In 2016, twenty years after their international debut, multi-platinum selling, French superstars AIR released their first anthology, twentyears. We invited fans to share with us some of their favourite AIR memories.

 

When asked the question, most people responded like we had given them permission to reflect on altogether freer days of obscenely rich travel adventures, and the memory of a liberated youth. Here are our favourite answers.

“When I think of AIR, I remember spending a lazy few months in a beach shack in Goa eating pineapple with a shit eating grin. Those were the days.” – Aaron

 

“I remember when I was 18, feeling quite ‘deep’ as I preferred ‘You Make It Easy’ and ‘All I Need’ to ‘Sexy Boy’.”  – Pete

 

“I could write a thesis on my love for this band. Moon Safari is the first piece of music I ever fell in love with as a kid. I still remember listening to ‘La Femme D’argent’ for the first time in my family’s living room in Bronte when I was about five. It’s still my favourite album to this day.” – instagram: @miloeastwood

 

 

“A road trip in Scotland circa 2002, sundown, ‘How Does It Make You Feel?’ playing in the car as the landscape outside got darker, craggier, and we felt like we were driving on the moon.” – Tania

 

 

“Listening to AIR takes me back to the absolute thrill of going from holiday house to holiday house over countless Summers, pre-drinks before going clubbing on a Thursday night, and my friend Amanda. Amazing, even hearing it now for two minutes, I was taken straight back there.” Caroline

 

“I bought two copies of ‘All I Need’, and because I worked for a record company at the time, I pretended I got a freebie and sent it to a guy I had a crush on.” – Nicole

 

 

“When I lived in Delhi, ‘Venus’ was the perfect soundtrack to my misty morning jog, as I ran through Indian ruins and magical gardens. ” – Rich

 

 

twenty years is available in 2-CDs, double-LP and digital versions, with the Best-Of featuring 18 tracks selected by Godin and Dunckel, including Sexy Boy, Playground Love, Cherry Blossom Girl and Le soleil est près de moi. It also includes studio album tracks from Premiers symptômes (1997),  Moon Safari (1998), The Virgin Suicides(2000), 10 000 Hz Legend (2001), Talkie Walkie (2004) and Le voyage dans la Lune (2012).

Available on CD and digital formats, the second disc of this Best-Of gathers 14 rare and unreleased tracks, including Crickets and The Way You Look Tonight from the Pocket Symphony and 10 000 Hz Legend sessions, Adis  Abebah from theQuartier lointain soundtrack, Roger Song, written for Corman’s World, a documentary about cult B-movie director Roger Corman, Land Me, taken from the vinyl-only Music For Museum release in 2014 and The Duelist performed by Charlotte Gainsbourg and Jarvis Cocker during the Pocket Symphony recording.

A limited and numbered Super Deluxe Edition is now available. The exclusive release includes the anthology on CD, a random coloured vinyl, a third CD featuring Air remixes comprising tracks by David Bowie, Beck, Depeche Mode and Neneh Cherry, along with a collector poster.

 

Tracklisting:

(Digipack 2CDs / 3 pannels / 16 pages booklet)

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. 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)