Once upon a time, a young James P. Wisdom wrote a little review for a record called Premiers Symptomes by a pre- Moon Safari band called Air. Said he, "This is free jazz lacquered with electronica, impeccably clean, lacking any sense of awkwardness or amateurism. [Its] only drawback is that it's merely 27 minutes long (just five tracks) and it leaves you wanting more." Too true, Mr. Wisdom. Too true.

Well, it seems Astralwerks heard young James' plea and decided to whet his appetite. (Though it's probably just because they wanna keep Air in the spotlight and they don't have enough original new material to put out yet.) This newly expanded, upgraded edition of Air's first EP includes two bonus tracks, and now clocks in at a whopping 34 minutes! That's seven additional minutes of brand new music!

Well, not really. See, the bonus tracks have been released before, though they were both relatively obscure. "Californie," is taken from the b-side of a limited edition Air flexi-disc, and "Brakes On" is actually just an Air remix of an Alex Gopher song. So what's the deal? The deal is, it's not really that much more spectacular than the original release-- even the packaging, save for the addition of one new page of liner notes and the updated track listing, is identical.

Thing is, the music within is pretty nice. Premiers Symptomes is presumably the stuff that got Air signed to Astralwerks, and it serves a kind of understated counterpart to Moon Safari. The sounds of the two records are similar-- both feature gentle, jazz drumming, maracas, mellow, spacy keyboards, and dense, bass- heavy production. But Premiers Symptomes is comprised entirely of laidback instrumentals.

Premiers Symptomes actually seems like a more solid record than Moon Safari, if only because it's more cohesive. Moon Safari's two vocal pieces, "All I Need" and "You Make It Easy," were amateurish and melodramatic despite Beth Hirsch's pleasant vocals. This record gracefully removes that unwanted hair, and comes off as a great melodic ambient disc. The record's highlight, "Le Soleil Est Pres De Moi" (which I think translates to "I am Too Gay to Love You") recalls the ethereal, moog and vocoder- enhanced "Kelly Watch the Stars," while "Modular Mix," the album's opening track is a prelude to the future greatness of Moon Safari's "La Femme D'argent" (or as I like to call it, "La Advertisement D'song").

The two bonus tracks, sadly, serve only to ruin the EP's sultry mood. "Californie" starts off as a blaxploitation- style funk number before unexpectedly turning into new age noodling with predictable moog flourishes. And "Brakes On" is, simply put, a stupid disco song with an obvious, muddy- sounding hip-hop drum loop. Of course, there are worse things you could be listening to than even these bonus tracks (namely, Tori Amos' To Venus and Back). But instead, you've made the right decision-- you've chosen Premiers Symptomes, and are kickin' back with a big ol' joint under that big ol' moon, just lettin' that big ol' sound wash over you. No, friend, there ain't nothin' quite like fresh Air.

-Ryan Schreiber