Jacques Brel - Les marquises (2010) FLAC

Everyone knows the tragic context surrounding the making of this album. It is almost more famous than the content of the album itself. Having lived in the Marquesas Islands for years, Brel was already very sick when he started thinking of an opus, which will be conceived as “the last”. Once the text had been written, he took off to Paris where he entrusts the arrangements to his lifetime accomplice, François Rauber. As for rehearsals, they took place on rue de Verneuil at Juliette, Gréco’s home. The singer who wrote Ne me quitte pas knows he’s doomed when he creates Les Marquises, so it’s not really surprising to hear him talk about death and old age, like in the magnificent La Ville s’endormait and Vieillir, an overexcited tango where he hammers that “la mort, cela n’est rien” (Death is nothing). Jojo also reaches new heights of emotion, as a love letter to a deceased friend, in which Brel is only accompanied by a solo guitar. But this morbid context doesn’t make this album a formulaic spiritual quest, or even a succession of bleak tunes. Therefore, Brel puts Man above God in Le bon dieu, a humanist waltz that isn’t 1000-count but, on the contrary, serenely slow and benevolent. Marcel Azzola’s accordion works wonders here. The same serenity is displayed in Les Marquises and in Voir un ami pleurer (which owes a lot to Gérard Jouannest’s sensitive piano). The poet wishes to get away from the morbid fatality that gnaws at him, which can also be felt in the politically engaged texts, such as this hagiography of Jaurès, or Les Flamingants, a violent charge against Flemish nationalism. The testimonial aspect of this album is thus relative, and in that probably lies all of its strength. And of course, Jacques Brel’s biting and legendary humor couldn’t be missing. Let’s cite Les Remparts de Varsovie, an incredibly potent satirical sketch. Despite being sick, Brel hadn’t lost an ounce of his energy or irony, as evidenced by Le Lion, a mad fable which doesn’t know if it’s samba or circus music.

Let’s note that the present release contains five bonus titles, among which La Cathédrale, one of the most radiant waltzes composed by Jacques Brel. © Nicolas Magenham/Qobuz