AIR French Band* ‎– Moon Safari

Air seems to wonderfully avoid the dated sound that many pop influenced electronica records get as they crack the decade and beyond. It would seem this album is timeless. With the moulding of lounge and downtempo with a touch of disco infused pop, this record never ceases to amaze me due to how easy it is to listen to and how seemingly simple it is, and yet I almost always find something else in the music that transfixes me, whether it's a bass pad or strings that I never seemed to notice before. The different portions of the music just complement each other so perfectly. It really goes to prove the production skill involved in this record. Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin and his long time friend and Patrick Woodcock (Mellow) have created a thing of real pop beauty. I know i'll be listening to this and other Air (Premiers Symptômes) for a long time to come. I can look forward to seeing how well the newer production ages, but if the early stuff is anything to go by.. well.. It speaks for itself.

Yeap, mine is CAR 6644 also.
Maybe is the Europe version from Astralwerks.

People argue about whether this album is significant or just ignorable elevator music. And I couldn't care less, because it's just not always about that. Sometimes it just depends on when you heard it the first time, the situations, circumstances and to me this album is one of the most important albums ever. Of course it has a lot to do with good and bad memories, a period in life where a lot of changes happened. And with an 8000 mile summer road trip with all kinds of weather except snow. And this was the perfect soundtrack in any situation. Since then, after 12 years I can still listen to these songs in whatever mood I am and I always listen to the whole album and enjoy it. I just hope I will never hear a loop of "La Femme D'Argent" in an elevator 'cause I wouldn't wanna leave. Probably not the best place to spend the rest of your days.

Mine also. But I´m not shure if it´s another issue.

Awesome stuff... Perfect if you ask me :D

My copy of this is cat number CAR 6644

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Considering the fact that this is Air's debut album, I was very impressed when I first bought it because it's a well-produced album with memorable tracks.

The music is best at times where you want to relax, and just listen without doing anything physically or mentally stressful.

That could be one of Moon Safari's weaknesses though. It's not fitting for other situation than relaxation and the album might become boring if you're not in the exact mood, which might not occur very often.

Tracks like "La Femme D'Argent", "Sexy Boy" and "All I Need" are definitly worth a listen though and can often be played regardless of your mood.

Overall a fine album with well-produced tracks, but might become boring for some listeners.

4/6

I can't see how anyone in their right mind could consider any of Air's works a Master Piece. However, a classic, on account of popularity, it most certainly is.

Perhaps the main strenght of this album is that it's not very involving music and pretty hard to be offended by, Moon Safari is just the right kind of music for when you're not really interested in listening to music, but you don't like the idea of silence edging in between the conversations. A kind of social chill out music, a reasonable flow, and if you actually have a listen every now and then you don't feel like you've missed something.

'All I need' is probably my favourite of the tracks, there's just something very appealing about Beth Hirsch's voice there, I Expected to find that same appeal when i bought a CD of her's but, while not a total waste of money, it certainly ended up being one of my more stupid and least informed music purchases.

Beth Hirsch's own releases are better than air. She's got a voice i like and goes down a similar 'comunal chillout' route as air,

A Beatlesque album for the chill out masses. They took the genre of downtempo and chill out albums to new heights with such sophistication. On top of the many pale imitators they spawned such as Zero 7 and Bent, they even had artists such as Madonna borrowing influences from this groundbreaking album. Forever a chill out classic and one of the best albums of the 90s.

Quite groundbreaking when it first came out, Moon Safari has since been eclipsed by other releases by different artists. But its quality is still evident after repeated listens. True, the music itself isn't terribly complex, but as an example of nouveau easy listening/lounge downtempo, it's a landmark album.