Jean-Jacques Perrey
Recording both as a solo artist and in collaboration with Gershon Kingsley, Jean-Jacques Perrey helped popularize electronic music with a series of albums in the 1960s that used Moog synthesizers, the Ondioline, and magnetic tape. His work was never intended to be part of the avant-garde, as Perrey himself cheerfully declared in his liner notes. His goal was to popularize electronic music by deploying it in happy, simple tunes and arrangements. That's why his music falls far closer to easy listening/space age pop than any sort of cutting edge -- and that is also why his music sounds more nostalgic than futuristic.
In the early '50s, Perrey became fascinated by the Ondioline, a keyboard instrument that anticipated the synthesizer with its emulation of other instruments. He dropped out of medical school to become a sales representative for the Ondioline, and by the early '60s he had moved to the U.S. to work in television, radio, and the recording studio. His '60s albums for Vanguard, both as a solo act and half of Perrey-Kingsley, were his most widely circulated, giving Perrey a chance to demonstrate his arsenal of electronic instruments, treatments, and tape manipulations. The actual results were bouncy and childish, perhaps betraying more of Perrey's considerable background in radio/TV jingles than may have been intended. (Treated more as novelties than innovations, they came back into vogue when Perrey was profiled in RE/SEARCH's Incredibly Strange Music book in the 1990s.)
Perrey returned to France in 1970, where he continued to work in radio, TV, soundtracks, and other musical projects. By the '90s he had begun recording again, first in a collaboration with French electronica duo Air, then with an album of his own, Eclektronics. Additional albums followed, including 2008's Destination Space, which the 80-year-old Perrey created with help from fellow composer Dana Countryman. In keeping with the musicians' experimental nature, the album featured artificial, computer-generated vocals instead of sounds supplied by human vocalists. Perrey died in November 2016 at the age of 87.
© Richie Unterberger /TiVo
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Discography
21 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Amazing Electronic Pop Sound Of
Electronic - Released by Vanguard Records on 1 Jan 1968
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Moog Indigo
Electronic - Released by Vanguard Records on 1 Jan 1970
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Amazing New Electronic Pop Sound Of Jean-Jacques Perrey
Electronic - Released by Craft Recordings on 1 Jan 1968
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Happy Electropop Music Machine
Jean-Jacques Perrey, Dana Countryman
Electronic - Released by Oglio Entertainment on 26 Sep 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Moog Sensations
Electronic - Released by JJP Archives on 20 Mar 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Eclektronics
Jean-Jacques Perrey, David Chazam
Electronic - Released by Basta Audio-Visuals on 15 Jun 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Musique Electronique Du Cosmos (Electronic Music from Outer Space)
Electronic - Released by JJP Archives on 21 Feb 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ela
Jean-Jacques Perrey, David Chazam
Alternative & Indie - Released by Freaksville Music on 1 Jan 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Prelude au sommeil (Jean Jacques Perrey)
Experimental - Released by Trunk Records on 1 May 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Prelude Au Sommeil (Remastered)
Electronic - Released by RevOla on 11 Jul 2019
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Electronic Music from Outer Space
Electronic - Released by BRAIN DISCOS on 14 Jul 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Circus of Life
Gilbert Sigrist, O C Banks, Jean-Jacques Perrey
Children - Released by Koka Media on 1 Dec 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Froots Juice (Remixes)
Jean-Jacques Perrey, Cosmic Pocket
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Invitro Records on 1 Jan 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
PRELUDE AU SOMMEIL
Classical - Released by INTERSECTION on 8 Jun 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Alien Planet / Cybernuts (Remastered)
Classical - Released by BRAIN DISCOS on 1 Jan 1959
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Past Future Sound Tracks
Experimental - Released by PROFOUND on 20 Dec 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cadmus, Le Robot de l'Espace
Jean-Jacques Perrey, Henri Gruel
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by SINETONE AMR on 16 May 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Musique Electronique Du Cosmos
Pop - Released by SINETONE AMR on 1 Jan 1962
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo