JEFF MILLS

JEFF MILLS
WITH MONTPELLIER PHILARMONIC ORCHESTRA
BLUE POTENTION (2005)
320 KBPS

Mixing electronic music with orchestral elements is certainly nothing new. It is, however, incredibly hard to pull off without coming across as somehow pompous, overblown, or even trite. But it’s not impossible, as the sublime work of Mexican artist Murcof demonstrates. And now techno legend Jeff Mills offers his attempt but with an added twist: it’s an entirely live performance.
‘Blue Potential’ is a live collaboration with the Montpellier Philharmonic Orchestra in a free concert performed in July of 2005 under the magnificent Pont Du Gard just outside of Avignon, France. The concert consists of fifteen orchestral reworkings of Mills’ tracks ranging from classics such as ‘Amazon’ and ‘Sonic Destroyer’ to more recent material from his soundtracks to ‘Metropolis’ and ‘Three Ages’. The arrangement is simple: Mills provides the rhythmic backbone with his trademark 909 percussive hiss and snare while the orchestra provides the melodic and harmonic elements.
the orchestral arrangements work well, offering interesting variations on the originals: ‘Entrance to Metropolis’ and ‘Daylight’ are particularly lovely, the orchestral introduction to ‘The March’ is suitably grandiose and ‘The Bells’ now features real bells. A good opportunity to see classy electronic music merge with a philarmonic orchestra.

1. Opening
2. Imagine
3. Man from Tomorrow
4. The March
5. Time Machine
6. Eclipse
7. Entrance to Metropolis
8. Keaton’s Theme
9. Daylight
10. The Bells
11. Gamma Player
12. 4 Art
13. Medium C
14. Amazon