If the rock is music that best expresses rebellion and subversion, rejection of conformity, hypocrisy and bourgeois morality, while Brel (with Brassens) is our biggest rock singer. No offense to Johnny Halliday - frankly you imagine to sing Brel for Bernadette Chirac? This album is the swan song of Brel. Perhaps his finest. The presence of humorous songs (The Lion, The ramparts of Warsaw) does not prevent the overall tone of the album is dark and haunted by the death approaching (Aging, Jojo, the Marquesas). Brel rule there last time accounts with the Flemings through a particularly acerbic and removed pamphlet (which earned him a Flemish associations trial) with music by Caetano Veloso. The album opens with Jaurès - one of the most politically and socially engaged songs, which is like a will and a petition to future generations, ending with words "beautiful youth ask yourself ... why did they killed Jaurès ". Always burning topical issue for our time if going to war and rampant misery ... Brel knew his end close because of lung cancer that was eating him. The disc was recorded in a state of emergency; sessions took place very early in the morning because Brel was not able to sing after a certain hour. Pressed for time, François Rauber wrote the arrangement of the Marquesas in one night, and this is one of its most beautiful with its evocative, impressionistic character and its perfect combination of words to Brel. One could also mention 'The city slept, "masterpiece of poetry and music, with its twilight arrangement. I want to say a word about François Rauber, disappeared last winter. Brel was not without Brel Rauber, Brel and work is the result of an alliance and a longtime friendship and owes much to Rauber - and his pianist Gerard Jouannest. Rauber was the arranger of Brel throughout his career, and we need all his brilliant orchestrations that beautifully highlighted poetry of Brel. And it must be said that this new remastering makes last tribute to the work and orchestrations Rauber. The older editions of Brel in cd which raged for so long were truly despicable: flat orchestra, without dynamic, no presence, with Brel's voice floating over it. LPs were much better! But then there with this remastering and more mixing in 5.1, we rediscover a disc thousand times heard. The orchestra is in the flesh, wonderful in every detail and musicality. Brel's voice has a striking presence, and mixing it restores the richness of its timbre and its interpretation. Nearly thirty years after his death, it was time that an edition in CD finally properly reflects the work of Brel. All his work has been remastered and is already available on cd stereo "normal". Good. I hope it also will be an SACD pressing multichannels as it is a success and is salivating for the rest.
