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To celebrate two decades of creating ambient and downtempo electronica under the name Banco de Gaia, Toby Marks put together this enjoyable if slightly uneven two-disc set, a retrospective of sorts that takes a fresh look at his past rather than simply gathering and recapitulating it. On the first disc, he reinterprets both his own work (longtime fans will get a particular kick out of his Euro-trance reconstruction of "Soufie") and that of others -- Hawkwind's "Spirit of the Age" is given a long, luxurious interpretation that incorporates elements of house, funk, and ska, while King Crimson's "Starless" gets an even longer -- and frankly rather plodding -- arrangement of its own. His most ambitious experiment on the first disc is a rendition of Pink Floyd's "Echoes" that lasts fully 22 minutes -- an impressive feat, and one that does a fine job of blending Marks's own personal electronic vision seamlessly with Floyd's unique sound. But it's about twice as long as it has any excuse to be. On the second disc, he gathers together live performances going back as far as 1993, one -- the jazz and shamelessly smooth "Celestine" -- featuring a full band. Top honors on this part of the program go to "Qurna" (which starts out in a pleasantly dubwise mood and then gradually gets darker and more Middle Eastern) and "No Rain", with its densely packed textures and exotic choral samples. ~ Rick Anderson

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French electronic music innovator Jean Michel Jarre has revisited his signature work Oxygène numerous times throughout his career, through concerts, remixes, the 1997 sequel Oxygène 7-13, and a new master recording in 2007. A third volume was released in 2016, completing a 40-year trilogy, and all three albums were released as a box set. Taken as a whole, the project shows a remarkable consistency, exploring similar moods and themes even as technology drastically changes throughout the decades. The original Oxygène, of course, is the standard, and easily one of Jarre's best (which is not to discredit other spectacular albums such as Equinoxe). Playful, meditative, and slightly eerie, it's still a masterpiece. The second part, which is now renamed Oxygène 2, holds up surprisingly well. Using much of the same equipment, Jarre created another dazzling soundscape in the same style as the original. While this album is generally more uptempo, and there happens to be an increased presence of arpeggios common to trance music (which wouldn't have existed without the work of Jarre and his peers), it still seems like he was exploring his own mind rather than just trying to chase whatever was trendy at the time. Oxygène 3 has its trance-like moments but keeps with the spirit of the original (probably even more so than the second volume). It's rich and adventurous but it never goes over the top, which is a relief. All three albums are worthy on their own, but the entire trilogy is a fascinating multi-generational journey. ~ Paul Simpson

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