French band Air, Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel, introduced me and many others to music that was cosmic, electronic, retro and studious.
Their enlightening and insanely popular debut 1997 album Moon Safari, which featured ‘Sexy Boy’, ‘All I Need’, ‘Kelly Watch The Stars’ and ‘La Femme D’Argent’ became a classic and helped reintroduce chillout and retro music palettes to music.
Proceeding album 10 000 Hz Legend and delved into a unique electronic pop hybrid. Their soundtrack for Sofia Coppolla’s Virgin Suicides made the movie. Talkie Walkie returned to old ground and found breathtaking music in tracks like ‘Alone In Kyoto’ and ‘Cherry Blossom Girl’. The band’s sound fell out of favour but they continued working on worthwhile albums (2012’s Le voyage dans la Lune) and solo material following.
This June 10th, Warner Music will release a retrospective of the band’s music (with limited ssuper deluxe versions to follow on CD/LP on July 22nd). Collecting the best of the band’s music, remixes and some unreleased material, TwentyYears, chosen by the band themselves, is an anthology of their own considered greatest work.
From the second disc, I have an exclusive first listen to ‘Indian Summer’, a track that was originally featured on the Japanese 4LP edition of Love 2, which was limited to 1000 copies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw8i28bNoYY
Air – TwentyYears – Tracklisting
CD 1 Best-Of
1. La Femme D’Argent
2. Cherry Blossom Girl
3. Kelly Watch the Stars
4. Playground Love
5. Sexy Boy
6. Venus
7. All I Need
8. Alpha Beta Gaga
9. Moon Fever
10. Don’t Be Light
11. How Does it Make you Feel
12. Once Upon A Time
13. Alone in Kyoto
14. Talisman
15. Run
16. Le soleil est près de Moi
17. Land Me
CD2 Rarities
1. Planet Vega
2. Flowerhead
3. Crickets
4. The Duelist featuring Charlotte Gainsbourg & Jarvis Cocker
5. High Point
6. Au fond du rêve doré featuring Françoise Hardy
7. Danger Zone
8. Indian Summer
9. The Way You Look Tonight
10. Roger Song (Previously unreleased)
11. J’ai dormi sous l’eau (live BBC 1998)
12. Remember (David Withaker version)
13. Trente millions d’amis (live KCRW 1998)
14. Adis Abebah (Previously unreleased)
CD3: Remixes
1. Ollano – Latitudes
2. Crustration – Purple (La Femme d’argent Mix)
3. Neneh Cherry – Kootchi (Air Remix)
4. Depeche Mode – Home (Air ‘Around The Golf’ Remix)
5. David Bowie – A Better Future (Remix by Air) (4:56)
6. Beck – Heaven Hammer (Missing Remixed by AIR)
7. MGMT – It’s Working (Air Remix)
8. Nosferatu (Remix by The Flower Pistols)
9. Money Mark – Rock in the Rain
