Sunday, February 7, 2010

Jacques BREL - Olympia (Live) 61

Jacques BREL - Olympia (Live) 61
1967 Issue. 858 015 FPY

Jazz

Something about the project or releasing this album: originally - or so I understand - it was supposed to be just one cd with only 8 tracks from the 1964 concert, but Thelma fought to have this version released - and that is how it should be! How could you get the full picture of Brel's astounding energy and multi-faceted talent if you didn't hear the full lenght of the concert? Because he surely was a miracle, just listen to the first and only published recording of "Amsterdam" which is still to me, after hearing it thousands of times, the song that leaves me completely breathless. The energy and passion just rolls over you as it rolled over those unsuspecting people (many of them huge celebrities themselves, such as Catherine Deneuve) at Olympia 1964, hearing the song they'd never heard before and rewarding it with 8 minutes of standing ovation - as Thelma writes in her marvellous introduction. Brel performs all in all 8 songs here for the first time in public, recorded only after the concerts because he was the kind of performer who didn't prefer the safe, clean studio environment but a living public.

There are a couple of songs twice in this double album, because Brel performed them in both concerts, but it still is good to hear them again, in the latter concert Brel gets very playful with the songs and it's another kind of experience. As much as I love the 1964 concert because of "Amsterdam" and "Les toros", my favourite of all Brel records still is the 1961 concert. From "Madeleine" to the end it's pure ecstacy, with the best ever recording of "Ne me quitte pas" with Brel getting more into the song than ever before or after that, the marvellous "L'ivrogne", hypnotic "La valse a mille temps" with the slip of the tongue "la vache a mille temps" which Brel used the second he made it and waltzed on stage with the imaginary cow (Thelma tells this too in her notes), the proud "Le moribonde" - never did a man face his death with more panache - and then after fanfares (based on the theme of "Quand on n'a que l'amour" Brel with his guitar ends the concert with "Quand on n'a que l'amour" - pure bliss!
By Merilahti Kristiina.
**
A1. Les Prénoms De Paris   2:17
A2. Les Bourgeois   2:35
A3. Les Paumés Du Petit matin   3:50
A4. Les Flamandes   2:23
A5. La Statue   2:50
A6. Zangra   3:03
A7. Marieke   2:45
A8. Les Biches   3:42
B1. Madeleine   2:55
B2. Les Singes   2:57
B3. L'ivrogne   2:58
B4. La Valse à Mille Temps   3:30
B5. Ne Me Quitte Pas   3:40
B6. Le Moribond   2:58
B7. Quand On n'a Que L'amour   4:17
**
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