Customer Reviews

Mon Frere

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"Daddy, can I listen to your sad French songs in the car?" is a question my daughter has asked me often in the days since I managed to track down this magnificent album on CD. I first heard Mon Frere as an exchange student in France in 1977, immediately bought the record and have kept it close even since. Mon Frere is the title of the devastating first song in which the singer mourns the brother he never had -- just reading the lyrics are enough to bring a lump to my throat. While at least a couple of the songs are light-hearted and enchanting, there is a deep seam of pain and dark nostalgia running right through this work. The album is worth buying for the poetic lyrics alone, although there are no words provided for a bitter little ballad called Parachutiste, which refers to the abominable conduct of the French paratroopers during the Algerian war of the early 1960s. It is no surprise that Maxime Le Forestier's greatest 20 hits album contains no less than seven of the 11 songs on Mon Frere.

This is the album that has most affected my knowledge of and affection for French popular music. As an American student in Provence in the late 70's, the music hit a responsive chord in me before I ever had a clue about the lyrics. Understanding lyrics just got me more hooked. (more hooked?)

Anyway, this album contains a number of le Forestier classics: the popular "Marie, Pierre et Charlemagne", "Education Sentimentale", and "San Fransisco", the anti-military "Parachutiste", the environmentalist "Comme un Arbre", the wistful "Mon Frere" and "La Rouille" and the angry "Ca Sert a Quoi" - you can't go wrong with this one.

I was introduced to the music of Maxime Le Forestier when I was a student in France almost thirty years ago, and was given this album as a gift. It is very much in the same vein as the singer-songwriter albums that were flourishing in this country in the late 60s and early 70s, and I loved it immediately. Maxime's songs resemble Paul Simon's early work, musically; but they have something of Bob Dylan's political edge. If you speak French, you will appreciate his literate, poetic lyrics; even if you don't, you may still enjoy his exquisite guitar playing and rich, mellow voice. The arrangements are also very nicely done, although the electric keyboards on the title track do sound a trifle dated nowadays. I have collected the majority of Maxime's albums over the years, and all are superb, but this is still my favorite. It remains the best introduction to a major artist who deserves greater exposure outside the French-speaking world. Very highly recommended!

I discovered Maxime when I was a student in So. France in 1972. I was recently in Paris and purchased his newest CD. His voice is still terrific. The album Mon Frere is what got me hooked on Maxime...the voice of an angel. This is a fabulous album.

I discovered this album as a teenager in France in 1979. I am thrilled to find it on CD. It is moving, poetic, and altogether lovely. It is also terrific for the clarity and precision of the French lyrics and the excellent grammatical structure of the long arcs of narrative in the songs -- great for improving your French.