Customer Reviews

Brel Vol. 1 (Master Serie)

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With all of the immature culture bashing going on between the French and the United States these days it's a shame that some on this side of the water may miss out on Jacques Brel. Of course Brel was Belgian, but most Americans won't know the difference.

Brel was a singer/songwriter of shocking breadth. His voice ranges from powerful to tender. His songs have incredible range from fairly typical sounding accordian music to productions involving full orchestra. If you're not accustomed to this kind of music, it will grow on you. The sincerity of Brel's singing is enough to win anyone over.

I was introduced to Brel through a co-worker who once lived in Belgium. I asked him for recommentations of music sung in French, and Brel was the first name he mentioned. He brought in a CD for me and after hearing "J'arrive" I was instantly hooked. According to him, "J'arrive" is a song to death. Brel is singing "I'm coming, I'm coming, of course I'm coming" to death.

Brel's version of "The Impossible Dream" ("La Quete") is surprisingly uncliched and fresh sounding. "Le Plat Pays" or "The Flatlands" or "Lowlands" is about Brel's native Belgium. "Ne Me Quitte Pas" or "Don't Leave Me" is a passionate plea that builds slowly, creshendoes, then fades out. It's one of the best songs on the CD.

This CD was the only one I could readly find in CD stores in my area. According to my French-speaking co-worker, this one includes a lot of Brel's most famous songs (though there were a few he had never heard as well).

If you're looking for great music sung in French, you've found it.

Here's the song list for this CD:

1. Jaures
2. Ne Me Quitte Pas
3. Les Vieux
4. La Quete
5. On N'oublie Rien
6. Le Plat Pays
7. Mathilde
8. Les Remparts De Varsovie
9. Amsterdam
10. J'arrive
11. Ces Gens-La
12. Jef
13. Vesoul
14. Au Suivant
15. Madeleine
16. Les Bourgeois

"Ne Me Quitte Pas" is his famous torch song "Don't Leave Me", in which Brel uses exquisite imagery to press his suit with a girl who has already left him, descending in the end into abject desperation as he struggles to maintain a link, any link at all, with the object of his love. Frank Sinatra was moved to sing an English version of this song ("If you go away"), which unfortunately doesn't do justice to the gorgeous poetry of the French original. This is my favorite song of the entire Jacques Brel repertoire because of the power and the haunting beauty of the lyrics, Brel's impassioned voice and the evocative music!

"Les Vieux" evokes a ticking clock as a metaphor for the passage of time. It paints a grim portrait of life in the twilight years, set to the beat of a grandfather clock, a triangle and a small orchestra.

"La Quete" is better known as "The Impossible Dream". This is Brel's version of the song also crooned by Elvis Presley, Andy Williams and The Supremes, and originally created by Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion. I don't find Brel's version as satisfying as the original in English, however, at least for native English speakers.

"The Plat Pays" (The Flat Country) is Brel's nostalgic homage to his home country of Belgium, sung with great affection. Although he grew up in Belgium, he spent almost his entire musical career in Paris, France.

"Amsterdam" is one of his most famous songs about the sailors who disembark in this Dutch port and how they deal with the vicissitudes of their lonely lives and the dreams that haunt them once they reach the shore.

Highly recommended Brel CDs you can find on Amazon.com include:

Title (ASIN#) No. of Songs

Quand On N'a Que L'amour (B00000IYC9) 49 songs with 32 pages of photos and essay on Brel's life and songs (3-CD set)
Infiniment (B0002PUHGU) 40 songs with wonderful English translations (2-CD set)
Olympia '61 and '64 (B000BJ7D96) 30 songs with great English translations (2-CD set)
Ne Me Quitte Pas (B0000AKOLJ) 11 songs
Volume 1 - Grand Jacques (B00000DXQY) 15 songs including "Sur La Place"
Les Flamandes (B000006UOA) 21 songs
Les Bonbons (B0000AKOLD) 14 songs
Ballades Et Mots D'amour (B00003Q56T) 30 songs
Master Series: Jacques Brel (B0000046O5) 16 songs (same songs as on Vol. 1-Special Edition)
Grand Jacques Integrale 172 Titres (B000025BD8) 172 songs (10-CD set)

What's even more fabulous than the CDs, however, is the 3 volume DVD set released in 2003: Jacques Brel: Comme quand on etait beau. (ASIN: B0000AQJPR). The set includes 7.5 hours of live and staged performances as well as interviews and home video footage. Everything that the heart of a Jacques Brel fan desires to capture the essence of this very theatrical artist in a way that an audio-only recording can not.

Also of great interest: the VHS video "Jacques Brel" (ASIN: B0001P1XG4), a video biography on the life and music of Jacques Brel. Full length documentary features extensive live footage and interviews with Brel himself as well as his daughter and associates. It is also available on DVD, but only from Films Media Group.com (Item# KEH1348).

Along with "Le feuilles mortes" and, of course "La vie en rose", I think "Ne me quitte pas" is the most beautiful french song ever, which have been recorded by many different singers (including Frank Sinatra, in his english version called "If you go away"). Here you can find the original version, in the worderful and heart-breaking voice of it's original composer Jacques Brel, but also other marvellous songs such as "J'arrive", "Au suivant" and "Jef". This compilation gathers the best of Brel's work, for any french music lover.

Jacques Brel was one of the best writers of lyrics ever, tender, cruel, ironic, hopeful, bitter and mocking (often himself) and at his best all of them at the same time. In this collection there are some of the best like Ne me quitte pas and breath-taking Vesoul, which also present his voice at its best. There are few voices that are as full of life and power and all the human emotions, good and bad, as his. Listen to it and you'll never be the same again. I wasn't.

This man has a voice that would soften the hardest heart into jello. I have listened to this over the past couple of years while learning French and some times I think knowing what the words mean gets in the way of the soulfullness of the phrasing. It is passionate, tender and real music squeezed from the center of this man's essence and condensed into a passion that's universal.

Well, first of all Jacques Brel was Belgium, not French, which is very important as in his work and in his vocabulary. But anyway he not only has a voice full of emotion and strengh, he also wrote one of the best francophone texts ever. He is always fair, analytical but still a great poet. My favourite song is "Quand on a que l'amour" (When the only thing we have is love), unbfortunately not on this CD, but anyway, "Mathilde" I shiver only listening to it, so much panache and love in it, "Ces Gens La" is so typical of the people you can meet in the North of France/Belgium, so realistic, so full of hatred for the conformist society. And even though you may not understand the words you still have the powerfull voice of him, a jewel!!!!!!

Music is indeed a universal language, because even if you don't understand a word of it, the beauty and power of Jacques Brel's voice and music shine through and make this a worthwhile, if different, listening experience. And if you do understand the lyrics, you will conclude that Brel is among the great songwriters of his generation, laying bare his soul and expressing eloquently a great range of emotions and insights into the human condition. I can't claim to have heard all the various Brel collections out there but this is certainly an outstanding compilation.

Brel was the most legitimate Ambassador of the irreverence made song. His moods, inspiration and heartfelt expression far beyond his dissipate existence are solid arguments to think to acquire this selection.

One more thing: Will you able to forget once you listen: Ne me quite pas, for the rest of your life?

Jacques Brel is one of the most brilliant French authors/singers of this century, and in this cd is a collection of songs that display Brel's talent. Love (Ne me quitte pas), hatred (Mathilde), or bitterness (Ces Gens-La), are feelings displayed with stunning ability through his words and music. A must for all French music amateurs.