered music from the soundtrack for David Hamilton’s SoftSex ham (1977).