les bourgeois: Brel grew up in a bourgeois environment and this is his reckoning with his childhood in very vile way: Bourgeois people are like pigs: “the older they get the more stupid they get”
A fun cover of this song is done by Tom Robinson: Yuppie Scum
Le Plat Pays: next to Ne Me Quitte Pas this is that other slow song for which he became famous and on which his beautiful voice shines. The tenderness in which he looks back to his childsong in this little diamond of a song is beyond words. Next to the French version on this album there exists also a Flemish version in which he sings in bad Flemish an equally heartfelt love song to the Flemish flat lands with its northern winds which is his.
I suppose the best way to describe this song is to show a clip of that “plat pays”:
Madeleine who is too old for him and again here he best sings himself on a live performance like this with his mouth too big and his teeth sticking out but what a delivery this is:
Bruxelles is again one of those songs delivered in a festive atmosphere which gives a description of the Brussels of the fifties in a way it never existed. This is a cover in Flemish by a Belgian female artist:
On one of the next days I will deliver my next contribution on the following few albums of his. Also feel free to comment on my ramblings and if you think there are better cover versions of Brel songs than the ones I mentioned don't hesitate to share them...
The next albums (he changed record label around this time and went from Philips to Barclay) are maybe not the classics anymore of the previous ones but still worth a listen and there are still some classic tracks to be found here.
Ces Gens-Là, the title song of this album is again of his best in which he again dissects manhood in his own way with a voice which again soars. This song is covered in a very original but nearly unrecognisable way by the Walkabouts on their cover album Train Leaves At Eight (People Such As These):
Jef is one of this typical drinking songs of Brel where he drags his friend into the nightlife and La Chanson de Jacky is a song about himself in nightlife.
The best cover here in my opinion is done by Divine Comedy (con con à la fois becomes In A Stupid Ass’s Way):
8. 1966
Les Bonbons by Jacques Brel
This album was also called Barclay no 3: this album is regarded on BEA as a compilation album and contains 14 tracks but I think it’s best to consider this one as a regular album without the last two tracks (it also contains nearly all songs of Les Bigotes of 1963 which is maybe more to be considered as an EP).
In any case again a magnificent album with songs as:
Les Bonbons: why not show the master himself again here :
and then this again outstanding song: Les Vieux. I got this song at school because my French teacher loved Brel and I suppose this is also why I started to like Brel. I don’t think another poetic song like this was written on old people (in the sense that it's not really a publicity to get old) and again a version by the master himself:
Au Suivant is a song about soldiers in the first world war and is also best known in the English speaking world by its creepy cover by the Alex Harvey Band (Next):
This was expected to be the end of his career because after this album he retired from everything but came back with…
No this is for my final entry where I will also do final wrap-up: also to discuss some of the songs which weren’t featured on any of his regular albums.
So how to describe this last period of his life.
He already announced that he was going to retire from doing concerts in 1966 but only gave his final concert in L’Olympia on 16 May 1967. After that he still finished his last album in 1967 (I discussed in the previous entry).
But with this he didn’t retire from public life. He acted in a few movies and also in the musical Homme de la Mancha. He also was the subject of a kind of a New York broadway show ‘Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well’ in which he didn’t appear but which made him famous all over the world.
Also artists who adored him like Scott Walker, Marc Almond and David Bowie helped to keep his legacy alive. This is maybe also the time to discuss that one famous Brel song which didn’t feature on any of his regular album but which became one of his most covered songs especially the version by David Bowie. This is of course Amsterdam covered by Bowie in The Port of Amsterdam (about sailors behaving like.. well sailors in a port)
In July 1974, he bought a yacht and started sailing around the world but in october of that year he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He went back to Brussels to be operated but returned to his yacht and ended up on the Iles Marquises in November 1975 where he stayed.
But he returned to France to record his last album aptly called Les Marquises, which was in fact again a vintage Brel album and it hit the charts like a bomb and sold more copies than any other of his albums.
La Ville S’Endormait: also covered by Marc Almond in The Town Fell Asleep (personally I think this is one of his best Brel covers as it just breathes upcoming danger):
Les F. stands for Les Flamingants and I suppose this needs a bit of explanation. There are two big regions in Belgium, the French speaking Wallonians and the Dutch/Flemish speaking Flandres people (I’m Flemish). In the second world war, a lot of Flemish collaborated with the Germans and after the war were punished. This is up to now still a division between the two languages and Flemish people who hang on that past are often referred to as Flamingants, and Brel here (I already explained he had a love/hate relationship with Flandres) is adding insult to insult in this swearword of a song which was very badly received in Flandres at the time it was released.
And its funny when you look to the comments on Youtube there is still a lot of swearing under the belt going on.
And also this album has its gem: Voir Un Ami Pleurer. Again one of this songs which can bring tears in you eyes.
Here I can’t do anything else to put the Belgian Serge Gainsbourg, Arno, in the spotlights here:
The album ends with a love song on the islands which have adopted him: Les Marquises. By the way he was also buried on the islands next to that other great artist who lived there a big part of his life: Paul Gauguin.
So this is the end of my view on Jacques Brel’s music which evolves around three things: his fantastic voice, this theatrical performances and of course most of all the quality of many of his songs which continue to be listened to and covered. I have always been only a lukewarm fan of French chanson but Jacques Brel is just something else.
He will always be mainly a singles artists and even his best albums contain filler. In this way it’s also difficult to rank them and so I won’t be doing that. But one thing is clear: if you only know his hits, you’re missing something.
Interesting to read about Brel - only know his work in the hands of other artists, particularly Scott Walker. _________________ https://albumreviews.blog
Back to normal although not completely as you will notice but first 2007 albums:
- Fear Of A Blank Planet by Porcupine Tree (nr 11 on the BEA overall top chart of 2007): I've started to fairly like Steven Wilson and Porcupine Tree but this album with only 6 tracks couldn't convince me completely. But the title track and Sentimental are still very good so I voted it in my personal top chart
- Graduation by Kanye West (nr 12): I didn't really like it but I did listen back to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in the context of the 2010 listening project and I must say that one started to intrigue me.
- Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? by of Montreal (nr 13): I don't know what but there's something about this band that annoys me
- Kala by M.I.A. (UK) (nr 15): not really my thing
- Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga by Spoon (nr 16): there are albums of Spoon I like but not really this one
- Into The Wild by Eddie Vedder (nr 17): and I was very pleasantly surprised by this soundtrack. The short songs are mini gems but really too short to really be appreciated but the longer tracks near the end won me over. It's very soft but very good and an album you just have to like
- † (Cross) by Justice (nr 18 ): some of the sounds were attractive and certainly adventurous but overall not for my top charts
- We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank by Modest Mouse (nr 19): the only regular album by this band I have only discovered until a year or two ago but I like this band and this album with especially Parting Of The Sensory and Spitting Venom as the standouts.
And this enticed me to rank the whole regular album legacy (+ one with outtakes and EP tracks so it can count as well) of Modest Mouse. I still had to rescore three other albums and this is my final ranking:
My rank Title Year Appreciation
1 This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About 1996 Great
2 We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank 2007 Very Good
3 The Lonesome Crowded West 1997 Very Good
4 Strangers To Ourselves 2015 Good
5 Good News For People Who Love Bad News 2004 Good
6 The Moon & Antarctica 2000 Good
7 Building Nothing Out Of Something 2000 Good
I think nearly everybody agrees that their first album is their best but I think that most people also wouldn't agree with my low rank of The Moon & Antarctica: maybe I should listen to it again. I used to like their newest album more but after relistening to it, I must say that it's not in the same league as the first three.
And finally another 2007 album I listened to:
- The Reminder by Feist (nr 25): somehow this album is very lightweight. I didn't know that Limit To Your Love, a song I hate by James Blake was hers.
The next album to listen to is Cease To Begin by Band Of Horses.
And this enticed me to rank the whole regular album legacy (+ one with outtakes and EP tracks so it can count as well) of Modest Mouse. I still had to rescore three other albums and this is my final ranking:
My rank Title Year Appreciation
1 This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About 1996 Great
2 We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank 2007 Very Good
3 The Lonesome Crowded West 1997 Very Good
4 Strangers To Ourselves 2015 Good
5 Good News For People Who Love Bad News 2004 Good
6 The Moon & Antarctica 2000 Good
7 Building Nothing Out Of Something 2000 Good
Dihansse gonna Dihansse!!!
anyways, mine would b sth more traditional like...
GREAT
1. The Lonesome Crowded West
2. Moon & Antarctica
3. This Is A Long Drive ...
4. Building Nothing Out Of something
It's third on RYM and fourth on BEA. I still need to give it a listen.
I just meant that at least 5% of the Modest Mouse fans prefer their first album No I just hadn't my facts right but I stick with my own choice for this one though and also my choice on the second and third album (which are close together). Like I said I'm maybe underestimating The Moon & Antarctica a bit.
I love it to listen to a band:
with a fairly limited output, in this case 6 albums
of which I know the two oldest quite well
which have release two new albums (in 2015 and also a very new one in 2019)
Of which there are two intermediary albums which are not really well know (also not by me) but which deserve to be discovered
The band is Swervedriver which I can best describe (I know my descriptions are sometimes peculiar) as shoegaze Teenage Fanclub. I saw them live at a rock festival in 1992 when I didn’t really know them well yet but since then I started to like them.
Their first two albums are quintessential shoegaze albums albeit perhaps a bit harder than your typical Slowdive and they mellowed a bit down on their next two.
The first album in the 2010’s was a real return to form in which they tried and succeeded in recreating the atmosphere of especially the first album. Their second very recent album of the 2010’s sounds a lot more restrained and yet completely click with me.
Listening to 6 albums of Swervedriver is a bit of a drag as they tend to sound a bit alike as the voice and the instrumentation doesn’t really change but overall I can’t say it was a real punishment as I like Swervedriver.
And this is my final ranking from bottom to top:
OK albums:
6. (2019)
Future Ruins by Swervedriver
I already wrote that their new album isn't yet fully what I like but of course it is already part of my 2019 list. I don't really have any favorite tracks here as I have on most of the other ones.
5. (1998)
99th Dream by Swervedriver
The fourth album was not their best but still good Swervedriver but also no real tracks that stood out.
Very good
4. (1995)
Ejector Seat Reservation by Swervedriver
After listening to this album for the first time especially The Other Jesus struck me as really good.
Essential:
2. (1991)
Raise by Swervedriver
This is the first and indiest album with 4 standouts: Son Of Mustang Ford (they liked their cars), Deep Seat, Rave Down and Feel So Real.
1. (1993)
Mezcal Head by Swervedriver
Mezcal Head: I know many people prefer the first one but this second one is also really good and contains some classics like Girl On a Motorbike and You Find It Everywhere but especially Last Train To Satansville.
I see that Tilly was a big fan of the first album and also of the 2015 one. What do you think of the new one?
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It's third on RYM and fourth on BEA. I still need to give it a listen.
No I just hadn't my facts right but I stick with my own choice for this one though and also my choice on the second and third album (which are close together). Like I said I'm maybe underestimating The Moon & Antarctica a bit.
