Patrick Eudeline - Comme avant (2024) Hi-Res

After founding one of France's first punk bands, Asphalt Jungle, Patrick Eudeline signed to CBS as a solo artist and then - through a notoriously eventful life - turned to writing : Best, when he was almost a teenager, and in the 80s Liberation, Nova, among others. He released his first solo LP in the 90s, then turned his attention to novels before releasing "Mauvaise etoile" in the 2000s. He currently collaborates with various newspapers, including Rock and Folk.

"Comme avant" is his comeback album. He takes charge of everything, instruments, mix, production... right through to mastering. French chanson, orchestrated, cabaret, decadent, bluesy in the darkest sense of the word. He's been compared to Arno, Bashung or Gainsbourg (people often lack imagination...). And this devotee of the great Serge finds the comparison overwhelming and almost disrespectful. He loves Kurt Weil, Ben E King, Mingus, Petula Clark, fifties Becaud and so many others. His "Comme avant" is a mix of originals and rare covers ("Je n'attends plus personne", once magnified by Francoise Hardy, for example). This album is the perfect counterpart to his forthcoming book, to be published by Seguier at the end of the year, which shares many of the same themes.

The death of a civilization in a world now afraid of love. He adapts in his own way, with new lyrics, "Boom Boom" like "Nobody Knows When You're Down And Out", which Nino Ferrer had made his "millionaire". This "Comme avant" with its Roxy Music-style cover will surprise many.

Some will say, "But it's not rock!" Sure, it's a far cry from AC/DC or Motorhead. "What's this thing between Adamo and John Lee Hooker? I've never heard of that!" Johnny's guitarist, Yarol Poupaud, put on the airwaves. We couldn't have said it better ourselves.