Magnetic Fields (also known as Les Chants Magnétiques) is the third album by Jean-Michel Jarre, and was released in 1981 on Disques Dreyfus. The album is known for being one of the first records ever to use sampling as a musical element, and represents a departure from the airy sound of his previous efforts. For this album Jarre was partly inspired by the works of Andy Warhol, and a fascination with the reproducibility of digital sound.

The extraordinarily long first track consists of three distinct movements. The first movement was excerpted as the theme music for the 1982-83 American television series "Bare Essence". The slower second movement is heavily laden with sample work, foreshadowing the sound of his 1984 album Zoolook.

The album's original French title Les Chants Magnétiques is a play on words. Literally translated it means "Magnetic Songs" or "Magnetic Singing". However, when spoken aloud, it sounds very similar to the expression "Les Champs Magnétiques" ("Magnetic Fields"). Clearly, this word play could not have survived translation, as the English words "song" and "field" sound nothing alike.

Track listing

1. "Magnetic Fields Part 1" - 17:49
2. "Magnetic Fields Part 2" - 3:59
3. "Magnetic Fields Part 3" - 4:15
4. "Magnetic Fields Part 4" - 6:18
5. "Magnetic Fields Part 5" - 3:30

Equipment

• Electro-Harmonix Echoflanger
• Korg KR 55
• Elka 707
• Eminent 310 U
• Fairlight CMI
• MDB polysequencer
• ARP 2600
• EMS Synthi AKS
• EMS Synthi VCS3
• Moog Taurus Pedal Synthesizer
• Oberheim OB-X
• EMS Vocoder 1000
• Korg VC-10